When the rolls of the United States presidential history is read there will no doubt be a pause at number 44 . All prior names will all share one thing in common they are of European extraction.. the 44th will not be, nor will it ever be unless there is a future African conquest of Europe and subsequent subjugation, humiliation of that continent with the renaming of its people. Under such a cenario maybe that would be possible .
If the rolls were to eventually stretch to 1000 at number 44 there will be a glaring difference and no picture will be needed in order to understand that that name didn not belong to anyone of European decent.
Malcolm X was once ask what his name was and he replied "Malcolm X" he was asked to clarify it on the legal basis to which he replied that it was not under legal means that the previous name assigned to him (Little) was given. When asked what his father's name was he replied .. my father didn't know his real name, this was a name passed down to him by his father who didn't quite know his name either. In fact The name of his furthest reaching anscestor in this hemisphere ( he had parents of both African American and African Caribbeaen extraction ) would have gone back to a man whos African name, which dated back many centuries or more, was taken from.
The beauty wonderful beauty of Barack Obama being the first United States President of African Descent is that there is no legacy of wearing a name derived from slave masters attached to it. It's symbolic power will eventually stand the test of time.
Michelle Obama, who was subsequently Robinson will be mother to children who will forever have the Obama name attached to them. It would be good for them to at least hyphenate their name if they were to remarry and have (likely given the reality of this country another European surname attached to theirs in the future)
George Washington, Samuel Adams and John Adam's , Thomas Jefferson and others whos anscestor live today can not only look back at the direct line to these prominent men in history but beyond to even a time before America.
When John McCain stated " I come from a long line of Mccains who served this country" he said it with a pride knowing that his anscestry , dutifully preserved, traced back to "the old country" and royalty , no doubt.
The name Obama, leaves America's shores immediately and reaches clear across the Atlantic to the region of the world, scientist now will say is the cradle of civilization... the Leaky's did .
Barack's name is the name of his father, and his father before that and his father before that. It tells of his cultural and even the spiritual legacy of his family. The first president would not be a Sharpton or a Jackson.. not related to Andrew Jackson..
with 4 or 5 generations would be cut short at the point where some anscester like Barack's father, upon arriving on the shores of North America was forceably stripped of that name and the legacy attached to it. The name would end at a sharp point , denoting an event where his anscester for cut off , permanently from his own heritage and past at the feet of a slave owner who now denoted him property.
Many will miss the point and answer that they want to hang on to the European name because it reminds them of their family... their unique family history based on the region in which they were born. I would suppose if two black people with the name Brown or Washington met up they could readily therefore assume that they came from the same place, or the same family maybe...Unlikely.
I am not saying that there aren't good pragmatic reasons to hold unto the name of at least your American anscestors. I am saying look at the difference.
The most poinient scene in Roots by Alex Haley had to be when Kunta Kente of Gambia had to give up his name of his people, his father , his family , his culture and all that goes with it.. it's spiritual ties to be named for ever Toby.
His children would have no sense of their place , relative to anything but that name. The Kente line would be forever severed, their birthright forfieted by one simple act.
Not so with Obama, somewhere when the roll are read and his answered, even if their names are again europeanized will be able to trace their roots back to one continent... Africa. It is befitting theirfore that history will record the African intervention in the affairs of the west without question.
That is what is in a name
