When I read the poem “The President Has Never Said the Word Black,” by Morgan Parker, I started questioning why the word ‘Black’ was not used. It’s bizarre because Obama was a man of color who many people respected and were excited when elected for president. So, did he not like who he was? Was there something he was trying to hide? That is not something I can answer. However, I understood that Morgan felt left out by what I read and felt like even though there is a president of color, he wasn’t delivering voice to the African American community.
When Long Soldier said, “Everything is in the language we do NOT use, it struck me that people are better at saying things that wouldn’t cause problems between people. Obama, in a way, was doing that. When it said in the poem, “The pursuit of happiness is guaranteed for all fellow Americans.” and “The president is like we lost a young boy today.” shows that the word ‘Black’ was left out whenever he was to discuss situations. This doesn’t mean he should be looked at differently. It just means he was protecting himself and his family from the danger in this world.
I too was a bit confused when the author referred to Obama in this piece. There might be something that he left out and people just don’t know. By asking a question, you are hooking the reader. This made your response fantastic and made me want to read more. This was an intriguing response.
I had very similar thoughts, as I too believed he was afraid of using the word black. It is strange he couldn’t use the word even though he is an African American man. After reading this, I do see how he didn’t use the word to protect himself, as the word isn’t always used in a positive way on the media, which is upsetting.