The Weekly Observer (Kampala)
Carolyne Nakazibwe
12 November 2008
opinion
Barack Obama has rewritten history. If you watched that classic movie about slavery, Roots, then like me, the fact that America has a black president still sounds like a dream.
But Barack Obama was on November 4, 2008 elected the first African-American President of the United States of America. The president-elect was born to a Kenyan father and American mother. Where I come from, a child belongs to its father's lineage, so the Kenyans can be forgiven for declaring a national holiday to celebrate Obama's win. In Uganda, many children born last week were named Barack Obama - including an unfortunate baby girl, according to the news!
And the way things are going, he is expected to be the first president of the USA with hardly any scandal in his wake. The media is already 'irked' that the guy is not fat, does not have a drinking problem, does not cheat on his wife and is a work-out freak. They tried to dig up dirt on him during the campaigns and came up with nothing.
But the real juicy story is his wife Michelle Obama, America's first black First Lady. She gives the name First Lady new meaning, doesn't she? During his victory speech, Obama referred to her as his "best friend of 16 years, the rock of our home, the love of my life, the nation's next First Lady". Appropriate.
So many things about 44-year-old Michelle Obama are exciting Americans and the world, but bottom of the list could be her race right now. More intriguing are the stories about her intelligence, career strength and fashion sense that has been compared to former First Lady Jackie Kennedy's.
"We haven't been this excited about a First Lady's contribution to American legends of design for quite a long time, since Nancy Reagan or Jackie Kennedy," an American style journalist was quoted.
During an interview with Good Morning America's Robin Roberts, Michelle said: "This is who we are. I've got a loud mouth. I tease my husband. He is incredibly smart and can deal with a strong woman, which is one of the reasons he can be president. He can deal with me."
Like her husband, she holds a law degree from Harvard and has sacrificed her enviable career to back her husband's dream.
After Barack Obama's election to the Senate, Michelle was promoted to Vice President of Community Affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Centre; a promotion that came with a $200,000-a-year salary increment, putting her annual earnings from the hospital at $316,962. And this comes before the several corporate boards she was serving on. Her husband will earn $400,000 a year as President.
African-American singer Beyonce Knowles was quoted by news media saying, "My nephew, who is 4, when we say, 'You can do whatever, you can be whatever,' it's not a cliché." And that echoes the feelings of most blacks the world over, when it comes to the new-look American First Family.
The Obamas aimed high and hit the target. Here, CAROLYNE NAKAZIBWE compiles more people who have specially done the continent proud.
Nelson Mandela fits in this category not because he was the first African to be imprisoned for political reasons, but because he is...well...Madiba. The former South African president spent 27 years in jail on Robben Island with several other activists from his Africa National Congress (ANC) fighting apartheid. His prison term has not defined him any more than his reconciliatory and forgiving tone when he finally walked to freedom in 1990. The fact that he also became South Africa's first black president puts him up there with the Obamas. And that he didn't seek unlimited terms in office - everyone felt he had earned them - makes him stand out from your average African leader. The 90-year-old Madiba is today the stamp of approval sought by leaders worldwide, and a Mecca of sorts to the high and mighty.
Oprah Winfrey is the richest black woman in the world and the richest woman in the USA. Of course when the richest woman in the world (France's Liliane Bettencourt) is worth a smooth $22bn, Oprah's $2.5bn (according to the latest Forbes ratings) may sound like pocket change; but it is a lot of cash nonetheless.
The talk show queen broke through sexual abuse and poverty to establish an empire that grows by the day. Born Orpah in rural Mississippi after the Biblical character in the book of Ruth, she changed her name to Oprah. She is a renowned philanthropist and the most powerful celebrity. No wonder when Oprah talks, the world listens!
The 54-year-old Oprah started as a TV newscaster in Nashville. She joined Chicago TV station and turned a 3rd-rated morning show into the nation's No.1 talk show: The Oprah Winfrey Show launched in 1986. The show currently airs in 135 countries.
The Williams Sisters have got me so addicted to tennis, God help me! Venus Williams and Serena Williams were the first black women to take the World Tennis Association by storm and the fact that they have both held the World No. 1 position and pocketed at least 16 grand slam titles between them since their entry in the late 1990s, makes room for them on our page of fame. Trained by their dad Richard Williams who made them hit tennis balls with a baseball bat for strength and precision, the girls are known to reduce many an opponent to tears of frustration as they reach every ball and return every serve.
Tennis critics internationally credit them for changing women's tennis from a lacklustre, predominantly White game to one as hard-hitting as the men's. Since the legend Arthur Ashe, the Williams sisters are the best black thing that has happened to tennis.
Archbishop Wilton Daniel Gregory of Atlanta who hails from Obama's home city of Chicago, became the first African American to head the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, a post he held from 2001 to 2004, when he became archbishop of Atlanta, Georgia. No wonder he strongly believes the world is ready for a black Pope.
Tiger Woods is, according to Wikipedia, among the most successful golfers of all time. Currently World No. 1, he was the highest-paid professional athlete in 2007, having earned an estimated $122 million. He has been awarded PGA Player of the Year a record nine times, the Byron Nelson Award for lowest adjusted scoring average a record eight times, and has tied Jack Nicklaus' record of leading the money list in eight different seasons. Woods, 32, is credited with prompting a major surge of interest in the game of golf. He dramatically increased attendance and TV ratings for a game that used to be considered White and elitist.
He refers to his ethnic make-up as "Cablinasian" (a portmanteau he coined from Caucasian, Black, (American) Indian, and Asian). His father who died in 2006 was half black, but also had Chinese and Native Indians in his lineage. Woods' mother is Thai, but also has Chinese and Dutch ancestry.
Right Reverend John Sentamu did Uganda proud when in 2002 he became the first black Anglican bishop appointed to head the Church of England in Birmingham, England second largest city. This automatically made him number 2 in the Anglican Church hierarchy and makes it very possible for him to become Archbishop of Canterbury, the Protestants' equivalent of the Pope!
Sentamu, who left Uganda for the UK during the Idi Amin regime, is a brother to Ps. Robert Kayanja of Miracle Centre Cathedral and Ps. James Makumbi who is based in the USA.
Lewis Carl Hamilton is the British Formula One racing driver currently racing for the McLaren Mercedes team and the youngest ever Formula One World Champion.
Hamilton was named after the American sprinter Carl Lewis. He is of mixed race, with a dad originally from Grenada and a British mum.
He has become not only the youngest, but also the first Black man to win the coveted championship. Hamilton is currently dating Nicole Scherzinger, the 30-year-old lead singer of the American girl band Pussycat Dolls.
Collin Powell was the general, almost buried beneath the ribbons on his chest, who led the international coalition in the first Gulf War against Saddam Hussein. He was also the first black man to hold the prestigious post of US Secretary of State, under the first George Walker Bush administration. He had initially centred his sights on the presidency in 1996, wanting to be the first African American president, but found Bill Clinton's bid for the White House too daunting to compete with. He is still a very respected General, despite the fact that he was the chief architect of the US invasion of Iraq, citing Weapons of Mass Destruction. The said WMD have stayed a mirage and the Iraq invasion turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes of the Bush administration.
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