The Meaning of Hugs and Hope
After President Barack Obama gave one of the most electrifying speeches of his career at the Democratic National Convention, he was joined on stage by his rival turned bestie Hillary Clinton. If you didn’t get a sudden urge to smile or cry when they embraced each other, you’re a monster. No seriously, you’re a psychopath. You should probably talk to someone about that immediately. I hope someone locks you up before you harm anyone with normal human emotions. Where is my tissue?!?!
Anyway, whether you’re with her, still feeling Berned, voting for the orange lunatic or just over it all, it’s hard to deny the hug was quite possibly the dopest moment in U.S. political history.
On the most basic level the hug symbolized reconciliation and unity between the two. But on a deeper level, seeing the first black president of the United States embrace the first female presidential nominee spoke volumes about what’s possible in America. It’s easy to take the image for granted now, but up until very recently in modern U.S. history, a black man hugging a white woman was incredibly controversial— let alone on television as two of the most powerful people in the world.
I haven’t been shy about my support for Bernie Sanders. Admittedly, I’ve been reluctantly with her. However, I met a little black girl today. She was about 8 or 9 years old. She had on a dress and her hair was neatly braided. I noticed she drew a picture and I asked her if I could see. It was a crayon-sketched picture of the DNC with the presidential candidates (including Bernie). I asked her half-jokingly who she was voting for. Her eyes lit up as she proclaimed, “Hillary Clinton!” The combination of the hug on my mind and that little girl’s excitement gave me all the feels. Similar to the feels I got on November 4, 2008 as a sophomore in college.
I’ll never forget the moment it ran across the screen that Barack Obama had been elected president. I immediately called my father and he said, “It’s official, you now have a black president.” My father was acknowledging that I had something he couldn’t at my age— the image of a black man running the country. The image gave black people everywhere hope and helped to fight some of our very real internal struggles and insecurities. Someone who looked like us achieved what we thought was impossible.
Before we get carried away, this is not an attempt to dismiss the existence of racial and gender oppression. Two incredibly intelligent and persistent minorities clawing their way to the top against enormous odds and cultural prejudice means that Hillary and Barack, in many ways, got where they are in spite of America not because of it. Hillary winning the nomination doesn’t dismantle patriarchy or magically stop violence against women. Among others things, women still have to fight for equal pay and the right to control their bodies. Barack’s presidency didn’t change the fact that large portions of the black community still live in a state of emergency filled with violence, mass incarceration, poverty, lack of education and police brutality.
But symbols still matter. They can empower the powerless. l don’t think it’s a coincidence that the black lives matter movement started under the first black president. I personally feel more confident in my skin as a black man because of what Barack symbolizes. The fact that My President is Black and listens to Kendrick too gives me confidence that I can be myself — BLACK — and still successfully navigate this society. It gives me more courage to demand that I and others who look like I do matter just the way we are. Symbols like these are the beginning of progress, not the end. They’re the tiny lights at the end of the tunnel that make us run faster and strive for more.
Assuming Hillary wins (oh God please win!), I can only hope that even the most ardent female Hillary haters feel empowered that they get to disagree with a female president. I hope her symbol empowers them even subconsciously to demand that they be treated, in all facets of life, fairly and justly. I hope that little girl gets her gift in November. I also hope she takes it for granted and one day makes fun of the fact that I even had to write this article in 2016.
