Beautiful mountain, ugly politics

Gather ‘round, boys and girls, we’re going to play a game called, Name this mountain! First, a little story.

A story about a mountain.

A beautiful mountain, the biggest and the greatest.

The natives called the mountain the Great One. The settlers called the mountain the Great One.

Then the mountain became property of the United States of America. Still, everyone called the mountain the Great One.

Some 30 years later, someone with enough political clout (and the right skin color) "discovers" the mountain and unofficially renames the mountain, giving it the name of a politician in order to promote that politician (and his political agenda, of course), a name that has absolutely nothing to do with the mountain or anyone living around it, the name of a man who never set foot on the mountain. Did he even know about the mountain?

Didn't matter to the political clout (with the right skin color) in charge of the property.

Did matter to the people living around the mountain, natives and settlers, seemingly of all skin colors.

Natives and settlers continued to call the mountain the Great One. And for the last forty years, they’ve been petitioning the federal government, trying to get the federal government to officially called the mountain the Great One.

But even a mountain as great as the Great One could not break through the mountain of governmental red tape, and so the mountain — although still quite great — did not possess an official name that seemed all that great to anyone living near the mountain.

That is .. until enough time passed, enough loopholes lapsed, and the ultimate political clout was in the hands of someone (with an amazing different skin color!), but also someone who could officially make the Great One, the Great One again …

…thereby giving the people of Alaska — natives and settlers alike — what they wanted all along. What they called it anyway.

Denali, or, as we say in the non-native language, the Great One.

Happy ending?

It would seem so, for the people of Alaska who have actively sought to make this happen for the last 40 years. Today, President Obama has made it happen.

Isn't that a happy ending?

Depends on who's telling the story and their point of view (and agenda).

President Obama. Air Force One. Alaska bound.

The Alaska state government — (an historically white/Republican dominated institution, yes?) — has been trying to assert its states right over the federal government's rights to name its mountain, or rather, keep the original name of its mountain.

Finally, the federal government delivers. Completely legally. And what are the "pro-states-rights" Republicans saying about this?

“Another example of the president going around Congress,” says one member of Congress from Ohio (who should perhaps bone up on his job description and the laws of the land).

“Obama overstepped his bounds,” says a former governor of Ohio (who should perhaps realize the Prez’s Dept. of the Interior is leaps and bounds within its bounds).

“Another example of Obama's constitutional overreach,” claimed another member of Congress from Ohio (who should point out where in the constitution “naming mountains” is mentioned).

Did I mention it was Congress who followed up on the original, unofficial renaming by making it official a couple of decades later?

That unofficial-turned-official political name? Mount McKinley, after former President McKinley, who never set foot in Alaska, but walked around plenty in Ohio, his native state.

And home of most, if not all, of the politicians now making a big fuss about President Obama’s Department of the Interior offically renaming the mountain by giving it its original name.

Isn't that restoring American? Making the Great One great again?

Not to his opponents.

“President Obama has decided to ignore an act of Congress by unilaterally renaming Mount McKinley in order to promote his job killing war on energy. This political stunt is insulting to all Ohioans,” says the former Ohio governor, now running for president.

What about the political stunt that was insulting to all Alaskans?

What about the political bullshit that's insulting to all Americans?

What about the political party that constantly twists and bends the facts and circumstances of every situation to make Obama seem like one dumb (or smart) Kenyon-born, Islamic monkey nigger who's trying to take away everybody's guns and jobs and turn America into a Muslim caliphate?

What would you name the mountain?

If you can't see the mountain of bullshit, it's no wonder you can't see the great accomplishments of the greatest president of the 21st-century.


***

Quotes and other information about this story can be seen in the USA Today articles, Obama administration renames Mount McKinley to Denali and Ohio delegation blasts Mount McKinley name change.

Down But Not Out

"America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history ..."

—President Barack Obama
May, 2011

Still in Good Hands

Thank you, every single dead soul who endured unimaginable hardship to make [Barack Obama's] historic inauguration day possible.

