Lessons of Obama to the black child

Lessons of Obama to the black child

By Okello Lucima

I Cradle Him In My Arm
Only Two Months Old
Riveted By The Drama
Unfolding On The Telly

Thousands Throng Grant Park
In Chicago
An Expectant Night
Is At Hand

A Greyed White Man
Extols A New Era
Weighted On The Shoulder
Of A Tawny Black Child

Nonchalantly Asleep
On My Lap
He Does Not Discern
The Ecstasy at Grant Park

Oblivious To The Spectacle
He Does Not See My Tears
When Obama’s Declared Victor!
And Grant Park Exultant!

News Of Renewed Hope
For The Black Child
Of Haze of History and Race
Receding From His Horizon
Explodes!

Black Humanity
No Longer Caged
Black Dreams
No Longer Cordoned Off!

He May Dream Bigger Now
And Aim Higher, Or
Shoot For The Stars
Is Is Up To Him?

But The Black Child
Laden With Racial Baggage
Burdens of History Unloosened
He Carries Like A Calling Card

Obama’s Rise To Power
At The Citadel
Of White Racial Privilege
Leaves The Black Child
Secure in His Racial Cage

Held Back By Chains Of Slavery
In The New World
And Disinherited In The Motherland
By Capital and Tyranny
He Wallows In Perpetual Want

Lying Asleep In My Arms
My Eyes Wet With Tears
Joyful And Terrified At Once
Of The Paradox At Hand

The Black Child
Fated By History
Henceforth Tempted By
Obama’s Story

Bears Double Burdens
Of Race and Ambition
Of Unfettered Dreams
In A Changing…
Yet Unchanging World.

Northern Uganda Messenger Post (NUMP) © 2008