It’s a family affair

I think Ta-Nehisi Coates was speaking for a lot of black folks when he wrote this:

My requirements for Barack Obama–as a black man running for president–are very simple: I need him to publicily be affectionate to his wife and kids, to acknowledge them whenever possible. That, really, is the only extra burden I put on him.

The one thing you almost never see – in films, television, the news, etc. – is a well-adjusted black family, much less an upwardly mobile, well-adjusted black family.  Indeed, the only kind of black family the media (or whomever) ever deigns to show (if they show any) is one where the father is absent, the mother is apathetic, and the children are a lost cause.  But as many people are quick to (rightfully) point out, the vast majority of African-American adults are hardworking citizens, and a large number of African-American children live in stable, functioning, two-parent homes.

If Barack Obama’s candidacy can show white America anything, it’s that there are many, many black men like himself.  Men who work hard, provide for their families, and love their families.  By simply running, and publicly spending time with his family, Obama is poking holes into a stereotype which has haunted black men and black families for a very, very long time.  And that’s something – I think – we should be happy about.