The Africans who were kidnapped from their villages, marched across Africa, ferried across the sea, unloaded off the ships and sold into a life of slavery in America, those Africans are all dead; but they're descendants are now in good hands, and life is only going to get better from here to eternity.

—from Africans In America In Good Hands Now

President Obama's Faults

The home foreclosure crisis is President Obama's fault.

The drug war in Mexico is President Obama's fault.

The fallout from the Great Recession is President Obama's fault.

The next tsunami to hit Asia is President Obama's fault.

Washington gridlock is President Obama's fault.

The fact that I'm still single is President Obama's fault.

The billions spent to wage war in two Middle Eastern countries is President Obama's fault.

The terrible record of the Dallas Cowboys is President Obama's fault.

The polarization of America is President Obama's fault.

High unemployment is President Obama's fault.

Brett Favre sexting is President Obama's fault.

The rise of Tea Party witches is President Obama's fault.

All bad weather this winter is President Obama's fault.

The decline of America is President Obama's fault.

The record number of threats to the life of the first black leader of the United States is President Obama's fault.

The fact that you won't get everything you want for Christmas is President Obama's fault.

The fact that one in five Americans believe Obama is a Kenyan born Muslim is President Obama's fault.

Steve Carell leaving the Office is President Obama's fault.

Life is President Obama's fault.

New American Dictionary for Angry White People

Once upon a time in America, the world was a-changing and a lot of (mostly) white Americans (who viewed themselves as conservatives) were very upset about all this change.

They wanted no part of change. They wanted the world they inherited from their parents and grandparents. No a-changing here.

So they revolted. Threw a tea party to express their anger. When that didn't work, they declared, fought for, and won their independence from the King of England.

"Restore America [to an earlier time when white man ruled and darkies didn't aspire to be President.]"

Along the way, they created an entire mythology around the war, obscuring one of the reasons they went to war: England was ridding itself and its empire of the institution of slavery and Americans wanted no part of it. The world was a-changing.

And that is the lost reason for the American Revolution.

Fear of a Black President

Dear President Obama,

If you came out and said the sky is blue, certain citizens of our country (and certain members of a certain political party) would oppose your accusation that the sky is blue.

Furthermore, they would declare that you calling the sky blue is just one more way you plan to run America into the ground.

Kinda reminds me of adolescents who contradict and oppose everything said by their parents. Teenagers do it as a rite of passage, it seems.

Certain Americans (and members of a certain political party) seem to be doing it out of fear of a black president. What else could have them so spooked by and opposed to every single thing you do?

It's as if certain people want to party like it's 1947, when a black man wanted to play big league baseball.

Personally, I think you're doing a remarkable job, especially in light of the America you inherited. This American approves of your presidency, not that any pollster has bothered to ask.

So hang in there, Mr. President. I have faith that you shall overcome certain Americans' fear of a black president.

P.S. I won't tell anyone, but I know the secret to Obama's success!

If the Tea Party Ruled the World

Some say the Tea Party is full of racists. Some say the Tea Party is about lower taxes, lower deficit, fiscal responsibility. I say, the telling is in the doing.

If the Tea Party came to power in America, how would they achieve their goals? Would public schools get more or less money? What about social programs for the poor and disenfranchised? What about healthcare?

What about the other decisions governments must make? Like gays in the military? Gay Marriage? Civil Rights? Immigration? Abortion?

"Why did the Tea Party form shortly after the first black President took office?"

Think there's a wide range of views on these subjects among Tea Partiers? Or do their views tend to overload one side of the scale, namely the side against gay rights or a woman's right to choose?

Do Tea Partiers sound like rationale, reasonable adults willing to consider all sides of any argument? Do they seem welcoming, all-inclusive?

Why did the Tea Party form shortly after the first black President took office?

It may seem entirely circumstantial, but then again, one could say it's merely coincidence the Klan formed shortly after black people gained their freedom in America.

If the Tea Party ruled the world, we'd see their true color: white.

We'd see their ultra-conservative social views. We'd see that the Tea Party is mostly comprised of conservative, white-male-thinking Americans who are unleashing decades-long, pent-up fear that the good ole boy America of yester-century is going, going, soon-to-be gone.

