DiversityInc - July/August 2008

best of diversityinc.com

BY CAROLYNN JOHNSON

Young, Black & Inspired

by Barack Obama

Growing up in a predominantly white suburb, I remember being 7 years old, kneeling to say my bedtime prayers and asking God why he made Black people and why I had to be one of them.

I was teased, made fun of, even beaten by classmates because of my race. I could read the same books, play the same sports and even sing the same songs, but they never accepted me because I was Black and they were white. It didn’t matter that my father earned as much and in some cases more than their fathers. I was hated because of something I couldn’t change.

There were moments when I was not proud to be Black. Every time I was passed over for something I knew I earned or won, it cut like a knife. I used to find myself trying too hard to fit in with other people. I was always changing things about myself, hoping it would force acceptance from the other side. My hair, my makeup, the way I talked and who I socialized with were all on a block waiting to be chopped up if they did not fit the mold.

I had so much to be proud of; I am the great-great-great-grandchild of a female slave, Emma Gertrude Onion, who purchased the land where she was once beaten, mentally attacked and socially oppressed. I had successful role models around me like my parents; my aunt, who founded and ran her own company; and grandparents who enjoyed a comfortable early retirement. Still, this was not enough. It wasn’t until I understood the historical achievements of Black people that I really began to realize I had so much to be proud of and inspired by. History is so important to one’s development. The following moments from the past speak to me and contribute to why I hold my head high:

• 1847: Frederick Douglass launched the abolitionist newspaper the North Star

• 1852: An African American was featured as a hero for the first time in a novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• 1863: Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation

• 1920s: Harlem Renaissance began

• 1947: Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color line by playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers

• 1954: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

• 1963: March on Washington for Jobs and

Emma Gertrude Onion

Freedom, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech

• 1965: Malcolm X was assassinated

• 1967: Thurgood Marshall was appointed to the Supreme Court

• 1968: The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated

• 1985: Oprah Winfrey’s talk show debuted

• 2004: Barack Obama was elected senator

• 2007: Oprah Winfrey opened a school for girls in South Africa

• 2008: Barack Obama is expected to win the Democratic nomination for president

Witnessing a Black man and a white woman competing for the right to represent the Democrats in the 2008 U.S. presidential election is something I never thought would happen in my lifetime. Obama’s ability to draw young people is amazing. I am truly inspired and ready to take the next step toward being an inspiration to someone the way Barack Obama is an inspiration to me.