My Obama (Hussein)

I have decided to back Obama and I will tell you why.

I grew up in Detroit, born in 1962. I was 6 years old when the "race riots" happened and tore much of the city apart. My neighborhood was spared that, but I saw it all on the news and felt the uneasiness in all of the adults around me. I liked watching the news with my father.

A year later, we watched the first man step onto the moon, almost live. At the same time we listened to the daily death tolls from the Vietnam war. In thousands.

Right around this time my all white school had its first black student. I was the only person that I ever saw talk to him, even teachers. I was very young, but I remember sitting on the gym floor with my back against the cold tile wall next to him (I don't recall his name), just talking. Everyone else ignored us. Why was I the only one who would do this?

In another class, I got in trouble for something. I was made to stand in front of the class facing the chalk board, holding my arms out until they burned. After the class, we laughed about it. We sat together at lunch each day and were left alone.

I never saw the black kid outside of school. I don't recall, but must assume he was shipped in from another part of town.

We moved to Canada shortly after this, and there is no racism there, or blacks. Four years later we moved back to Detroit and things were much less tense. The economy was terrible and I went through middle and high school without seeing or interacting with many blacks at all. A bit crazy now that I think about it.

After High School, I enlisted in the Navy, which is truly color blind by the 80's. Race was a zero factor. Everyone was rewarded on their accomplishments. My time in the Navy had many interactions with Hispanic, Black and a few Orientals. A lot of hicks too, but they were all color blind too.

So I leave the Navy and enter the DOD Contractor workforce, where for 9 years I work with men and women of every race you can name. Mostly good people, except for a few sluts and ruthless assholes. They were white, like me, but not "like me".

I wound up a contractor in the Federal Government after being laid off and had the culture shock of being tossed into the National Science Foundation doing Helpdesk work. I had never been in an academic/science environment before. It was very diverse and I liked it.

I soon escalated to manager and was hiring and firing, which is tricky business. I moved to another part of the Federal Civilian Government, still managing and had as many problems with my white staff as black, seriously even split. The problems aren't with race, but just people in general. There are good eggs and bad ones.

So today I stand looking at a simple choice. Vote for 8 more years of what we had 8 years ago, or something new and a first. The "new" part is way more important to me than being the first. I won't say it does not creep into my mind; that it is about time. Oh, and Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will have to shut the fuck up. They don't help the matters.