That is, unless the Tea Party can make America like it was before.

Before the rest of us had any rights or say.

Crude Realities

Dear Mr. President.

Out of (the deep) blue, comes this very oily mess caused by a rig explosion off the coast of Louisiana.

If it isn't one Gulf, it's another, eh, Mr, President, sir?

This is not your oil spill, no more than the Exxon Valdez is the spill of that president. The true frustration of the public comes from the fact that in real life, things don't happen as fast as they do in the movies.

The public forgets: just because you can have a real time video chat with grandma in another state doesn't mean huge corporations or government departments can solve huge problems in the time it takes for President Bruce Willis to put on a specially made, presidential diving suit, dive down himself and plug that hole!

And while BP may have culpability in the spill, does anyone honestly believe they're not doing every single thing possible every minute of every hour to stop the madness? BP has the most to lose, oil, reputation.

They may also be running spin control. Who wouldn't? The public fails to realize: they're doing everything they can to plug the well.

Therefore, Mr. President, sir, I believe the solution is for you to put on a Bruce Willis mask, dive down there yourself and plug that hole!

Or keep doing you, and hang in there, Mr. President. This American is with you.

Political Pissing Contest, Anyone?

His opponents continue to used the term Obama Care.

Does that mean the two nearly-decade-old military conflicts in the middle east should forever be known as the Bush Wars?

The Obama Files, now and forever at Randy Boyd's Blocks.

We Are the Kennedy Babies

We were born during Camelot. We were the little cheeks he kissed and welcomed into the world. We were born in his America. We are now running America.

We are the Kennedy Babies.

We are the children born during the 1000 days of the John F. Kennedy Administration.

We were in our mothers' arms, by our fathers' side, in our cribs, getting our first glimpse of the world, between the time President Kennedy was inaugurated and assassinated. Too young to understand but not for long. Our mothers and fathers and the world would fill us in soon enough.

"... being in my mother's arms while she watched coverage of Kennedy's assassination."

President Barack Obama is a Kennedy Baby.

Any child born in America between January 20, 1961 and November 22, 1963, is a Kennedy baby.

I am a Kennedy Baby, born in 1962, the only full year of his administration.

By the time I understood that there was something called a Catholic person, it made no matter to me. Yet it had been such an issue at the time of JFK's election. By the end of my first decade, I saw man land on the moon six times, unaware a young president had once made a promise.

The first Kennedy who garnered my young soul's attention was Bobby. My brother and I were playing in Tarkington Park in Indianapolis. The year was 1968. I was age six. Suddenly, a motorcade passed by. Red lights swirling on top of police cars! My brother, age eight, put it in context: a man named Bobby Kennedy was running for president and campaigning in Indianapolis.

A handsome tan white man sat high atop a convertible, waving to onlookers on the sidewalk. We probably looked on until the motorcade passed, then went back to playing in the park.

Later, I learned of Bobby's brother, who had been president when I was born. More than once I heard the story of being in my mother's arms while she watched coverage of President Kennedy's assassination.

It was only much later in life that I learned that childhood moment with Bobby Kennedy happened in the same year he spoke to a mostly black audience in a inner-city Indianapolis neighborhood, urging calm, the night Martin Luther King was assassinated.

I've come to know much more about the Kennedys in the nearly half century since I was born. The longer I live, the more I witness their legacy, and the more I'm proud to have been born under their watch, especially during that bright shining moment that was Camelot.

Thank you, JFK.,
A Kennedy Baby

Un-American Acts in America: A Brief History

When America gained its independence from Great Britain, America became the land of the free.

Free, that is, for white, male property owners, the only people allowed to vote. America was theirs. They were America. USA! USA! USA!

A few decades after the American Revolution, a few more common folk earned the right to vote. Oh, you still had to be white. And male. You just didn't have to be a wealthy property owner.

“This is un-American!” some rich white men cried. “They'll destroy the America we know and love!”

