145 anos depois de Abraham Lincoln ter promulgado a " Emancipation Proclamation, abolindo a escravatura, 44 anos depois do Civil Rights Act ter posto fim à segregação racial, durante a presidência de Lyndon B. Johnson , os afro-americanos constituem ainda o segmento mais deprimido da população norte-americana. .Barack Obama , presidente eleito, descreve em Dreams from My Father de forma extraordinariamente impressiva o seu percurso e, sobretudo, o irrecusável chamamento dos seus genes para o reerguer da auto estima dos povos africanos, onde quer que vivam.
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O homem embriagado que ontem vi deitado diante do retrato de Abraham Lincoln na National Portrait Gallery parece-me simbolizar o percurso de grande parte da população negra nos EUA, marcado pelo passado esclavagista que, apesar das múltiplas referências de sucesso, persiste ainda de forma muito evidente.
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Ninguém melhor do que Barack Obama sente isso. Ninguém, melhor do que ele, poderá ajudar a culminar a ressurreição de um povo oprimido, iniciada há 145 anos.
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...Then, under a streetlight a few feet away, I saw the drunk from the meeting spinning around in slow circles, looking down at his elongated shadow. I got out of my car and asked him if he needed some help getting home.
"I don´t need no help!"he shouted, trying to steady himself. " Not from nobody, you understand me! Punk-ass motherfucker...try to tell me shit..."
His voice trailed off. Before I could say anything more, he turned and began to wobble down the center of the road, disappearing into the darkness.
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Dreams from my father
2 comments:
I was at the same exhibition nearly at the same time as you were, as much as I would like to agree with you on the concept, I must submit that modern America may just not be ready to see through the issue. Only this afternoon while I was at a shoping mall at Reston (VA) town centre, I saw a white man getting down from his car and 'spitting' (literally) at a coloured person with a white partner. It was almost unbelievable and we froze as we observed the whole incident - the question really is - When will real America rise to the ocassion?
This is only one of the first baby steps towards the America that matches the words of her founding documents. There is much work to be done. Remember that blacks were effectively re-enslaved just a few years after emancipation till the Great Society of Johnson. Slavery lies almost within living memory of people. It is not a memory that will be erased by a mere election -- but ut sure goes a long way.
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