Realistic Magical Negro Action Figures

Today on Uprising with Sonali Kohudkar, a guest (Clark Newhall) frothed at the mouth, expressing his anguish that we had "voted for Obama for a revolution and he is not delivering," or something equally emotional like that. They were discussing the merits of the Affordable Health Care Act. A bit later, looking through my Face Book newsfeed, a friend had posted a qoute from an editorial in the NYT. Here it is verbatim: "President Obama owes the democracy protesters being attacked in Egypt – and our own history and values – a much more forceful statement deploring the recent crackdown." NY Times

What followed that post were three vitriolic responses about Obama and his empty promises, our support of Mubarak because we are addicted to oil, and Obama's absence on the issue of Egypt. These characters, and many others in this particular circle of "friends" like to refer to people who support Obama as Obamatrons. You might think I am talking about a bunch of wild and red Tea Party Republicans, but I am not (but dont get me started on those friends of mine or the Black Power Traditional African religion folks). At least I think I am not. You see, these folks also routinely talk about fight the power, power to the people, listen to Patty Smith, support Wikileaks and 350.org. This is the radical left.

And just like the speaker on Uprising, they are childish racists, and don't even know it.

 

Mommy, I want a Magical Negro for Christmas!

We did in fact vote in a revolution with the presidency of Barack Obama. Who can forget people singing the sporting "goodbye" song as W. boarded that helicopter with a bewildered look on his face? Who can forget all the YOUTH turning out the vote among their friends? All the Independents swinging to the tune of the Democrats? The rebellious antics of Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show as their writers and actors made it known what they thought of the status quo? Shepard Fairey's theft of an AP photo turned into an iconic poster creating a visual for all our hope for said revolution? We had our uprising, we toppled a WAY of governing, but we did not hunker down and do the grinding work of dismantling the system of governance in order to secure a new pathway for meeting our obligations to each other as citizens of a nation state.

We revolted at our own revolution, balked at the idea that now begins the real work. Well, some of us knew better, but we could not get you guru-chasing fools to listen. When we tried to explain that if we did not send laws to Congress that dealt with the more egregious aspects of our system of laws and governance, Obama would be forced to compromise quite a bit to get things done, a majority of you said, "but W. did whatever he wanted." W. Bush should have also been impeached and sent to prison for life, or did you forget that part?

I am a bit snarky because I was hoping that it would not come back to race, that this time, it would actually be that Obama is a hack, and his party is full of strategists that are trying to play a long game to the detriment of the short. But alas, as the blame pours in and the vitriol continues from either side, ignorance seems to be the main culprit driving the divisive activities, well anti-activities. Sitting around pontificating on the internet is often the most active non-activity one can manifest. This ignorance is not only a clear inability to understand how many different "governments" our country has running at any given time on our own soil for the sake of organizational structures, the flow of capital, and the management of resources over time; it is also an ignorance of the power of black skin.

We are not going to be redeemed the Shawshank way. Bagger Vance is not going to help us improve our world dominance game. We will not be put in touch with the ghosts of our great presidents of the past so that we can come to some sort of national emotional healing and move forward into the best era our republic has ever known. Barack Obama is not a life-size Magical Negro action figure. He is a public servant who had the expectation, perhaps misplaced, that people would interact with him as if he were a person and not a super hero who does not obey the laws of physics.

 

Revolution of the Mutants

Globally, the uprising we launched here in the US in 2008 continues. The mid-term elections have shown that most people born after 1974 have no idea what "civics" are because they did not get to study it in school (or because they watched Ronald Reagan warp the concept for most of their young life) and thus were not psychologically prepared to continue to evolve the uprising into a stable, systemic change. People like me born in 1969 are mostly discovering that we are in sideways leadership positions, straddling the paradigm shift, bridging The Social Networked Gen with the takers and haters of the Free Speech movement (I just thought y'all should know that is how e experience y'all) while all we want to do is live on The Big Blue Marble in Space and play with our beloveds, where ever they are in the world. It falls to all of us, not just a carmel-colored super-eloquent basket-ball-playin statesman. Around the world, the unlikely candidate is being voted in with great hopes that their outsider perspective, their lack of contacts on the inside of the machine will be the saving grace of the people voting for them. But what a shame to throw our best talent and all our hopes into the belly of the beast! Time to tame the beast and put it out to pasture.

Youth uprisings occurring right now across the so-called Muslim world have just awakened to this fact in the last 48 hours: who cares if these 40 year-long autocratic states change "leaders" if corrupt constitutions and systems of surveillance remain in place? What does it matter if Obama had an immigrant father if ICE had a ten year strategic plan and a career technocrat in place when he was elected? Sustainable change is in the details and the temerity to identify the useless components of "tradition." Sometimes the legislation has to be junked. And if anyone should know this, it is the person in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties who has always had not enough of _________ while surrounded by visual clues that there is in fact plenty of IT for everyone. And these folks have invigorated all aspects of their societies; experience not age now drive people to the streets.  They are not having buyer's remorse; they are having that clarity that comes sometimes in the dressing room when you realize the latest fashion is all a ruse, a sham, and obviously not designed for a real body. They are feeling that stomach churn you get after you have agreed to do a performance for someone/thing/ group that is deserving, but you realize as soon as the agreement was struck, all the person wanted was a show, a trifling entertainment, not your art. It is that feeling you get when you walk into the room and you are the only "one" in a mass of "them."

 

Let the mutation of this uprising begin. Let the people understand that we must get back into our working groups on an issue by issue basis and avoid the pitfalls of departmentalization and disciplinary boundaries and come to our own rescue. It is time for us int he US to stop trying to turn everything into a viable, neatly packaged market and stop dividing ourselves by generation. We are all action figures. Some of us have gifts that feel almost like magic, but each one of us can make the impossible possible with the right effort applied at the right time to the right place, Magical Negro or not.