The Youth Learn to React.

Monday, August 25, 2008 
By Vetalle Fusilier

 

Youth and Barack?  Quite simply, they support him or they don’t.   A much more interesting questions is: how do they feel about Barack?  That answer is carried in the messages they post.  

Music, the messaging medium of our young, has been utilized to have them understand who Barrack Obama is and what some believe his potential to be.   And some are proud to see a black man where they would not dare dream one to be.  It is a delight to the old, and a badge of courage to the young. New York rap/rockers Game Rebellion call Barack a gangsta (hero) for risking himself.  Young Jeezy just released My President is Black.  When was the last time you called the president “yours”?

Will i am, put together a video extolling Obama’s capacity and our desire for change, using the Obama New Hampshire primary address as the lyrics.  Directed by Jesse Dylan (son of Bob) Yes We Can features Barack speaking in unison at times with Wil, as well as almost 40 other actors, celebrities and athletes, including Nick Cannon, John Legend, Kate Walsh, Herbie Hancock, Aisha Tyler, Amber Valletta, Taryn Manning, Nicole Scherzinger, Common, Scarlett Johansson, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  Seen by over 11 million people the first week, it taught many of our young about the potential that this election holds for change that can be believed in.

Both campaigns have an official myspace presence.  And many supporters engage their new media chops to reach each other.  There are close to 3,000 cataloged videos under Obama on Youtube:  Linkin Park songs set to slide shows, TV skits and live addresses by the man himself.   It is estimated that one posting to member of a Barack Obama network on Facebook will reach in excess of 370,000 young voters within minutes.  There is Barack the Youth Vote, presenting blogs, articles, and insights written by young citizens across the United States working to help elect Barack president. 

Our youth are posting up their opinions for all to see. Perhaps you have seen the articulate young black man answer the questions about Barack in that video that appeared in your email months ago.  We are impressed with the young man’s ability to communicate as much as his perspective.  The youth are learning how to react. And they are teaching each other big lessons about this game and the media.  About blackness and its definition, and the importance of questioning authority, in the youthful imperative that characterizes children transitioning to adulthood. 

The voices of support reflect the adult voters, not only black, not just white, but those beginning to line up because a candidate supports the things they believe in.  This is being passed on, down, and up.    The argument is offered with passion and integrity, and in some cases the innocence of youth.
 

There are parents who would like their children to aspire to be like Barack.  For now many of them can be Barack as his user-submitted Mii, a digital avatar created for the Wii console is the one of the most popular in America.  He ranks right with Batman and just behind Indiana Jones.  So now you can win every day with Barack.

In all fairness, not everyone is a Barack supporter. The haters link him to everyone from the devil to Hitler. What we must respect is our youth learning to react to the unprecedented closeness of this candidate.  They are asking themselves how much they can expect from someone who looks like them.  And while some preach a wolf in blackface, undeniably he is family, like Jesse, OJ, and Clarence. While we make distinctions and teach them, the kids just want to play with each other, not question the ethnicity of their cousins.    Bi- racial?  Don’t think a black person coined that description.

We can guess the conversation that goes on at that dinner table.  Decades later there are still the smarter-than-thou who know about the tri-lateral commission.  And like all the rest, conspiracies will be proven to be true or false.   Faith demands we believe that.  But lurking just under that righteous crusade to save one person who can truly receive the message is the smug persona that is in many ways similar to the empire brain-building inhabitants that secretly rule everything.    But that’s another story.  And I can’t tell it.  Cause I don’t know it. 

On the brighter side, our youth have recognized the importance of this election and are choosing sides because they want to contribute however they can.
 

And the young mothers and fathers are wasting no time in impressing the significance of this election on their children.  And the children are learning to react, to have opinions, maybe for the first time. In between TV and the computer and the PDA phones, they are coming of age.    Our children mirror our beliefs, our notions of right and wrong, of housing shortages, and health care. 

The gift of this moment in time for us is connective.  For in truth we still get shot 50 times for pulling out our wallets, and pulled over while driving for the color of our skin. We have to teach avoidance of those situations.  But along with our fears, the youth are learning to react with pride to a smart, compassionate, candidate that speaks to their heads, hearts and heritage.

VeTalle Fusilier is a writer and producer living in Washington, D.C.