A Black Woman's Regret

[StMark]

I am a Black female Christian. I voted for Barak Obama...now what?

For as long as I can remember, we (Blacks) have been more or less 'an accursed thing.' White Christians early on took Scripture out of context, interpreting that as decendants of Ham we were cursed. Despite the numerous amendments and proposed amendments to the Constitution, the one thing that has not been amended or even taken into consideration for amendment is that Blacks are defined as less than human. That has been interwoven into the fabric of America, and whether anyone other than Blacks are willing to admit it, that mindset still exists among far too many. I personally experienced the era of separate water fountains, restrooms, entrances (if we were permitted to enter at all), schools, hospitals and etc. We fought in a war with Whites, but were not allowed among them.


One experiences no trouble finding on the internet seeing research article after research article, claiming Blacks are less intelligent than their White counterparts. During the Michael Vick trial a certain Republican Congressman declared that the acts against the dogs that were sanctioned/committed by Michael Vick were dispicable and unconscionable. That same Congressman was at one time a charter member of the KKK, and strangely enough had no problem with the gross and unconscionable acts committed against Blacks--acts that far surpassed those committed against dogs. But, again this is the mindset woven into the fabric of America. We've been enslaved, sold like property, had our families ripped apart and anything else one can imagine. Today, we continue to be racially profiled, stereotyped, suffer blatant disparaties when compared to our White counterparts, and are still grossly discriminated against. I, like many Black Christians, took those things into consideration.

For me, it was painful knowing that despite all we'd endured as a people, the only chance we'd ever had at seeing ourselves as 'just as good' as anyone else was still something bad. Why? Because Barak Obama is a Black man. Why does the prophecied/spoken destruction and devastation have to come at the hands of a Black man? Hadn't we suffered enough? This is the consensus of many Black Christians who voted for Obama. I do not say it is right, and yes we should have seen our worth in Jesus Christ and what He did for us on calvary. That is easy to say or even imagine when you're not Black. I think, for me, it was very difficult to accept that we were still being seen as bad, less intelligent and not even fully human. When we read the articles and heard the cries of those who were saying Obama was not God's will for America, we were for the most part seeing the faces of White evangelicals--Ravi Zacharias, James Dobson, Charles Stanley, Janet Parchal, and a host of White prophets and the likes.

Even as I write this, it is still painful to think of President-elect Obama as someone bad; yet it is far more painful to think of the horrible choice I made in voting for him. My belief was that I am not voting for abortion, as I would never do that. I saw it as more about the right to choose than the choice. While I am absolutely and unquestionably against abortion, I will defend anyone's right to free choice. I am both pro-life and and pro-choice, and I believe God is the same way. He does not agree with all of our choices, but He he has given us the right to make them.

I pray for forgiveness. Now, I must ask my daughter's to forgive me for encouraging them to vote for Obama. I must explain to them that I was moved more by my emotions than my convictions. I must now encourage them to repent, in the hopes that the Lord will have mercy on us.

I am sick at heart for the choice I made, and feel as though I've already taken the mark of the beast.