THe OBAMAS are my heros!!!!

I have never been so facinated with a family in the White House as I am with the Obamas! It makes my day to see that they are not sacraficing their African American values, to meet the standards of those that were in there place before. By that I mean when they have balls at the White House, and you see Earth, Wind, and Fire performing- not Garth Brooks. Or comedians like Wanda Sykes, (even though it was like she said, a little too much) but she still made the crowd laugh, and it was still in line with someone President Obama associated with in his heritage.

It really disapoints me when African Americans get in a position of power, and forget who they are, and where they have come from- Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and how could we leave out Clarence Thomas! If they had done what Barak has done, maybe it wouldn't have taken so long for the country to see a positive view of an African American family, instead of them attempting to conform to another ethinic groups standards.

I was flipping through the channels, and I came across this Hurricane Katrina documentary. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before because it was by a married couple that had a tape recorder and recorded the whole thing. I came in on the part where they were trapped in the attic, and she was calling 911 for help. All the operator could tell her was that they couldn't send anyone out to help, and she (Kim) was questioning if she was going to die in her attic. Her husband, Scott, managed to move his family, friends, and even a few people he didn't even know to higher ground where they continued to film, until the end of the storm. What made me so sad was that they were stuck for so long, with absolutely nothing. After the water went down, and once the national guard finally arrived, their family and about 20 other people they just met along the way, were told to go to an unused navel base. They were told, even though it wasn't being used, and could have housed 200 families, to turn around with guns pointed in their face.

Watching this documentary made me sad because no one should have to endure that type of suffrage in a country they pay taxes in. But at the same time, I felt a sense of pride for my people. No matter how mean others were to them, they never lost their cool, and always wished everyone else to be blessed, even though they were placed in a strenuous situation.

The level of love the New Orleans natives showed to one another was amazing! To go through such hard times, and to look out for people they have never met takes a lot that most people today wouldn't dream of doing. I know they say everything happens for a reason, and maybe it was for them to form a better relationship with each other, maybe.

Some of the things I hope to learn from this African-American Studies class is exactly what types of underling issues still exist within the African-American community. Since I plan to teach, learning about the backgrounds of younger African-American students can help explain some of the predominant behavior within the younger community. This class gives more information for students to better understand the conditions and psychological issues that are not as apparent and in the everyday life may African-Americans lead.