Black Talk and a FewWords of Colour
It is amazing, the work of Fate.
That a sex scandal had an
invisible hand in Obama’ s bid to the American Presidency sounds
untrue. Well, it’ s not. Just by boosted chances did he win the
Illinois Senate seat? Sure! The
then quite popular “Senator- to-be” Jay Ryan had to step down after being implicated in a
sex scandal. And so he became
the next President, eventually. Is
it just coincidental or fateful
that sex has shaped the
American Presidency twice in the past few years? Remember the
“hand” of Monica Lewinsky that almost “blew” Clinton out of his White House “job”? (No pun intended). Anyway, apart from
the works of Fate, and perfect
timing, all of us must admit that
Barack’ s prowess in (public) speech is an extraordinary one!
Or so I thought? While I think Obama’ s speech abilities are nothing short of
phenomenal, I would be lying if I
fail to mention the role of
America and race in shaping his
unique abilities. America? People
in that country are “allowed” to speak and they are taught
to speak out and loud. In all
honesty, for every person’ s second word, Americans do twice
as much, or even more. Race
you ask? Yeah! Listen to great
speeches by Black American
leaders in the recent past and
then juxtapose those against mighty speeches of the other
world leaders. There is no big
difference, you might conclude.
Not quite so. While the message,
wording and semantics might be
consistent across the board, there is only one area that sets
the “boys” from the “men”. Emotion! Sentimental and
sensational speeches are hard
to give and few (have) deliver
(ed) them with the intended
intensity and anticipated end
effect. A few, mostly blacks, have. Consider the Reverend Al
Sharptone, he of the Civil Rights
movement fame. That man
speaks to the soul! And that is
the kick that Barack and Luther
had over and above their peers and opponents. At Michael
Jackson’ s memorial, Sharptone spoke with the zeal of a
tortured soul, the calmness of
an experienced mind and the
gusto of a once happy heart. All
in one! And without reading! No
papers, no Teleprompters! That was amazing! It was at that
precise moment that the impact
of MJs death “tickled” some hard souls I know. Not even the
daughter’ s tearful eulogy was as impactful. And Barack’ s speech at the NAACP was nothing short of
soul-stirring. And truth be told,
the all-black audience brought
out some of his hitherto unseen
(true) colours. The recent arrest
of a black scholar made him use the word “stupid” publicly in his address to the media.
Nevertheless, none of his
speeches is as emotional and
sensational (according to me), as
the one he delivered on election
night (after the win)! It had such power as to move the tens
of thousands gathered in the
cold, yet at the same time, it
stung subtly as to move the
Reverend Jesse Jackson to
tears. Its smoothness made Oprah sway from side to side.
And the impact of that speech is
perhaps everlasting in the
history of humanity. Few people
achieve such moments. Very few
make use of them as he does. Look and behold! Maya Angelou!
In my opinion, the greatest of all
poets I know. Watching Maya
recite a poem in Tyler Perry’ s “Madea’ s Family Reunion” is something that you don’ t easily forget, if ever. And her poem
graced MJs memorial, read by
Queen (Latifah). I ask, is it just
coincidental that all of their
speeches (and poems) appeal to
the soul, or is it a bias tendency towards the minority? And of course, it would be
pointless and unpatriotic of me
to fail to bring a Kenyan
perspective into all this. I
respect this lawyer. He speaks
with passion, yes, but, his soft- underbelly is exposed during the
bombastic and grandiloquent
speeches he gives, making the
intended concepts hard for the
common man, and even some of
the learned few, to fully understand his intentions and
direction. Hardly do people
understand whether he has
nailed the bull’ s eye with pin- point precision or he is simply
beating about the bush! You all
know who I am talking about,
right? If you still do not know
who I am alluding to, I will
whisper his name, so please lean over. P (lease) L (ean) O (ver.) And, if
you still don’ t get it, then you are quite slow. “There is a thin line between truth and fiction. This is that
line!”
