    
Wfcooper
Regular Poster
Username: Wfcooper
Post Number: 22
Registered: 12-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, October 11, 2008 - 09:02 am: | 
|
“THAT ONE” IS VERY CLOSE… by William Fredrick Cooper
We’re almost there. We’re very close.
I wonder what my 86-year old friend, Norman, from Baltimore, is thinking right about now. This was a man who carried umbrellas for “Charlie” as teardrops from heaven screamed “all men are created equal”. For so long, he thought equal opportunity was a myth.
We’re close to the Holy Grail, old friend. “That One” is very close.
I wonder what our forefathers looking down upon us, millions whose families were torn apart by the chains of slavery, the fountains of segregation and blatant and covert racism are thinking right about now. Tears forming in their eyes, for so long they thought their sacrifices, things that seemed unimaginable to many of us today, were in vain.
They weren’t, and I for one, am grateful.
We’re close to the end of the fight, Brothers Malcolm and Martin, Dr. Dubois and Booker T.., Mr. Robeson and Marcus Garvey, Huey Newton, Eldridge Cleaver and Stokely Carmichael, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, Medgar Evers, Frederick Douglass, Jackie Robinson and the Brown Bomber. Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott-King, Betty Shabazz and Rachel Robinson, the memo is out: You’ve been waiting to exhale long enough.
“That One” is very close.
Jesse Jackson, who years ago ran a futile race so “that one” could win, will be forgiven for his refusal to relinquish the shine. After all, we fight so hard for it, sometimes we want to keep the light forever when in truth, God is the beacon of all good things. Michael Eric Dyson and Mark Anthony Neal, bless them both, will fill the air with intellects that cut a pathway through interracial misunderstanding. Breaking it down nicely, even they of intelligent verbiage can truly appreciate the simplicity of the moment at hand.
We’re close, they’re saying. “That One” is very close.
Periodical columnists begrudgingly see the inevitable. Political correspondents wear the look of resignation while conceding the obvious. Are they that fearful of a Black Planet? And what are the neighbors, the rest of the globe, thinking at this moment?
A CLUE: “The United States had better not screw this up. If the outdated irrationality and coded prejudices over racial preference soils the Stars and Stripes once more…”
With each passing debate, the need for a new order screams louder. Picture this: If this were an NFL Football game, “That One” has a ten point lead midway through the fourth quarter. After another McCain/Palin turnover – AGAIN, YOU MIGHT BE SAYING TO YOURSELF- our prince sits squarely at the 50-yard line. Knowing the compassion of our culture, under normal circumstances we would play it conservative, for we have the lead and possession of the ball. Traditionally, that has been our hallmark as a culture that cares.
However, something tells me, while cool and composed, energetic and eloquent, Barack Obama possesses a quality that’s needed to finish the job. Behind the innate, effortless grace, all the articulate, inspirational speeches geared toward the middle class, the earnest yet chic geekiness made to order for the young, old and disenfranchised, and the calm needed to enact change in a country that needs this like a man thirsting for water in the Sahara, lay the killer instinct of a champion knowing he needs to go for the jugular.
“That One” knows he’s close to ultimate victory, but realizes he must close the show by leaving no doubt.
At next week’s debate in the city that won’t sleep on this historic moment, look for an audible from “That One” when looking over the GOP defense. Seeing an all-out blitz from a desperate yet determined G.O.P. candidate, John McCain is coming with the kitchen sink to blast Obama. One mistake with that move, however: he leaves Sarah Palin exposed to her lack of experience, as well as a party unaccustomed to a brother changing the game they mastered for so long, helpless and hopeless against two receivers running GO routes (Straight Fly patterns ) as “That One”, the quarterback of change, drops backs and stands tall in the pocket.
Someone’s about to get burned on the bomb, y’all.
Looking right, Obama sees the GO route of one receiver is one that represents centuries of progress, inch by inch. That GO route is for all those lashes taken from slaves, those deeply embedded scars by way of Willie Lynch; the strung up broken necks of Jim Crow; those raped sisters of yesteryear that kept families together when their men were mules; those assassinated fighting for what’s right; people of color period.
Palin can’t hang with the speed of that type of emotion, for it’s been restrained by the bump-and-run tactics of injustice for so long.
“That One”, cognizant of the game breaker’s fury to his right, could go in that direction, and not be criticized for his decision. Instead, he pump fakes there, freezing the negative safety coverage of CNN and FOX NEWS, and looks left.
Noticing the traditionally cynical and apathetic cornerback of problematic order has fallen down, he lofts a tight spiral to a streaking, ambiguous-colored receiver of change, of progress, of solution. This rookie pass catcher carries a powerful message to the country once “That One” takes residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: patience, objectivity and assistance. Each blazing step of the rookie’s trail speaks for “That One” :We must help him by becoming better fathers, mothers and people to one another; as well as show patience as he tackles 1) the issue of restoring peace both home and abroad by bringing troops home from a dumb war, and 2) fixing the economy while battling greed and self-interest.
While still a rookie receiver, somehow “That One” trusts him. He needs to, because the superstar on the right is retiring after a well deserved Hall-of-Fame career whose greatness was best in oppressive racial obscurity.
As “That One” goes, so goes the other guy finding his shine. Give them eight years to do the job.
The ball will nestle in the rookie’s hands soon, as the touchdown will be scored on November 4th, when black people scared of tremendous disappointment will believe. All people in need of change will follow suit, and a world ready to render a harsh, severe judgment on America will instead say “It’s About Time”.
“That One” is thisclose. |
Email This Page