Several decades later, even more folks got the right to vote. Oh, you still had to be male. But if you were a male of color and wanted to risk your life, you were welcome to try 'n' cast a vote.

“What's happened to the America we know and love?” some rich white men cried (before they went out and starting lynching would-be voters).

Several decades later, even more Americans got the right to vote. First women, then Native Americans, then the very poor. Then the black people who previously faced death squads for exercising their right to vote were given armed backup.

“The America of today is not the America I grew up in,” some rich white people cried each and every time other voices were allowed to speak up.

Today, whites, blacks, women, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians and other Americans rich and poor have voted into office the first black president, who isn't doing anything all that different from most of the white presidents before him.

“He's a socialist Muslim destroying the America we know and love,” some rich white people cry with each and every un-American breath the black president breathes.

This concludes this brief history of un-American acts in America.

Welkomme to Amerika.

The Secret to Obama's Success

He did it! What no other black man before him had accomplished. He achieved the unthinkable. He became president of the United States of America.

He did it again! What no other president before him had accomplished. He achieved the unthinkable. He made universal healthcare the law of the land of the free.

He was brave enough to stick with his convictions and face his oppressors. It's done. They'll try to undo it, but it's done. It's done.

"Obama has something few men possess."

In less than two years, Barack Obama has achieved the impossible twice. One can just imagine (or see on television) the spinning heads of the scared white racists, er, rebels, er, republicans, decrying: where has our 'whites only' America gone?

When the white man mandated auto insurance, home owner's insurance, driver's licenses, social security, Medicare, some protested, but they got over it. That's because it wasn't personal.

When a black man mandates anything, it's personal. It's personal. It's personal.

So how does this black man, whose middle name is Hussein, keep defying the odds and doing crazy things like winning the presidency and achieving healthcare reform in the blink of an historic eye?

"The president's secret weapon is so innate, it's invisible."

Barack Hussein Obama has a secret that's more like a secret weapon. He has something few men possess, a trait that allows him to outlast the blowhards and remain calm amidst the yelling, screaming and temper tantrums.

It's not his brain, albeit he's one smart man. It's not his charm, although he's quite charming. The president's secret weapon is so innate, it's invisible, so ingrained, it's in his nature, so elusive, it would take Jedi-like training from an early age for an ordinary man to grasp and master.

Barack Obama's secret weapon is patience. He has the patience to pause before reacting, the patience to listen before speaking, the patience to give his brain some perspective. Got an insult? A lie? A spin? An epithet? An accusation? Give it your best shot.

President Obama has the patience to let other reveal themselves for who they are, then reply with a well-thought-out response. By not letting his testosterone run the show, his highly talented brain is better prepared to spring into action. You might say, our president is a James Bond of the mind.

In this day and age, Obama's patience is not only a virtue, it's a must for the survival of America and the world.

Black People: Your President Needs You!

President Obama and the democrats make a final, weekend push for healthcare reform. To bring America a step further into the modern world when it comes to universal healthcare. To eliminate the right of insurers to drop people from coverage "just because." To help the millions of disadvantaged Americans who turn to the ER for basic medical care.

Meanwhile, republicans are out demonizing, name-calling, fear-mongering, partying like it's 1947. Where's all that love black folk had for the first black president, oh, circa, fourteen months ago? Where's that support now? Where are those voices? Why are so many so silent on such a critical issue for the president? An issue so critical to black people?

I refuse to be a vote that disappeared. I believe President Obama is good for my health. I believe President Obama is good for America's health.

Party Like It's 1947

There's no doubt in my mind history has been kind to what it was really like for Jackie Robinson, the first black player in Major League Baseball in 1947.

The soft, fuzzy focus of America's collective memory, along with baseball's canonization of the man, has let seep through the cracks of time the details of hardcore hatred and ignorance embedded in white America at the very idea of a colored man playing baseball.

It's not hard to imagine that every single word, gesture and action by the black man was challenged, scrutinized, seen as un-American and a radical change from all that was good and sacred about this great country of ours.

"Will it take decades before a black president is considered equal to a white president?"

