Theory #8644: The Revolution Will Be Televised Printed on A T-Shirt...

I think I should preface this theory by stating that I voted for Barack Obama, and it wasn't because he's Half Black. I wasn't swept up in "Obama-mania" before he stated on policy idea like a lot of his supporters were. As I'm sure you've heard, voter turnout among Black people in my age was tremendous. It also presented a strange paradox in my mind. On one hand, I loved the mass mobilization that Obama's candidacy created in the Black community. However, I can't shake this feeling that it's now become trendy to be revolutionary.

That is a picture of the lovely...lovely Halle Berry wearing a T-Shirt supporting the President-elect. However, Obama is not the first historical/revolutionary figure to grace the fashion industry. Lesser known activists such as Che Guevara and Mumia Abu Jamal are some of the faces that have become popular choices for T-shirts. Whenever I see someone my age wearing a shirt like that, I'm immediately intrigued positively because I'm a fan of shirts like these. So if I have the time, I'll strike up some small talk about the person on the front of the shirt. A couple of times, I've been met with a response similar to, "Oh, I don't know who this is. It just matches my shoes/fitted/jacket/belt buckle." Needless to say, I was irritated.

Creative Obama T-shirts are the latest in this revolutionary fashion fad. The obvious problem that may arise is that this newfound urge for change will fade away, and that we are celebrating Obama's victory for all the wrong reasons. Black people: This is not an, "In your face!" moment that we should throw in White people's faces. Bear in mind this statistic: if every single African-American man, woman, and child had voted in this election, it would only be 8.8% of the entire popular vote (according to the 2000 census). That means that there were millions of White people that voted for Obama as well, and he wouldn't be elected without them. My fear is that we're celebrating this as we unfortunately celebrated OJ's victory in 1994. Michael Irvin said it best:

What a historical moment that was last night. ... From an African-American standpoint, I watched my people -- watched my people -- celebrate the not guilty verdict of O.J. Simpson. They were so hungry for a victory of some kind that they celebrated -- we celebrated -- the verdict of O.J. And I was thinking to myself, 'Two people are dead. Two people are dead' Now, I'm not talking about my people, I'm explaining them here. They were just so hungry to say 'We have a victory.' And I cringe when I even think about that.

I hope that isn't the same thing that's going on in the minds of Black people that voted for Obama. I hope that we really want to change our thinking, instead of just wearing it on our clothes.



Peace.