An Open Letter to President Barack Obama (posted on January 19, 2017):
Dear Mr. President:
In these, your last remaining hours as Commander-In-Chief and Leader of the Free World, I hearken back to November 4, 2008, the night you were elected. Watching the 24-hour coverage of Election Day and the hope of your supporters in Grant Park, the looks of optimism on their faces after the Election was called in your favor; watching people all over the world celebrate as you became President-Elect of these United States.
I remember being in Annapolis in January of 2009, watching as a brilliant man with a Kenyan surname was sworn in as 44th President of the United States. Pretty symbolic when you consider that some 242 years prior, in 1767, right where I was at the docks in Annapolis, having a glass of wine as a free man, celebrating your Inauguration, slaves were being sold in the public square, including a young slave named Kunta Kinte, who was taken from his home town of Juffure’, in Gambia, West Africa, brought to Annapolis and auctioned off to the highest bidder.
In these 8 years, from your first Inauguration Day to now, I’ve watched as many others have, as you restored a vibrant aura to the Presidency; an eloquence, poise, brilliance and confidence not seen since the Kennedy era. In these 8 years, you’ve brought the world together from a collective downtrodden mindset from the prior Administration. World leaders have sought your counsel, people the world over have flocked just to get a glimpse of you. All the world has been your stage, and we as citizens of the United States have been proud to share you as our leader with them. People began to look to America as a superpower again, and we’ve been all the better for it. But to get to the gist of this open letter, allow me to say: I’m sorry to see you go. AND GLAD to see you go. But not for the reasons you might think.
I’m glad to see you go because I’ve also watched as your ascendancy to the highest office in the world brought out the worst this country has to offer. Whoever coined the phrase ‘post-racial’ needs to let the clutch out. I’m glad to see you go because for the last 8 years, virtually every day, I’ve watched you endure countless insults and challenges to your faith, your commitment to truth and equality, your citizenship, your race, even your manhood; you, sir, have endured indefensible, UNPRECEDENTED disrespect for a sitting President. And you did so with grace, honor, integrity, and dignity.
I watched for 8 years as they mercilessly and shamelessly attacked your wife in the press, one of the most honorable, glamorous First Ladies this country has ever seen. Pictures having been styled of her as a chimpanzee. Government officials have gone on social media & insulted her in the liking of a primate animal from the jungle. The constant innuendoes and thinly veiled references to African origin – we’ve seen it all for the last 8 years. I’ve watched as people have lobbed insults as your 2 teenage daughters, calling you and your family everything but a Child of God, 10 times each, in 48 languages; every name in the book, both explicit and implied, both overt AND covert. And you all endured it with grace, honor, integrity and dignity.
I’ve watched as sitting Congress persons have called you a ‘lie’ in a live State of the Union Address. I’ve watched as high positioned members of Congress have obstructed nearly EVERY piece of legislation you prescribed to make the lives of ordinary Americans better. I’ve watched as Governors have pointed their fingers in your face ON CAMERA. I’ve watched as you made the decision to bring to a permanent end the most wanted man in the world, Osama bin Laden; such a bold decision would have brought perilous consequences to us as a nation and to our allies worldwide if the mission had failed, and after you succeeded, your political enemies gave credit to the other President BEFORE you, as to ignore the fact that the prior Administration ALREADY KNEW WHERE HE WAS THREE YEARS BEFORE YOU CHOSE TO GET HIM, TWO YEARS BEFORE THEIR TERM ENDED………and chose NOT to act.
I’ve watched as the very people charged with protecting the lives of you and your family have allowed fence jumpers to get into the White House and gunmen fire rounds into windows one room away from your children! Egregious, unconscionable and unspeakable, ALL on a superlative scale. I’ve watched as people on propaganda channels like FOX Noise stir fear in the minds of those who aren’t too accepting of African-Americans TO BEGIN WITH, MUCH LESS having one as their President. I’ve watched this same channel, at the same time they stoke fear in Conservatives and their party faithful, MAKE BILLIONS in advertising revenue at your expense – shifting and retrofitting facts to justify various narratives that they would propagate in hopes of bringing to an end their living nightmare – a ‘Black’ man in the ‘White’ House. And you handled it with grace, honor, integrity and dignity.
