I'd like to. I don't even know if we have any black members but whether we do or not, their culture and history should be GREATLY admired and celebrated! It would be easy to focus on and venerate the historical figures: Martin Luther King, Harriet Tubman, Fredrick Douglass, and so on... but they're all dead and as such, have little use for our admiration. I'd rather talk about the living black people who have had a positive impact on my life.
Let's start with the obvious: Barack Hussein Obama II. He is easily one of the most amazing men I've seen, black OR white. When he first got elected, I prayed for him every day. "Please God, don't let some racist jackass assassinate this brave man." His willingness (and ability) to be the first black leader of one of the most racist countries in the world will NEVER fail to humble my arrogant ass. I have more than my fair share of courage, but all of that is EASILY exceeded by whatever bravery exists in Mr. Obama's pinky toe!
Courage aside, he is by far my favorite President ever, trailed distantly by Mr. Clinton. I could go on and on about his humility and sense of humor and intelligence but instead, let's be crude. He's also (in my opinion) the handsomest man to ever take office. I literally cannot see him smile without feeling a little bit of joy in my heart. That goofy, big-eared grin just melts my heart. Every. Fucking. Time. Then there's the incomparable marriage between him and Mrs. Obama. No President has ever looked at his First Lady the way he looks at her... and by all appearances, she truly deserves it! Plus, she will fucking cut you if you try to take her man! I would NOT want to be thrown to the mat with that woman - she would kick my ass!
I am so proud to say that he's the first President I ever really voted for. Before him, I just wrote snarky shit in the write-in blank. He showed me what courage really is, and taught me that my own is (falsely) bolstered by a metric fuckton of White Privilege. In any case, he is the person who most makes me think of the importance of Black History. Thank God for Barack Hussein Obama II!
I had another contemporary black role model to talk about, but I'll save her to bring up later if she isn't mentioned. In the meantime, tell me about what black person (modern or historical) that you admire and why. Also, we can talk about why we call them "black" people when clearly their skin is brown. On the other side of the coin, my skin isn't white either. The late great Carlin suggested that it's all a semantic mind-fuck. You can't divide a population by calling them peach and brown. You have to make them feel like opposites and what better way to do that than label them "black" and "white"?
Speaking of which, I miss Michael Jackson: