“These candidates and their rise in popularity among the people do indicate a change in the attitude of many Americans concerning females and Blacks.

Barack Obama has been very careful not to position himself as Reverend Jesse Jackson or Reverend Al Sharpton as a promoter of “The Black Cause.” He has been groomed, wisely so, to be seen more as a unifier, rather than one who speaks only for the hurt of Black people. In this, he has tapped the dissatisfaction of many Whites, Blacks, Hispanics and Asians across the spectrum, because who cares what color you are if you can save them from the mess that they find themselves in.

However, the hope of a potential female or African-American president I don’t think is enough to change the reality of the Black, Native American, poor and oppressed people of this land. There are forces, beyond the president, that dictate how the president presides. There are forces that Barack Obama may see, or may not see, and these are the forces that kill presidents when presidents don’t act as they think the president should act to further their ends; thus the killing of Abraham Lincoln and the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

The forces of racism in this country are still very strong. Even though there is strong mass appeal, if the racist element in this country thinks that Barack Obama will be our next president, they may come out of the woodwork if they can’t bend him, and hurt our Brother, and therefore show the country though the masses may say “We like him,” the forces may say “He is not one of us.”