White men did not want to be on the same playing field with the black man, let alone acknowledge that the black man had any positive contribution to the game, the team, their individual lives.

Just because the black man was allowed to play didn't make all that hatred go away. Players had to be forced by owners to play with the black man. And while the black man played the game, the black man was still not considered equal.

The black man was criticized like no other player before him, booed like no other player before him, spit on like no other player before him, called names like no other player before him, blocked from playing like no other player before him.

It took decades before a black athlete would be considered equal to a white athlete, in that they both have an equal shot at greatness, based on ability.

There's no doubt in my mind history will be kind to what it's really like for President Barack Obama, the first black president.

The soft, fuzzy focus of America's collective memory will let seep through the cracks of time the details of hardcore hatred and ignorance embedded in white America at the very idea of a black man leading the country.

Every single word, gesture and action by the black man is challenged, scrutinized, seen as un-American and a radical change from all that was good and sacred about this great country of ours.

Republicans and Tea Partiers do not want to be on the same playing field with the black man, let alone acknowledge that the black man has any positive contribution the country, the congress, their individual lives.

Just because the black man is allowed to be president doesn't make all that hatred go away. And while the black man acts as president, the black man is still not considered equal.

The black man is criticized like no other president before him, booed like no other president before him, called names like no other president before him, blocked from running the country like no other president before him.

Will it take decades before a black president is considered equal to a white president, in that they both have an equal shot at greatness, based on ability?

I wonder if Mr. Robinson's second year in the big leagues was any better than his first?

Remembering Emancipation Day II

"The Africans who were kidnapped from their villages, marched across Africa, ferried across the sea, unloaded off the ships and sold into a life of slavery in America, those Africans are all dead; but they're descendants are now in good hands, and life is only going to get better from here to eternity."

—from Africans In America In Good Hands Now, originally published on this blog on President Obama's inauguration day, 1/20/2009.

Tea Party for WHITES AND LATINS ONLY

It's my personal experience that 85% of all gay men, regardless of race, won't date black men. A recent survey in AIDS and Behavior found "blacks are deemed the least preferred as sexual partners by men of other ethnicities."

Nearly every gay man in My Racist Gay World who has prejudged All Black Men to be unlovable will tell you: "I'm not a racist, it's nothing personal, just a preference."

The racist never admits to being racist.

That preference has roots. That preference was not born out of thin air. That preference is a not-so-distant evolutionary cousin of the same kind of hateful, racist venom being hurled at America's first black president, as seen in the negative depictions of President Obama at Tea Party protests.

"Look at today's wedding photos. How many wedding parties are integrated?"

A few decades ago, images of black men and women as savages were the stuff of ad campaigns for everyday products, as well as an entire genre of mainstream entertainment. A poster like Obama Care could have easily been an ad for a fresh pot of a new brand of coffee. The way Americans get their morning started right!

The Tea Partiers and extreme Right, revivers of a true American art form--revolting images of niggers--are a group that was once the majority in America. It stands to reason, these were the great grandparents of the current WHITES AND LATINS ONLY gay generation, more or less.

There was a time in America's 234 year history where 100% of the population hated niggers, more or less, so to speak. As recently as 60 years ago, 50% of the population hated niggers, more or less (and that's being quite generous, isn't it, Mr. Jackie Robinson?)

It stands to reason, not all of white America has overcome all of its hatred and fear of black people. Perhaps it's not expressed as it was in the past, but look at today's wedding photos. How many wedding parties are integrated?

"Pink and Blue weren't the only colors given meaning to our world before we were born."

Look at people's Facebook pages. How many white people have only white friends, more or less? If you judge America by people's personal photos on the Internet, black and white are not so integrated in modern America life.

It stands to reason then, not all of white gay America has overcome all of its hatred of niggers, either. What's shocking, perhaps, is the blatant, unchecked, unchallenged expression of that hatred turned preference on the gay Internet.

It's akin to a digital Gay Tea Party revolt. The roar is loud and angry, the message explicit, the words blunt, harsh and capitalized. All over the net, countless gay men of all races are shouting to the world: WHITES AND LATINS ONLY! NO BLACKS! NO ASIANS!

