[Steeltrap]

Let Obama's shining light lead the way for us all

November 3, 2004

BY MARY MITCHELL SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST




I have been gently reminded that a politician will break your heart. And Lord knows, I've had my heart broken more times than I care to remember. So, many of us are hoping. No, we are praying that Sen. Barack Obama will prove to be a new breed of politician.



We've had our fill of charlatans. They steal your heart with their charisma only to betray you with their chicanery.

As only the third African American to go to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction, we know Obama will go to Washington carrying a heavy burden. He will not just be the Illinois senator representing a diverse population, he will be the only man in the Senate that African Americans can look to as one of their own.

Born to a woman from Kansas and a man from Kenya, Obama never ran from his black ancestry. We loved him for that.

He and his wife, Michelle, and their two children, represent an image seen too seldom in the national spotlight -- an intact, loving, black family.

As one of my single sisters put it, it wasn't Obama's electrifying speech at the Democratic National Convention that moved her.

It was the image of the coffee complexioned, smartly dressed Michelle Obama on the platform, at his side waving at the crowd.

Brown sugar sister

Black women needed that moment. That this Harvard-educated biracial man, who was raised in a white family, chose a brown sugar sister to marry gave black women all over this country a boost.

The Obamas are now the African-American First Family.

And really, many of us longed for that. Some of us became so impatient that former President Bill Clinton, a southerner from Arkansas, was dubbed the nation's first black president after Nobel prize-winner Toni Morrison wrote an essay defending his character.

I was never sure why so many of us agreed -- whether it was because Clinton looked as cool as Miles Davis when he played a saxophone on national TV, or because he grew up poor in a single-parent home, or because he was dragged through the mud in a sexual scandal.

But after the impeachment proceedings -- sparked by a world leader getting caught with his pants down -- Clinton's membership into the black race was more embarrassing than puzzling.

Still, few black people were fooled by attempts by Alan Keyes, the GOP's Senate candidate, to paint Obama as being "immoral" and having the mentality of a "slaveholder" because of his positions on abortion and gays.

Obama was able to put morality into context. Since entering public life, he has been a consistent voice for poor and working class people. And he has been able to connect with young people who need more than the image of hip-hop stars and athletes to guide them.

Chris Lawrence, 19, for instance, waited in line at a polling place in Maywood with a black do-rag on his head and a ballot in his hand.

A graduate of a private Lutheran high school who works at Toys R Us, Lawrence told me he liked the way Obama presented himself during the debates.

'Don't forget the people'


But like the rest of us, the young man also has expectations about what Obama's trip to Washington will mean.

"I expect him just to keep the average person in mind," he said. "Don't forget about the people who are living in these neighborhoods."

When the celebrations are over, the people in the neighborhoods will still need the means to get jobs and to make perfect their imperfect lives.

And when the victory parties are over, the unabashedly liberal Obama will be expected to raise the "no-touch" issues that disproportionately affect black communities such as the mandatory drug sentencing laws and the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

That's why the most important asset Obama brings to the table as a leader couldn't be taught at Harvard, and couldn't be learned in Springfield.

As he so aptly noted in his memoir, Dreams from My Father, the most important thing Obama will take with him when he claims his seat in the U.S. Senate is inheritance.

Although his father strived, he did not reach a position in government where he could fully serve his country. But it is in the African tradition that Obama has exceeded his father's footsteps.

That's the hope that all of us must have for our children.

The fact that so many black families do not have that hope has been devastating for these communities.

Today, too often the fear is many of our children will not even achieve the success -- whether in public service or private enterprise -- that a parent has achieved.

Watching Obama's rise inspired us and made us proud.






It also served to remind us that -- no matter what circumstances we are born into -- we can all be torchbearers of our forefathers' dreams.