AFTER THE DUST SETTLES

AFTER THE DUST SETTLES

Commentary by Day Gardner

November 5, 2014

Michelle Obama said in a recent interview that blacks should just get out and vote Democrat and then reward themselves with fried chicken.

http://dailycaller.com/2014/11/04/michelle-obamas-closing-argument-to-black-voters-dont-think-vote-for-democrats/

I cringed.  It would not have surprised me if she added blacks should also down some watermelon and chitlins while listening to a reading of Little Black Sambo.

Her comments took me back there; back to a time when black people were not seen as the intelligent human beings that we are.  It was as if Michelle Obama were saying - don’t think for yourself, don’t ask questions, just dumb yourself down and do what I tell you.

It’s bad enough that every in election cycle Republicans write us off entirely while Democrats pour into our neighborhoods in the weeks or months before an election selling illusory promises.

I have seen the faces of those hopeful people, expecting change.  Many of them are relatives or best friends who for years and even decades believed and fully embraced the hype.  But when the election was over, I watched the dust as it floated down to settle on unemployed men and boys--poor, disillusioned mothers—and troubled, scared children.

In a few years, they’ll be back.  The Republicans will continue to pretend that we are invisible -- and Democrats will urge us to vote for them because the color of our skin says we must. 

It’s a vicious cycle that will continue unless we say, NO! 

I’m saying, NO!

Day Gardner made history when, as Miss Delaware, she became the first black woman to be named a semifinalist in the renowned Miss America Pageant, breaking through numerous racial and stereotypical roadblocks. Presently, Dr. Gardner is the founder and president of the National Black Pro-Life Union on Capitol Hill.  A wife and mother, If Not for Grace is her first novel. www.nationalblackprolifeunion.com, daygardner23A@aol.com