Shares

I remember the exact moment when a handsome, Black, poetically and politically eloquent man named Barack Hussein Obama announced he was running for president. I was in college and the mother of two toddlers and, although I wasn’t quite familiar with the (then) young senator, I rushed to find out as much as I could.

I became obsessed with him; the way he moved, the way he spoke, the mixture of coarse and smooth hair atop his head. He looked like Malcolm X but spoke like Martin, to me, and I was going to do anything to help get him into the White House.

Why? Because he looked like my son. Same hue of skin, same lean build and, I knew, that MY SON NEEDED to see HIS LIKENESS in the highest position in the country.

I answered every text message and email saying “Barack needs your help” so that I could donate $5 or $10, whatever my broke purse allowed at the time.  I waited in long lines in the rain to vote, I fought to be a delegate for my community to be ready for action, if needed.

Then it happened. In 2008, President and First Lady Michelle Obama made history that brought the most seasoned politicians to tears.

As a people, sometimes REPRESENTAION is all we need. It gives us the fuel to keep pushing, to keep grinding, to keep shining. It gives us the motivation to say “YES…WE…CAN” when the rest of the world tell us that “WE..AINT…ISH.”

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A picture is worth a thousand words…….

And now, just like our “Beautiful Barack,” these Beautiful Black Men, who are ALL HEAD COACHES of HOUSTON’S MAJOR SPORTS teams and universities, show our sons and daughters that “YES…WE…CAN” again, and again, and again.

Salute to (pictured left to right) Houston Texans head coach Lovie Smith, Houston Astros Manager Dusty Baker, University of Houston Head Basketball Coach Kelvin Sampson and Houston Rockets Head Coach Stephen Silas. Although not, pictured, we also salute Texas Southern University coaches Clarence McKinney and Johhny Jones.  And of course, shout out to the dopest mayor to ever run tirelessly across a city, Sylvester Turner, for highlighting these Black kings rising.

REPRESENTATION MATTERS! Thank you for SHOWING our kids what IS POSSIBLE for their futures.