The Election and Limited 23rd Edition Jordans

With another set of caucuses coming around on tomorrow, and the race for the Democratic nomination being tighter than ever, I have to say that I am definitely at a place of introspection. The fact that so many of African Americans have turned out to be active participants in this process invigorates me, while at the same time I feel encumbered with angst as so many of us still believe that our voices, despite the outcome of the impending election, will remain unheard. There’s apart of me that doesn’t blame them, as the downpour created by the trickle down effect seems to become only a light mist once it finally makes its way to the working poor. As a working professional, the opportunity afforded to me by the circumstances of my education, allows my optimism to glean a little brighter. As I look back to Super Tuesday, an event that seems apart of the distant past, I am reminded of the flood of calls and emails and text messages I sent out reminding my family and friends back in Georgia to cast their vote. In Atlanta, the local news reported that a large group, mostly African American males, waited from 1:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. in anticipation to purchase Limited 23rd Edition Jordan’s. As my friend waited in line to vote that morning, he looked for those faces, only find that he was only one of four African Americans that had turned out to the polls that early Tuesday morning. The other faces were those of parents and grandparents who were excited by the opportunity to cast their votes. There is a strange dichotomy that seems to occur in our community more than any other, where there is not a transfer of values from one generation to the next - the current belief that where there is no spotlight or camera, nothing is happening. I asked my friend why he made the choice to stand in line that morning. He told me that it was simply a fundamental belief in and genuine appreciation for the individuals who stood in line as the departed slave ships after a horrible middle passage, the individuals who stood in line as they saw their children used as currency to purchase equipment and land, the individuals who stood in line honorably to fight for a country that did not recognize them as citizens, the individuals who stood in line to enter institutions of higher learning while guarded by the US National Guard and mocked by the governor and the woman who stood in line to wave goodbye to her only son as she entrusted the only all male liberal arts college in the country to give her son the education she had not been afforded. This election isn’t so much about who you vote for, but rather to honor and pass on a legacy. Sadly, I have either been afforded more opportunity than the average black man my age, or the average black man my age has been disillusioned and lulled into such extreme apathy by what Limited 23rd Edition Jordan’s represent, that he is willing to step on the backs of all the men and women who died in order for him to wait in the line of their choice.