A Phoenix rises from the ashes and his name is Obama

For many years, the African American community has wrung its pleading hands in the hopes of calling upon a new leader to follow in the footsteps of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Many have heeded the call; Rev.'s Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Both have proferred themselves to be the annointed successors to the legacy born of the Civil Rights Era, but as it is written in the mighty word of God we hold so sacred and so has come to pass, not all are chosen.

Sharpton and Jackson have not only failed at inspiring a new generation to walk the trail blazen past of our ancestors, but they have dropped the mantle in bids to become media darlings. At worse, they have sacrificed their credibility to remain relevant to a press that long ago saw no value in their pomp and circumstance. God don't like ugly; it's even more shameful that his representatives would cloth themselves in his righteousness and rage gainst the system by which feeds their ego. Pride before fall is a scripture they may have perused, but not entered into the consciousness. For there is no other reason than ego as to why Blacks have stilled in movement on the beaten path of racism, oppression, slavery, violence and crime.

Not only is the Devil a lie, but so is the media because GUESS WHAT?!

SLAVERY IS NOT OVER!

African Americans are still slaves to the insituionalized racism which permeates the very fabric of this alleged free society which trumpets opportunity but yet so many blacks are denied the priviledge. We are so much more than the stereotypes of ignorancewhich are used as labels; greater than the sum parts of those who feed into the notion that all hope is lost. Therefore, pimping and turning little black girls into symbols of lust warrant such a degradation of our race.

Our schools are in decay because of deficient funding, materials and teachers willing to step into the inner city and proivde solid education for fear they are marked for death at the hands of a black man. I suggest society fears more an educated Black man who knows his potential and chooses not to stay in his place, but rise to the forefront of the cause.

One such man is none other than Barack Obama. The charismatic young Senator from Illinois has come from an obscure background of good works to the forefront of the Democratic ticket. Many debates will spring forth as to whether or not he will earn the party's nomination for president, but yet he does more than pose for the money shot. He opposed the Iraq war long before it was in vogue, passed ethics reform and is leading the fight on other pertinent issues critical to the survival of the "Dream".

A dream that has turned into a nightmare as the theology of By Any Means necessary has been twisted to construte shooting up drugs, black on black crime, medicority and the loss of innocence before puberty.

Time will tell if Obama is the man to help fufill this dream. Or if he is simply the last man to eulogize living up to the credo of our race.

So far, so good.