“But I'm not a racist,” ten out of ten of them will say about their “preference.” My best friend is black. I know what I like. I voted for Barack Obama. It's nothing personal, just a preference.

That “preference” has roots. The idea of excluding a whole "race" of people from your dreams was not born out of thin air. Pink and Blue weren't the only colors given meaning to our world before we were born, after we were born, as we were raised, as we all absorbed the world around us.

The challenge then, for all modern Americans--regardless of race, politics or sexual identity--becomes one of, shall we remain chained to our roots, or shall we overcome a past that shackles us and keeps us apart from one another?

Yo', Homos: Get Off Obama's Back!

To all the queers huffing and puffing and threatening to blow the White House down if the Obama Administration doesn't capitulate to the Gay Agenda STAT:

Don't ask the president about your rights or tell Mr. Obama what do do!

Gay rights, equal rights, marriage rights--they're all important, but not if the country is free-falling towards total economic meltdown.

Remember how things were a year ago? The financial sky was falling, ready to blanket all American dreams, gay or otherwise, in a gloomy cloud of Great Depression dust.

Remember how, a year ago, the rest of the world hated America? Remember how much America hated itself?

"If gays and lesbians want to march for a better world and demand it of our president, they should demand it of themselves as well."

President Obama has had a lot on his presidential plate, possibly more than any other president in history, and you want him to wave a magic pen and strike down Don't Ask, Don't Tell?

Historical reminder: Don't Ask, Don't Tell was the end result of newly-elected President Bill Clinton's first official blunder: assuming he could automatically do away with the military's anti-gay monolith. Don't Ask, Don't Tell was the tail-between-the-legs compromise, which, like the horrific economy and two wars, President Obama inherited.

Fact: The Obama Administration doesn't rush to judgment about troop deployment, let alone gay issues. The Man is a thinker before he's a doer. The president is a coalition builder and a diplomat. He's also Tiger Woods. Do you tell Michael Jordan when to shoot? Do you tell James Bond when to spring into action?

Relax, LGBT people of America. Let the President deal with the deep shit he inherited before he gets to the fags. What--you think you'd be better off by now with John McCain or Sarah Palin? Think you'll be better off with any republican?

"How about a dialogue within the gay community about the WHITES AND LATINS ONLY racism rampant on the gay internet?"

It's a courageous thing to march for gay rights, and I love a good pep rally. After all, I was a cheerleader at two major universities. But there's bigger fish to fry right now. Hey, queers, how about visibly supporting Obama's health care reform? The sooner that's over, the sooner we can get back to our gay makeover of the country.

And since so many homos are being so politically active and socially contentious--at least when it comes to gay issues--how about we take a good look at ourselves?

How about a dialogue within the gay community about the WHITES AND LATINS ONLY racism rampant on the gay internet? How about some personal reflection on the DISEASE-FREE, UB2 attitudes among gay men, the very same attitudes that are partly responsible for the new AIDS epidemic? How about some attention to the new AIDS epidemic itself?

If gays and lesbians want to march for a better world and demand it of our president, they should demand it of themselves as well. And while waiting for marriage rights and military rights, I suggest that all gays and lesbians ask themselves: how can I make the gay community a better place for all gay Americans?

President Obama: Good for My Health

“Throughout the history of humanity, the greatest ideas, innovations and inventions involved people thinking thoughts, dreaming dreams and creating creations that were, at one point, considered crazy, twisted, unbelievable, false, outta this world, impossible, incredible, sacrilege, beyond our wildest imagination, freaky, insane, worth burning to suppress, too revolutionary, scary, too much, the end of the world as we know it.”

- from Walt Loves the Bearcat

Dear President Obama,

You are one inspiring president right now, the way you're fighting for health care reform.

Your opponents--you know, that group of people who oppose whatever you say and do--they're throwing every trick in the political book at you. The howls of desperate men and women. Why do they not cry out with a plan of their own instead of filling the airwaves with rumors and lies?

