Mr Tibbs's blog: "The Historic Vote"

If you have not heard, last night Brandon Marshall a wide receiver for the Denver Broncos who is African American planned to show his support for the historic vote by donning a black and white glove in a sort of take on the famous or infamous act by Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the ’68 Olympics, but updated to show the unity that President-Elect Barack Obama’s historic victory represents. This was during a highly contested Broncos and Cleveland Browns game. Brandon Marshall’s celebration would have triggered an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and forced the kickoff to start deeper in Broncos territory and give the Browns a chance with their explosive wide receiver/kick returner the chance at a shorter field from which to score. Brandon Stokely a wide receiver for the Denver Broncos, a veteran of many campaigns with the Indianapolis colts who happens to be white, saw what Brandon Marshall intended to do and ran over and stopped him. Brandon Stokely likely saved a penalty and a potential loss by the Broncos who were only up 4 points after Brandon Marshall’s touchdown with about 1 minute left in the game. Now since I am home sick today I have had the opportunity to watch many programs and hear many views on this topic. I have heard many say this was a good gesture at a bad time. I have heard many say that football being a team game, that act though well intentioned would have hurt the team. I heard one person, sportswriter Bill Plaschke on Around the Horn say the only thing that made sense. To paraphrase, “…there is no right time to do what is right, there is just the time to what is right”. Now I did not quite get his quote but I think I captured his sentiment. First and foremost, let us be clear that the topic and intent has received the press it deserved. Second let us note that on team vehicle, Brandon Marshall was sitting next to his Quarterback Jay Cutler, who is white and showing him text messages he was getting about Senator Barack Obama’s historic victory. Jay Cutler in turn said, I am ashamed to show you some of the text messages I have been getting. Okay here it comes, THIRD I think Brandon Marshall did the right thing, planned to do it at a time when the focus would have been his way via TV cameras, and his intent was noble. I also think Brandon Stokely did the right thing by stopping him. And there you have, what can happen when two people from different walks of life, from different cultures can work together to make good things happen. A black man and a white man worked together to make a statement each completely right in their positions on opposite sides of a position, but coming together to effect change. We can all learn something from Two Brandons and a Barack

What can I say? What should be said? YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! YIPPPPIE KY YAAAAAAYYYY MOFO!!!!! Okay now that I have that out of my system for a few minutes I will try to be humble. This is quite honestly a moment I thought would never come in my lifetime. I am ecstatic to say that it did. Now the hard work begins. Yeah yeah, he has the least attractive job at the worst time in history and has many things to accomplish. And that is the part that is really hard. Not the economy, not foreign policy, because we would be kidding ourselves if we all thought those things would be easy. The hard part is doing the job in a way that sends the message that HE deserved the chance to do the job and that while HE represents African Americans and multicultural people that his successes or failures do not belong to all people of color or of mixed parentage. What he will teach all those who think otherwise is that for hundreds of years many looked down their noses at people for things other than their character and ability and made judgments based on those things. Guess what you were wrong if you did. There will be many people who let out the truly ugly side of themselves because they did not want to see an African American be the leader of the so called free world. I mean heaven forbid an African American be put in charge of something so important as a sports franchise, a city or a country. This is the road to ruin some of them will say. You will even hear from the African American side of things statements like “well he is only half black”. President-Elect Obama will have to fight these wars on the home front as well as the two wars the current administration has left him with. Not to mention restoring the world perception of the United States of America. So again, what can be said? My answer is this, in every first there has to be a right person for a right moment. The majority of the country decided he was the right person for this moment. Yes there have been great African American candidates for President, but in the end, someone has to be Jackie Robinson and someone has to be Satchel Paige. President-Elect Obama’s presidency will be challenged, scrutinized and belittled. President-Elect Obama will face far more turmoil at home than abroad. President-Elect Obama will be seen as elitist, aloof and uppity. President-Elect Obama will face his own demons as well as those who come out of the woodwork from either side to test him. That said, like Jackie Robinson I believe we will all find, President-Elect Barack Obama is the right man for the right time. Can I get an Amen from the Congregation??!!!

To be a part of history is a nebulous thing. That said history has been made and will be made and we will all be a part of it. Today’s history started with a quick 5 minute walk to my polling place to cast my vote for the candidate of my choosing. Upon arriving I was greeted by a line that reminded me of the lines to get tickets to see Star Wars, except this line move more quickly. While listening to The Roots “Rising Down” and reading a book on computer forensics I did not even notice the nearly 35 minutes that passed as the line crept and crawled its way to the front door of the place where upon entry I would checked, confirmed and shuttled over to the voting machine to cast my ballot. After realizing that I did not recall the number for my Election District and that there are 4 or 5 Election districts in this particular polling center I girded my loins for what I could only surmise to be mildly heated protracted debate with the election volunteers to get information. While discovering that some search engines are not as good as their own press, I had the epiphany to check Google. Google had the foresight to place a link on their home page to allow those in need of the information to find it quickly. “Great, I am in District 81, and I am on the right line…and the longest line here….and we have not moved for 25 minutes”. At the same time I was being serenaded by a chorus of vicious malcontents who were down right upset that the lines were so long and that they never had to wait so long before and that there was something foul afoot that was threatening to undermine the validity of this election at this particular polling place. In my mind I said “What the F***”????!!!! I mean really, here we are making history with the first African American presidential candidate the second woman Vice Presidential Candidate which generate record turnouts and they were shocked at the wait? Some days I am surprised by people and the battles they choose to fight. But in the end as one of the election volunteers reminded one of the malcontents “the important thing is that you are here to be a part of this historic moment” ‘Nuff said

This PSA is not about the voting system in the United States, nor is about any history of voting irregularities over the last century or more. This is simply a reminder that we are about to embark on a historic moment on Tuesday. Be of good cheer, strong spirit; do not be deterred from the mission, the mission of change. Change from the politics as usual, change from the ideologues and demagogues. Lift every voice and sing god damn it. We are in the home stretch now, and we are Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, and the East German women's power lifting team. We see the finish line, but it does not count until we cross it. So with that I ask this of all of you and I am paraphrasing the Master Thespian David Alan Grier currently of "The Chocolate News" on Comedy Central: "We got four days, DON"T FUCK IT UP!". We have four days, speak in hushed tones, no high fives, no end zone celebrations, don't change your names to anything silly like Ocho Cinco, and no In yo face suckers. When they try to steal the election from us and you know they will try and likely succeed, stay the course, speak in even tones, and don’t threaten to slap the taste out of anyone's mouth. And you know who they is!!! On November 6th after the votes are counted and we have won or lost, you can resume playing underground and commercial hip hop, Michael McDonald, Hall and Oates, Teddy Pendergrass, Living Colour, James Brown's Black and Proud or any "traditional" urban, soul, or other ethnically diverse music. Until then Peter Frampton if you must, but for fuck's sake, suck it up and listen to some Hank Williams, Jr and Conway Twitty.UNTIL NOVEMBER 6th. Thanks and remember, vote early, vote often, make your kids vote, I don't care if they are just an embryo, ALL VOTES COUNT!!! Don't let them stop the Bumrush And remember, leave the hats and buttons at home. Go Vote, then go home or return to work and start drinking heavily until the announcement is made. As Public Enemy once opined in the naming of arguably their best album, "It takes a nation of millions to hold us back"...well actually just the state of Florida, but don't fall for it. Peace and good tidings to all ye voters