Mr. President, you mastered the ability to inculcate even the most learned of us that there’s more to life than blue states vs. red states, partisan politics and the ‘I gain, you lose’ mode of thought that has led to some of the most feckless, irrational decisions that have plagued politics for decades. You showed us that there’s more to life than life itself. The ability to think, be and do more than we are. More than ourselves. By and large, yours is a Presidency of far more successes than failures.
However, some of your shortcomings are a bit more marked than others. Primarily, on the home front. It’s my belief that, though you gave some measure of effort, not enough was done for us, your own community, in comparison to others. Poor kids are going to school in crumbling buildings, the level of education does not ensure an equitable ability to compete in what is now becoming a global landscape; the ‘playpen to prison’ pipeline is still very much in flux; there is still tremendous conflict in the urban community relative to gang violence and the ability to live decent, safe existences.
Not enough was done to protect HBCU’s in America, who are under constant attack via funding decreases by those in power who don’t want us educated about our own history, and moreover in some cases, don’t want us educated PERIOD. The right to vote has been marginalized also; people pay taxes on time only to have their right to vote deferred. Perhaps my greatest disappointment lies in the fact that other groups gained immensely under your Administration, while our community has gone steadily downward. The Gay and Lesbian Community got the right to marry; congrats, I’m happy for them, good for them that they got it. Undocumented illegal workers were granted rights to stay here a little longer until the system could fast-track their ability to gain citizenship instead of having deportation squads evict them from their homes and send them back from whence they came; congrats,I’m happy for them, good for them that they got it.
But when it comes to my ability and other people of color’s abilities to walk down a street in peace, but even more than that, UNARMED, without a law enforcement officer with ill intent doing bodily harm or worse, taking his or her life without accountability, sadly Mr. President, you remained silent; dare I say, we have REgressed under this administration and what’s worse, these are our RIGHTS that are being violated. Our LIVES that are being taken, without consequence or remorse. I’d like to invoke a quote that the late James Brown used when asked about the assassination of a great man and my Fraternity brother, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “why must a man die for something he never should have had to fight for?”
I fear that in your vacating the White House, and the new Administration nominating a man who once said that he thought Ku Klux Klan members were “OK, until he learned that they smoked marijuana”, a man who once defined the NAACP and ACLU as “un-American” and “Communist-inspired”; a man whose VERY NAME ITSELF – Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III – evokes not-so-fond memories of the Southern Civil War Confederacy – I fear, Mr. President, that with this man being the top law enforcement official in the country, police forces will ascribe to the notions as handed down in the Supreme Court’s “Dred Scott” decision; they will feel emboldened to commit even MORE acts of lawlessness against citizens of color and community-police relations across the country will become even more frayed than they are. As it relates to people of color, sadly, all of us are one dirty cop away from being hashtagged. That’s no way to live as an American. We have contributed greatly to this country too, and you in these 8 years have given us the hope that we will no longer be seen as ‘less than’; we are to be seen as EQUAL. That is the spirit that you have infused into the intellect and mindset of people of color. And such is the spirit by which you leave the White House.
So as these last hours tick away, and you become Immediate Past President of the United States, I’m sure I speak for many when I say that even being hamstrung by Congress, you managed to accomplish more for the many than those who seek to accomplish everything for the few. I will miss you, and I’m sure many others will join me in thanking you for your 8 years of service as President of this great Nation.
Godspeed, President Barack Obama. You have done so much for so many and your leadership in high office will be sorely missed. Trust me. The next 4 years will bear that to pass, sadly, sooner than later.
Your Brother and Humble American servant,
Phillip C. Hayes