The Obama Serenades

At Cape Coast,

we bowed our heads

in sorrow

and shame,

recalling the agonies

of our forebears…

the wicked complicity

of kinsmen

and sometimes

even parents…

 

At Cape Coast,

the ghoulish stench

of slavery

stared us

stiffly and

morbidly

in the face,

flaring up

our nostrils

to the wrenching

point of

hyperventilation…

Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jnr.

I am a Little Confused

I’m a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight…..

If you grow up in Hawaii , raised by your grandparents, you’re “exotic, different.” Growing up in Alaska eating mooseburgers and going aerial shooting for wolves in the winter; a quintessential American story. If your name is Barack you’re a radical, unpatriotic Muslim. Name your kids Willow , Trig and Track, you’re a maverick. Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable. Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you’re well grounded.

If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate’s Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran’s Affairs committees, you don’t have any real leadership experience.