Politics

Fight the Power

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Colin Kaepernick had a plan. The San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback had made up his mind: He wasn’t going to stand for the national anthem for the team’s first preseason game. He felt in his heart that it was necessary to make a statement against racial oppression and police brutality. Still recovering from shoulder, thumb, and knee surgeries, Kaepernick wasn’t suited up to play. So he sat through the anthem, and either no one noticed or no one cared. The same thing happened for the next preseason game. It was only when he sat for the 49ers’ next game—in uniform this time—that he stood out. He was now in the spotlight.

A small, simple, silent act of protest, but one that has had large repercussions. Although Kaepernick now kneels instead of sitting, in deference to those serving in the military, fans have booed him, burned his jersey, and made death threats against him. One NFL executive called him a “traitor,” while other NFL brass said they would never want him on their team, no matter how talented he is.

The Choice Is Yours

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On the surface, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney couldn’t be more different. For a paranoid segment of the population who sees a person holding the nation’s highest office who doesn’t look like them, Obama constitutes a threat to their way of life.  To those on the other side of the ideological divide, Romney is an entitled plutocrat using his wealth and influence to bully his way into the White House so that he can further the diabolical machinations of his corporate cronies, who seek only to exploit the lower classes and add to their already overflowing coffers.

The Black Messiah?

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A Black family now lives in the White House, an iconic structure that just happens to have been built by Black slaves. The metaphorical implications are unmistakable. To many, Barack Obama’s defeat of John McCain represents the beginning of the end of the United States’ long history of racism and the beginning of a shining new day in American politics.

This symbolic victory aside, however, some might wonder why Mr. Obama would even want to be president at this point in time. On several fronts, the country is teetering on the brink of disaster. He inherits the worst economy since the Great Depression, not to mention the Iraq War, which has taken over 4,000 American lives and has no definitive end in sight.

Brand Obama

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Everyone wants a piece of Barack Obama—literally. How else do you explain the insane media feeding frenzy that surrounds the nation’s first Black president? But is the Obama phenomenon, in both its marketing and media aspects, merely harmless, or is it a reflection of America’s crazed celebrity lust, an insatiable longing to connect with public figures that can never be completely satisfied?

The word most commentators used to describe Obama’s election was “historic,” and that is certainly true. Moreover, some pundits have made a convincing case that Obama’s election was really the first real election of the 21st Century. In many ways, George W. Bush was an anachronism, a product of a dying era. Although it’s easy to forget, Bush was fairly popular for much of his first term, mainly because of September 11th. But although there are many fervent supporters of the 43rd president, there is little or no corollary in terms of the merchandising that has occurred in conjunction with Obama. There is an endless fascination with him that has taken on a fetishistic quality, and it has manifested itself in some bizarre ways. The mass merchandising of President Obama and his family is the most obvious.