Sunday, November 23, 2008

Vive L' Obama!

On December 7, 1941, after Japan's successful attack on Pearl Harbor, a somber Admiral Yamamoto uttered these prophetic words, "I fear we have wakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve."

Sixty-seven years later, America has elected its first black president, Barack Obama. African-Americans came out in droves to assure that victory. They have been singularly disciplined this election cycle, and profoundly effective. Along this road to history - in what some may call "a detour" - 7 out of 10 African-Americans voted down gay marriage in California.

In a microcosmic way, that "California" vote has generated its own seismic thunder. Ellen DeGeneres is "crushed." John Stewart of "The Daily Show" wonders whether "the oppressed has become the oppressor."

Could it be that Barack Obama has shaken African-America from its slumber? Having long shirked its responsibilities - from letting its neighborhoods fall into disrepair, to failing to tell it sons to "pull up your pants" - is this troubled community now inspired by the president-elect and filled with a new resolve? Let us all pray that it is.

Despite the gay community being up in arms, we must not lose sight of the bigger picture. Voting in such large numbers (70%) to disallow gay marriage is not about blacks flexing their muscles. Rather, it is an affirmation of the deep-seated conservative values they have held all along. This stand has less to do with gay rights, and more to do with a greater paradigm - the union of man and woman. That institution must be held above all other rights of man. It is a matter of survival.

The French have a saying: "Vive la difference!" (veev lah dee-fay-rawnss) or "Long live the difference!" (between the sexes). Could that "California" vote to ban gay marriage have been a vote for "la difference," and the survival of the species?

Today we challenge gay marriage. Tomorrow, will we have the resolve to challenge drug dealers and drive-by shooters - and the many other forms of chaos and indolence that would profane our families and threaten the survival of our communities? Entertainers for so long, are we now ready to take on the mantle of "man"? If so, then all I have to say is, "Vive L' Obama!"

No comments: