The abridged version was published by JET’s jetmag.com on Octobrt 9, 2013: Stacey Dash v. Obama

I was probably one of very few black people in America that didn’t entirely attack Stacey Dash for her support of Mitt Romney running for President back in 2012. I don’t pretend myself that Black Republicans do not exist. To do so is a disservice to fully understanding the dynamics of the two leading parties in politics. There were Black Republicans quite active in the late summer and fall of 2012 vying for Romney and trying to sway black voters to go red. I also knew that she maybe just didn’t know better like most Americans when it came to Romney’s leadership. Born and raised in Massachusetts, I was there during his tenure, so I’m very familiar with his regime. Dash was one of many that were Team Romney because they were dissatisfied with Obama’s first term in which he was chosen by the American people to pick up the pieces from Bush’s two terms. When George Bush left the Oval Office in 2009, young and older Americans were still here feeling that the idea American Dream was a relic of the past but there was remaining hope for what the media was calling a “post-racial” America: an America that truly embraces being the melting pot it unequivocally is.

While Obama’s supporters were still at a high percentage, hopeful in his long-term vision, there was stiff competition from Romney believers that were convinced that maybe what the country needed was a whole new direction period. Dash, an actress (of Clueless cult fame), has been one of the most vocal entertainment personalities in sharing her thoughts and concerns on a political platform. Ridiculed by many Blacks when she declared her vote for Romney in 2012 (even going as far as posing with his potential VP Paul Ryan in photo, captioned with : “fighting the good fight”), in 2013, the stings haven’t subsided for Dash. She’s since defended popular Southern chef Paula Deen post her mea culpa of admitting a usage of vulgar and racist language in her empire, disapproved Oprah Winfrey for comparing Trayvon Martin to Emmett Till, she’s now declared that she regrets voting for Obama in 2008 and that she did so “naively” because “he was black”. Below is the full quote:

“I didn’t know anything about [Obama] when I voted for him in 2008. My choice to do so was purely because he was black. Naively, I thought he would be the right person for the job but unfortunately it didn’t turn out that way. Obama had the opportunity to really unite this country in such a profound way, but instead he has done the opposite. We are so divided right now, everything has become about race, more than I’ve ever known in my lifetime.”

Now. I applaud Dash for her honesty in why she voted for Barack Obama back in 2008. Like many people of color, it was an obvious plus that such an eloquent and intelligent man running for the presidency was also a black man. With his victory, the progression of America since its Founding Fathers would mean so much to the generations of our grandparents and even older siblings that they had only dreamed of so long. His win would be in honor of the men and women of color of America, immigrant and citizen, that thanklessly help build this country that stands for “liberty and justice for all”.

Where Dash loses merit is that she thought she was coming across as au courant political commentator when really she again released a minor maelstrom and instead exposed how ill-formed and entitled she was appearing to be. In sharing her experience, she was looking for sympathy and understanding when evidently in making a decision of her own and seeing that she didn’t like the results was entirely her fault. By placing her vote for Obama because he was black showed a great lack of inadequacy on her part for not educating herself on the candidates before placing a very important ballot. She indirectly tries to blame Obama’s outward appearance for her being gullible, and actually directly disregards what the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King asked of us back in 1963. As you may recall, Dr. King pleaded in front of the Lincoln Memorial that we judge people by their character and not the color of their skin. Dash did the exact opposite and is now crying wolf as if it’s the Obama administration’s fault that she didn’t do a simple Google search or pay more attention to a debate of his versus John McCain.

She thought he was the person for the job because he’s black despite not having done any research of her own? How does that make any sense? Dash has never fully announce herself as a Republican, but at times her viewpoints appear to lean on the GOP way of life. Why I still don’t use it against her that she pro-Romney was because she is allowed believe what she wants. Black people in and out of Hollywood lambasted Dash for her stance, she was their new pin the tail on the donkey. One thing about Dash is that she is headstrong however. She may regularly receive tons of hate tweets and still she’ll go on FOX News and voice her piece about the comings and goings of Capitol Hill. Her bravery to be vocal is admirable even if you utterly couldn’t disagree more. Yet; to blame all of life’s problems on Obama and then admit you all you knew of the man was his name and skin-tone, your judgment of him loses leverage and gains a side-eye of “well, whose fault is that?” When Black people do this, the one love that we share as a larger community gets topsy-turvy.

As those that voted for President Obama may at times remain unsure of where his administration is leading the country, as they tumble with a highly pious and stubborn Republican party, Obamacare is in full effect for the Americans that truly need it most, as fellow actress Nia Long showed respect for its effort on Instagram, as she held up a tablet that read: “#GETCOVERED”. Long’s post provoked a back and forth commentary from her followers as some appreciated her support, and others too jaded too see the picture and shook their heads NO.

In this other round of Dash versus Obama, one thing is clear: we remain dividend as a country because when playing the blame game so ardently without a backbone of proper facts to go by, nobody wins and again the American people are left as the pawns when all they want our leaders and laws they can trust to protect them, during the good and especially the bad times.