Urban Thought Collective

A friend of mine summed it up pretty well when he said, “Now I can truly say I’ve seen everything,” after I called him on the phone and told him to quickly turn on his television. Our man Barack Obama was addressing a crowd of thousands in Coral Gables, FL when a group of about a dozen black people stood up holding anti-Obama signs and causing quite a commotion.

“You young people up there…,” Barack started in, as the disturbance took the focus momentarily away from his speech. “I don’t mind if you hold up your sign, but please keep it down for those that would like to hear,” he continued.

“Blacks against Obama” one sign said.

“The KKK endorses Barack Obama,” another read.

“Obama supports gay marriage and abortion” said another.

“Jesse Jackson hates Obama for Federal Child Support Act.” That one actually made me laugh. Jesse probably does have some strong feelings on that subject, especially being such a public figure and getting exposed so vociferously by UTC’s own Najee Ali.

As I started to feel a little uneasy since it seemed a little too much like the “get yo hand out my pocket!” scene from Spike Lee’s “X”, Brother Obama kept his cool and got things moving again. I said a prayer for his safety and kept staring at the screen of the TV in my Santo Domingo Hotel Room (Hey, you knew as soon as I could walk, I would walk my way onto a plane to somewhere. But I’ve been here less than a day, so more on that next time).

He didn’t miss a beat, looking as presidential as ever as he jumped right back into what he was saying prior to the rude interruption. If their intent was to throw him off his game, they had failed miserably. This man, Barack Obama, is proving to be more and more un-flappable with each daily dose of shenanigans that comes his way. They probably expected to engage him in an exchange of some sort. Did they really think that he would get flustered? He’s going to have to ask Andre if he can borrow the Ice Cold moniker, because he’s lookin’ “cooler than a polar bear’s toe nails” about now.

I was disgusted by what I saw. Where did these people come from? Why did it have to be black people causing a commotion? Why did the cameras find them so quickly? These were all valid questions, but I’m sure the answer was not all that difficult to find. I flipped on my computer and quickly looked for something about this, since these days news almost immediately hits the internet in some form or fashion, even if only a ticker headline. The bloggers were on it, as usual. Some responses suggested that these protestors were black Republicans. I don’t think that was it, because they surely didn’t look the part. At the risk of sounding like I’m stepping lightly into the realm of stereotypes, I’ll just say that they looked a little more likely to run in the hip-hop crowd than they the hockey dad circles, a couple of them with dreads and several of them sporting Ed Hardy’s latest.

Another response suspected a GOP rat behind all of this, which I would tend to be more likely to believe. Here’s how it probably went down. Some cat probably drove a few blocks from the stadium and offered some big coin for anybody that wanted to meet him out front just before the speech was to start. Who knows? Maybe he was some particularly villainous looking chap like Arthur Slugworth of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fame, dressed in a cape, wearing a monocle, sporting a derby, and promising un-told riches if they’d just do him a solid. Hopefully, they were paid handsomely for their selling out. If I hear that some Air Force Ones or some new gold fronts were in short supply in the 2 mile radius near that venue in the hours immediately following, I’ll be even more disappointed than I already am in my people. It’s like the dominologists are always saying as they are handing you your hat at the domino table. “All money ain’t good money.”

John McCain oughta take ol’ Slugworth off the payroll for this failed stunt. Sure it got on TV for a few seconds, but we’ve all seen that movie and know that the guys from the Chocolate Factory prevail in the end. You can send all of the vicious kinids, horn swagglers, or swangdoodles that you want to try to derail the Obama Express, but he’s about to make it happen. He’s got the Golden Ticket!

Destah Owens is a single father of two from Northern California and proud UCLA Bruin who travels the world for his job as a computer engineer. His blog, “Soufflés in Saigon,” is exclusive to Urban Thought Collective.