I’m still impressed and inspired when I watch how President Obama navigates the alligators, water mines, and torrential waves of America’s political and social waters.  As a man of color, I’ve seen countless examples of African American men who have caved in to the pressures of being Black in America.  Black in America is a challenge whether we are willing to own up to the facts or not.  But we now have an opportunity to really see a Black man in a role never seen or imaged by, not only Blacks but others in America as well.  This era is truly uncharted waters for all involved.

I read about and view multiple segments of coverage that shows President Obama working hard, but seemingly at ease, to confront the numerous challenges to his efforts.  I’m fifty plus years of age and a former social science educator, and I have never seen a president in this country who has actively and vigorously promoted and defended his agenda as our president.  He has been in office for less than a year of his four year term, and President Obama has conducted more town-hall style meetings than any president in U.S. history.  He doesn’t back down from challenges and fights that he feels strongly passionate about.  He takes the criticisms and challenges and continues to take his message directly to the American people.  He continues to defy the odds and the nay-sayers with his intellectual and passionate zeal to be a man of his word.  I feel that most of our former Presidents wouldn’t have dared take on the healthcare reform challengers as President Obama has done in the last few weeks, after witnessing the disruptive confrontations that congressional members have encountered.   With the cameras rolling and world watching, he stepped out on the stages in New Hampshire, Montana, and Colorado with no evidence of concern for the chaos that had happened throughout the country.

One would have to admire the courage of our president, knowing that the number of threats on his life has rivaled no other former president in history.  Even the notion of having a town-hall meeting in New Hampshire recently, with images of a man with a gun strapped on him outside protesting President Obama’s presence and message, hasn’t deterred him from sharing his compassion for the people of America.  Very few, if any presidents have had to endure the issues, threats, and challenges that President Obama has had to weather and maneuver through.  This is “true will” and “determination” to do a job entrusted to him regardless of opposition.

I said all of this to remind us as men of color and men period of the need for us to become more resilient in our efforts to be positive and productive men.  Our families are struggling because not enough of our men will stand up and endure the challenges that are before us.  I’ve worked with countless young men, who were bitter because of failed and non-existing relationships with their fathers and other men in their lives.  I’ve witnessed first-hand the fact that biological fathers are not the only men that young males and females are in search of.  Families with hope and determination are productive members of our communities and society.  Parents, male and female, need to have the “will” (desire) to do the following:  1) Take care of yourself.  Healthy people are focused and productive when it comes to themselves and those around them.  It’s hard to help others if you won’t take care of yourself.  2) Take time for your children.  Your children want to spend as much quality time with you as possible.  They want and need you to help them with structure and direction for their lives.  3) Visit your children’s schools.  At least meet their teachers so that you will know who is teaching your children.  This also let’s the teacher and your child know that you care them and their education.   4) Become involved in your church and/or community.  A lot more gets done when there are more people doing something positive and productive.  Add something positive for your neighborhood, if it’s nothing but cleaning up your yard and helping the elderly in your neighborhood.  One of President’s platforms was “community service”.  We must be willing to do what we can to serve our community.

Many African Americans have waited, hoped, and labored to obtain leaders who look like us and who are willing to work for us.  We now have one that looks like us and is working for us, so now we need to become more concerned and involved to help him and others in office and in our communities.  We must become willing to make the necessary personal changes and commitments to help erase decades of negative thoughts and beliefs of our race, our communities and our attitudes.  Our children are just as smart as those that they are lagging behind in our schools.  Our children don’t have to participate in athletics to acquire college scholarships.  Contrary to popular opinion, we have some brilliant young minds locked up in jails and prisons.  We must become willing to work to change the negative perceptions of our people and our communities.  Dr, King and others in the Civil Rights Movement, sang a song that said that “We shall Overcome”.  We can’t Overcome until we develop the “Will” (desire) to “Overcome”.  We must be able to see the value of “Overcoming”.  Just think back to that Wednesday morning after the November Presidential election, and you received the official news that Senator Barack Obama was elected as the first African American president in U. S. history.  If you were like millions in America and around the world, you were excited, shocked, hopeful, and proud.  If you can remember how you felt and what you thought on that day; think on that “hopeful” feeling again and get up and get focused and get busy doing all that you can to help our President, our Nation, Our Families, and Our Communities to becoming as positive and productive as humanly possible.  We must become hopeful again and develop the “Will” to build a nation, communities, families, and individuals that truly believe that “We Shall Overcome” and celebrate when we recognize that we are capable of becoming “Overcomers”.