HE IS COMING TO SAVE US...PRAISE HIM!!!

The other day I was walking to my office on 125 and Lenox in Harlem and decided to go to a major coffee chain for an iced drink to beat off the early morning heat. On my way there, I overheard a conversation in passing between a middle-aged lady and older gentleman. The lady owned a stand on the corner in front of the coffee chain and the male was passing admiring the the Barack Obama articles for sale. The gentleman made a statement to the affect of Barack being the man for the job. In turn the lady shouted out "Yes, He is coming to save us!" Hearing this, I continued on my way to purchase my drink yet couldn't get the thought of Barack coming "to save us." The question is who is "us" and save "us" from who or what?

Don't get me wrong, I am a huge supporter of Barack and all that he stands for. I am a great champion to the cause of getting a brother in the White House other than to be a butler or gardener. Unlike Jesse Jackson, I like my leaders with their balls intact, so this is not a dig on Obama nor the cause for getting him elected. However, this is more a point of getting Blacks, Africans and Americans alike to wake up and smell the s^!t on your noses. Unfortunately, Barack is not coming to save us! This is not the second coming of the Christ, providing that you believe he is coming to save or redeem.

Barack Obama is one man, as with you or I. He is a mere man no more than King, X, Tubman or the mailman for that fact, he is simply a vessel or a tool to deliver a message or to be a bridge for change. Like a bridge over water that is not bringing two land masses together, yet is a conduit for making transition between the two more fluid, this should be our view on Barack and his role in the lives of Blacks and Whites in America and nations around the world. I often referred to Barack and his view of change as it appears to Blacks in likeness to The Wiz with Richard Pryor, Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.

The message is clear and has been for quite some time now. There is no doubt that Blacks had been looking for a leader since the first Moses. It is also apparent that since the assignation of King, X and the Panthers in the 60's, blacks have longed for someone to fill in the gap where the voids presently still stand. As with many of the leaders in the Bible preceding Chirst, we had come close, yet no cigar. It is also plain that, as with The Wiz in selecting someone to represent our voice, be it a preacher or a politician, African Americans tend to rest or lay all of our problems at the feet of this chosen person. We tend to look at our leaders as Saviors instead of being a source or conduit to getting things accomplished.

The reason I referenced The Wiz, is because it starts out where Dorthy is disconnected emotionally and spiritually from self and family. At dinner during a large snow storm in NYC the family has gathered and are singing "Don't Loose the Feeling." It is here where Dorthy is being by her aunt to grow up and not be afraid to move on to bigger better things. She is assured that in here moving forward, other things will open up to her and yet she would have a safety net, if the need arises for one. As the scene progresses, Toto, Dorthy's dog runs into the snow storm and Dorthy runs out to save him, finding that she herself needs saving from the storms powerful winds. The winds are so powerful that she is blown into a different dimension where she meets a strange set of characters. First off, she meets a group of inner city kids that had been oppressed by its government, one of the wicked witches. As the story moves on she is told that inorder to get back home she needs to find this wizard who has the answers to get her back.

In Dorthy's search to find this wizard, in her silver shoes along the yellow brick road, he runs into a scarecrow, a tin man and a lion, who are in search of a brain, a heart and courage, go figure. Along there journey to Emerald City, they run into a number of issues (e.g. sex, drugs and impressions) that that mirrors a few of the plights of the black community. Once at Emerald City, the viewer is introduced to the community of "impressionist" that makes the case that life is pretty much set by what the wizard says. The Wiz tells them what and when to wear certain clothing. Once inside to the Wizard, we find that in order for Dorthy to get back home the Wiz needs her for a favor as much as she needs him. In the end upon completing the task of the Wiz, Dorthy and her company finds that the Wiz is a mere man with faults and he will use her and her friends to get what he wants (i.e. a politician).

For once in our lifetime where Blacks or African Americans or Africans are at the brink of making history of becoming President in these United States we can not "Loose the Feeling."
The feeling that we can achieve whatever we might put our minds to accomplish. In the Wiz, it is apparent that the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion represent our community and our lack of certain qualities. It also occurs to me that "the brain" missing by the Scarecrow is our ability to be thinkers or having someone point the way for us. The "Heart" is our ability is lift our brothers and sisters in time of need. Last, but not least, "Courage" to fight like hell to change our situations if felt threatened. Instead of taking the responsibility to posses all of these things as a community, we place them at the feet of one person and are disappointed when he or she fails us, because like you and I he or she is human and also posses the quality of failure.


So remember, as you dance around in your Emerald City, awaiting the sirens and a Word from the Wiz, he is only a man. He has not come to save or redeem us from our sins. Instead of setting Barack up for failure, let's use what we have had in us all along, Wisdom, Heart and Courage to get back to that place that we all know of as "home." Home is only what we make of it. With your help and active work, we can elect Barack as our next president and make our "White House" a home.

-Derron C. Cook