They have no plan, except to disrupt your actions with circus tricks and media magic.

You can't even drink a beer without criticism. And you want to change health care? lol

You remind me of me and a lifetime of being the first black this or the first black that. First black newspaper editor-in-chief. First black cheerleader. First black in the drama department. First black in the office. You say the sky is blue; your opponents scream blasphemy. They can't decide what bothers them most, the idea you're presenting or the idea that it's you who's presenting it. Double blasphemy!

"They're willing to crush you, even if it means America is worse off."

But you, Mr. President, keep on doing your job, a job never held by someone like you. They can't imagine you coming in and being the president who rights the ship and sets a steady course for the foreseeable future. They can't even imagine you as a good president. Fortunately, they don't have to. You're imagining it for them.

They're willing to crush you, even if it means America is worse off. And yet you forge onward, undeterred and undaunted. You make your case and make it clearly. You remain you, a patient, rational man. You remain someone I aspire to be more like.

I can't go back in time and be a more patient first black in all the ways I filled that role in the past. But I can learn from my president and the way he behaves as he fights for better health care for all Americans.

Speaking of health care. I support you. All Americans deserve health care now. Why? Because universal health care is now a must, a hallmark even, of any modern day, advanced nation intent on being the leader in the world. For the love of a lower infant mortality rate, now is the time.

The big dreamers of the past faced the same kinds of hysterics from their opponents. I suppose it's only natural. Fortunately, in you, I have a president who not only dreams big and thinks big, he does so with dignity and respect. That in and of itself, makes you a great man in my eyes.

Thank you, President Obama, for being good for my health!

• Also check out: Black Man Confesses: I Love America!

Black Man Confesses: I Love America!

This is the greatest country on earth. The best democracy. The most freedom. America is the greatest place in the entire universe!

That's what I've heard from the mouths of white people my whole life. That's what I read in the school books. That's what I hear in the national anthem. That's what I see on television and in the movies.

All my life, the assumption that America is the Greatest Country Ever has permeated my world as if it were another element in the air we breath.

Now I get it! All those white people were right!

I have officially deleted all my skepticism about the United States of America and its great democratic experiment. America is the greatest country on earth! Anyone can rise up and become president of the United States! A man born five months before me, President Obama, is living proof!

"America is more than the sum of the actions and beliefs of any one person, race or group."

Before President Obama, I couldn't relate when white people said things like, “I support our president,” or “I'm doing it for America because I love this country.”

Now I get it. I love America like every white person who has ever loved America!

More than ever, I'm grateful to have been born in America.

America is more than the sum of the actions and beliefs of any one person, race or group.

America truly is the great democratic experiment, the first place in human history where human rights have had this much dialogue at the table, pretty much at all times.

Consider this: the fact that our founding fathers talked about and struggled with the issue of slavery was actually progress. A breakthrough even.

Given what we know about successive generations becoming more tolerant than previous generations, think the grandfathers of America's founding fathers were as conflicted about things like slavery?

Before America, human rights for anyone, let alone everyone, was an alien thought, relatively speaking.

Before America, kings, queens, warlords (and other religious deities) created the law of the land (because it is written in the stars).

Before America, there was little or no upward mobility in society for anyone, regardless of skin color or personal aptitude.

America was not only a new world, America was a new way of thinking, a new way of looking at the world, a new way of looking at human beings and their individual rights. Those bold ideas have evolved to become more and more inclusive and universal, which is why the world still looks to America as its beacon of hope.

Now I get it.

By becoming a living example, President Obama has shown me that America is a beacon of hope for all of us, even us black folk who are the descendants of the men and women who were slaves but a few generations ago.

I, too, am part of the American Dream, even as I feel the sting of old-world, WHITES AND LATINS ONLY racism in My Racist Gay World.

I love America. I no longer feel like its stepchild. I love my president. I support my president. I feel the same as every white person who's ever heard utter the words, “I love my country.”

That as much as anything makes me proud to be an American.

Thank You, Mr. President

The most enchanting thing about living in America is having President Obama for a president.