OBAMA FOOLED EVERYONE!!!

I'm going to be 100% real with you ... you've been duped.

It's unfortunate, but it's true. A lot of what you believe to be true simply is not.

First of all, the title is definitely clickbait.

This isn't political propaganda. The point of this post is NOT to disparage Obama or glorify Trump.

This isn't a conspiracy theory either.

It isn't even about anything Barack Obama did maliciously (or even knowingly).

This is about perception.

When Barack Obama entered the presidential race what seems like so many years ago, many people felt optimistic about the possibilities. Words like "hope" and "change" were thrown around frequently, showing that a sizeable portion of the voting population believed in what he stood for (or what they assumed he stood for).

Perhaps the most optimistic demographic of all was the African American population - up to that point, no Black candidate had run for president that people honestly thought had a fighting chance. By securing his party's nomination and successfully completing two terms in office, Barack Obama effectively (albeit unwittingly) deceived millions of people.

How so?

He gave many people a false sense of hope. With a man of African descent sitting in the Oval Office, plenty of people felt that the country had progressed to a point where many of its less favorable attributes (racism, bigotry, classism, etc) were relics of the distant past. How many times have you heard that racism can't possibly exist anymore since "a Black man got elected president"?

This also gave a lot of people the impression that African Americans were somehow making progress as a whole, an idea that comedian Chris Rock rejects. To say that Black people have made progress insinuates that they have deserved the mistreatment they've experienced over the last few centuries. Similarly, the election of the first African American president doesn't mean he was the first qualified African American candidate since the nation's inception; it just means enough of the public was willing to accept him. Frederick Douglass was nominated in 1888, but do you think his merits would've made his path any smoother if he had actually run?

"My President is Black,
Kentucky grass is blue
I wouldn't be a bigot if I didn't hate you"

Having a Commander in Chief who was a likeable family man, who represented a poor urban area, who articulated well, and who was very relatable made a lot of people feel like the future of the United States (and the Black population within it) would be bright. That's why his departure elicited emotional responses from so many people.

What they may have forgotten (or perhaps ignored) is that the root causes of our problems have never been adequately addressed. Rich people will still be rich, poor people will still be poor, and the rich will continue to despise the poor. People will still lust for power and wealth, doing atrocious things to acquire them. Common people will dislike other common people for things as trivial as skin color and cultural background.

The last 8 years have, in a sense, lulled many into a slumber. Aside from the fact that the textbooks in many schools desperately need to be rewritten, the history of the United States is no secret. There are those who feel that conditions will decline because of the new president. While it is very true that certain individuals and groups of people may feel empowered to act out because they identify with Trump's outspoken nature, the fact remains that the people and the attitudes were already there. Now reality is kicking back in and it is difficult for some to handle.

Just like Obama found an audience receptive to the idea of hoping in progressive change, Trump found one that was pleased by the idea of returning to a (supposedly lost) state of greatness. That's how politicians get people to vote for them. The sad truth is that neither scenario will find true fulfillment by human means. Human rulership in general is defective by default and will only last for a limited amount of time. A brief study of world history will confirm that.

I said all of that to say Obama's departure will not, in itself, be the end of the world, and neither will Trump's presidency. Life will go on. The government will continue to be run by people who are primarily concerned with advancing their own interests. Injustice will remain a staple of American life.

You could compare the political climate of the United States to a raging cyclone. To some people, the Obama administration was the eye of the storm. Now that it has passed, everyone must brace himself.

It's okay if you bought into the hype. Now it's somebody else's turn to dream. When they wake up, they'll be just as disappointed, if not more.

Whay say you?

#BreakBreadBro

(You can break bread on Facebook and Twitter.)