The First Black President

Today is very interesting to me. It is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and it is the day before the inauguration of Barack Obama as the first black President of the United States of America. It seems almost too perfect that we honor a man who believed in the unification of the US on the day before the US government's top post is finally led by an African American man.

My problem is this: is too much being made of the fact that Barack Obama is the first black president? I hear a lot about how proud Dr. King would be to see Obama elected president, and how it shows that the country is moving towards color-blindness. And I say, "If the country is color blind, the fact that Obama is the first black president shouldn't matter."

It's a milestone, though. Milestones cannot be ignored, but this is where the big deal needs to stop. In 1947, a big deal was made when Jackie Robinson became the first black player to play professional baseball. Today, no big deal is made when a black man makes his debut because I think sports, in a lot of ways, is color blind. Some sports are less color blind than other (white NBA players have to earn respect more so than black players, and black quarterbacks have to shake stereotypes in the NFL), but I think baseball is where we want to be in terms of racial issues.

If a guy can pitch, it doesn't matter where he comes from or his lineage. He can come from Iowa or Harlem, Cuba or Japan. If he can play, he's allowed to play. I'm not saying that racism doesn't exist in baseball, but I think things are almost about as good as they can be.

And I think African American people should certainly celebrate the first black president, but once the celebration is over, we can't continue to think of Obama as a black president. Because does anyone think of Clinton as a white president? Or Reagan? Or Lincoln? Or Jefferson?

No, these men were presidents. And in a 2050 history textbook, Obama's chapter/section cannot be titled "Barack Obama: First Black President" - because if it is, Obama will have failed. It needs to talk about how Obama united the country, got us out of the recession, created jobs, led to innovations, fixed health care/welfare/Social Security. The fact that Obama was the first black president needs to be a footnote.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

These are some of Dr. King's greatest words from his most famous speech. And I think a lot of people will use these words to describe tomorrow's events. But are they really going to be true?

Because let's be honest. A great number of people in the country did vote in the 2008 election because of the color of Obama's skin. Some people voted against him because he was black, but a great number of people voted for Obama because he was black. A lot of them didn't know what Obama stood for, and they probably still don't to this day. And I don't think that's something that Dr. King would want to have happen.

Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers because he deserved to be there. When he got to the majors, he won the 1947 Rookie of the Year and the 1949 MVP. He made the All-Star team six times, and he helped lead the Dodgers to the 1955 World Series title. Jackie Robinson proved that he was a great baseball player...not a great black baseball player.

And that's what Obama has to prove.

Because if Jackie Robinson had come in and hit .150, struggling through a couple years in the major leagues, he would've proved the racists right, and it probably would've been another decade before another African American was given a chance to play.

I voted for Obama because I thought he was the best man for the job. But the people who voted for him because of his race had better hope that he's the best man for the job.

Because if he succeeds, Dr. King's dream is one step closer to coming true. But if he fails, it might take several steps back.