Since Nov. 4, when Barack Obama became the first biracial president of the United States, the prevailing sentiment has been: if Barack Obama can make it, so can you.
I’ve heard from many of my loyal readers who say that while they are happy Obama won the election, they resent the media’s implication that now we blacks should be motivated to achieve our dreams, or that we shouldn’t have any excuse not to excel.
Li’l Bankhead is adding his voice to the mantra that most of us didn’t wait around for Obama to motivate us to accomplish our dreams.
Bankhead said that while he supported Obama and saw him as a symbol of success he did not need him or anyone else to provide motivation for his dream of a career in the music industry.
Bankhead, real name Jerome Strickland, a D.J. on the V-103 urban music station in Atlanta, said he networked relentlessly, made personal sacrifices and worked long days and nights to teach himself the skills he needed for his career.
“They (his black friends) can’t sit back and say only a white man can be president. You can be anything you want to be — don’t let anybody tell you you can’t,” Bankhead said.
Photo: Reuters