That a sex scandal had an
invisible hand in Obama’ s bid to the American Presidency sounds
untrue. Well, it’ s not. Just by boosted chances did he win the
Illinois Senate seat? Sure! The
then quite popular “Senator- to-be” Jay Ryan had to step down after being implicated in a
sex scandal. And so he became
the next President, eventually. Is
it just coincidental or fateful
that sex has shaped the
American Presidency twice in the past few years? Remember the
“hand” of Monica Lewinsky that almost “blew” Clinton out of his White House “job”? (No pun intended). Anyway, apart from
the works of Fate, and perfect
timing, all of us must admit that
Barack’ s prowess in (public) speech is an extraordinary one!
Or so I thought? While I think Obama’ s speech abilities are nothing short of
phenomenal, I would be lying if I
fail to mention the role of
America and race in shaping his
unique abilities. America? People
in that country are “allowed” to speak and they are taught
to speak out and loud. In all
honesty, for every person’ s second word, Americans do twice
as much, or even more. Race
you ask? Yeah! Listen to great
speeches by Black American
leaders in the recent past and
then juxtapose those against mighty speeches of the other
world leaders. There is no big
difference, you might conclude.
Not quite so. While the message,
wording and semantics might be
consistent across the board, there is only one area that sets
the “boys” from the “men”. Emotion! Sentimental and
sensational speeches are hard
to give and few (have) deliver
(ed) them with the intended
intensity and anticipated end
effect. A few, mostly blacks, have. Consider the Reverend Al
Sharptone, he of the Civil Rights
movement fame. That man
speaks to the soul! And that is
the kick that Barack and Luther
had over and above their peers and opponents. At Michael
Jackson’ s memorial, Sharptone spoke with the zeal of a
tortured soul, the calmness of
an experienced mind and the
gusto of a once happy heart. All
in one! And without reading! No
papers, no Teleprompters! That was amazing! It was at that
precise moment that the impact
of MJs death “tickled” some hard souls I know. Not even the
daughter’ s tearful eulogy was as impactful. And Barack’ s speech at the NAACP was nothing short of
soul-stirring. And truth be told,
the all-black audience brought
out some of his hitherto unseen
(true) colours. The recent arrest
of a black scholar made him use the word “stupid” publicly in his address to the media.
Nevertheless, none of his
speeches is as emotional and
sensational (according to me), as
the one he delivered on election
night (after the win)! It had such power as to move the tens
of thousands gathered in the
cold, yet at the same time, it
stung subtly as to move the
Reverend Jesse Jackson to
tears. Its smoothness made Oprah sway from side to side.
And the impact of that speech is
perhaps everlasting in the
history of humanity. Few people
achieve such moments. Very few
make use of them as he does. Look and behold! Maya Angelou!
In my opinion, the greatest of all
poets I know. Watching Maya
recite a poem in Tyler Perry’ s “Madea’ s Family Reunion” is something that you don’ t easily forget, if ever. And her poem
graced MJs memorial, read by
Queen (Latifah). I ask, is it just
coincidental that all of their
speeches (and poems) appeal to
the soul, or is it a bias tendency towards the minority? And of course, it would be
pointless and unpatriotic of me
to fail to bring a Kenyan
perspective into all this. I
respect this lawyer. He speaks
with passion, yes, but, his soft- underbelly is exposed during the
bombastic and grandiloquent
speeches he gives, making the
intended concepts hard for the
common man, and even some of
the learned few, to fully understand his intentions and
direction. Hardly do people
understand whether he has
nailed the bull’ s eye with pin- point precision or he is simply
beating about the bush! You all
know who I am talking about,
right? If you still do not know
who I am alluding to, I will
whisper his name, so please lean over. P (lease) L (ean) O (ver.) And, if
you still don’ t get it, then you are quite slow. “There is a thin line between truth and fiction. This is that
line!”
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