“The If List”

by Vaness Z. Rivers

Black people have always been told by whites, that if we do, “this, that, and the other”, then we will be respected and finally treated as equals, I call it the “If List”.   President Barack Obama along with his wife Michelle are both college educated professionals, both on their first marriage, not many people can say that.  They are a team raising their two beautiful and intelligent daughters.  While they both were pursuing their perspective careers, his civic mindedness and community activism led him into politics.  He first was elected as an Illinois state senator, then as an US senator, and then being elected as president of the United States of America, twice.  With everything that he has accomplished, he still wasn’t respected and treated equally with the honor that had been afforded every other president, he still hasn’t fulfilled the “If List”.

So, let’s be honest, no matter what black Americans accomplish, white America will never accept us as equals until they decide individually and collectively to do so.  I don’t believe that they want us to succeed because then that would require them to rethink their entire lives, and they are terrified of what they might find.

So, what do we need to do, we just need to continue doing “us”, because we’ve already accomplished their “If List” and so much more.