| I know I wrote of this in another recent post | | | | poignancy how farm boys and men lined up to |
| (and NO, I do not have a slow form of | | | | enlist for the military in bare feet. You |
| dementia, thank you!) You know how some parts | | | | see, many of the farm boys and men were |
| of a conversation come back to you? You were | | | | mainly sharecroppers, and had NO shoes, |
| listening but the really important point | | | | except one pair, their 'Sunday best' shoes |
| essentially 'snagged' itself | | | | which were brogans! My Father said there were |
| cognitively...for digestion later. I was | | | | lines and lines of Black men, standing in the |
| talking to my Father on October 16th, I had | | | | hot Georgia sun,waiting and willing to serve |
| not talked to him practically all summer and | | | | this country in their bare feet and farm |
| really...all my life, not like that day. | | | | clothing. It did not matter that |
| | | | unconscionable atrocities of racism |
| I had not spoke with my Father all summer | | | | (lynchings, stark injustice, they could not |
| because I was 'birthing' my book. Did I | | | | vote, and Jim Crowism) were realities that |
| mention my forthcoming book? It is: 'Notes | | | | these MEN and my Father (as a young boy) |
| From the Mothership The Naked Invisibles' due | | | | lived with and under in 'that' America. Those |
| out December 2007. | | | | men chose to defend and believe in even that |
| | | | America! |
| I called my Father to finally check on him | | | | |
| after speaking with one of my brothers (I | | | | What my Father said of his growing up in an |
| would get updates on how he was doing | | | | America where HE could not vote for a period |
| throughout the summer!) My Father had this to | | | | of time, where HE could not drink from any |
| say about me and the book, "Now, I know my | | | | water fountain he pleased, or go wherever HE |
| life had a purpose!" I was astounded when I | | | | wanted to go as an American is this, he wants |
| thought of those words in retrospect. He | | | | to see a great Black President in his |
| seriously meant that! I am the oldest of nine | | | | lifetime! My Father believes in the greatness |
| children of Louis and Mable. My Mother died | | | | of Obama. Without hesitation he is voting for |
| from breast cancer in 1989. And my Father, a | | | | Obama. My Father a wise man told me that |
| survivor, an inventor, and a visionary, | | | | there is NO WAY any Black person in his |
| stated that my accomplishments have given his | | | | generation would not vote for Obama. |
| life purpose. I am blessed. | | | | |
| | | | I mention all this because this is truly the |
| My Father is Louis Samuels. He was born in | | | | demographic that will support Mr.Obama to no |
| Albany, Georgia in 1933 on a 330 acre pecan | | | | end. These older Black folks, the survivors |
| farm which my great Grandparents and his | | | | of an America that no one in their right mind |
| Mother and Father and a village of extended | | | | can ever imagine are the unheralded (?) well |
| family sharecropped on. As he reminisced he | | | | of support and love for the promise of |
| talked of the plentitude of food, and | | | | America and America's future. I did not |
| everything that he and the families consumed | | | | realize this fact fully until I listened to |
| was raised direct from the soil and the | | | | the stories of my father, one of many |
| animals on the farm. There was always plenty | | | | survivors of the recent past of Jim |
| of food, the comforts of familial bonding, | | | | Crow,lynchings, and stomped out human and |
| and of course plenty of work. | | | | civil rights. As his memory softens many bits |
| | | | deferred pain leak out. Right now I am |
| Presently, my Father is sinking slowly, very | | | | grateful that I am listening. |
| slowly into a mild form of dementia. He | | | | |
| forgets or maybe there is not much he wants | | | | I think this story is one that we as |
| to remember. Yet, his memory for 'those days' | | | | supporters of Obama can take inspiration |
| is like it happened yesterday. He talked of | | | | from. My Father from that sharecropping farm |
| the time when the Japanese bombed Pearl | | | | in rural Albany, Georgia is one of Obama's |
| Harbor and all the Black men on the farm and | | | | strongest and staunchest supporters. We are |
| the surrounding farms heeded the military | | | | winners! |
| call to action. He recalled with a stark | | | | |