I do not need a White person’s acceptance to validate me. I do not need Barack Obama, Oprah, Magic Johnson or Will Smith to inspire me. I do not need to hear the mind numbing opinions of those who do need these things.
I am an African American. Aside from being an extraordinary individual, I come from an exceptional family filled with doctors, teachers, officers, and so on. My race, the broad brush American characterization of Black or African American, is responsible in a significantly large manner for the economic prosperity, civil liberties and cultural influence of the
My worth is the basis of my drive. I do what I do for the sake of my ancestors, race, family before me, but ultimately myself. While I appreciate others for their achievements, especially those who I share a common identity with, they are not necessary as role models. I do not need Michael Jordan to show me I can jump, nor do I need Martin Luther King to show I can speak, nor even Obama to exemplify my humanity. I am a force unto myself, as is anyone else who recognizes their self worth.
Everyone should feel they are valuable because they are. It should not take emancipation, a Civil Rights movement or the election of a Black President to bring about a sense of undeniable importance. People have been in a progressive state for hundreds of thousands of years and no one event is a deciding factor for any individual or group’s significance.
Additionally, just as an external figure is not necessary for self worth, the judgment of value by another person or society at large is insignificant. The White woman clutching her purse as she passes a Black man in a hoodie, man in a truck scoffing at the Black man in the Mercedes and the voter who lets Barack Obama’s skin color be the first thing to roll of his or her tongue (whether it be in a positive or negative light) are in the end inconsequential. To entertain the notion that these people’s opinion matter is to give them an unwarranted power.
Every person, when asked about how they feel now that an African American is elected president, made CEO, fortunate enough to make a billion dollars should laugh, shake their head and say you petty human being. We feel the same way that all people feel when any person succeeds. We feel the same way we felt yesterday. We are proud. As you should be.
I am valuable. Cannot you see?
