The New Breed

This is an article that was printed in the November 12, 1964 edition of JET Magazine entitled: “Black Man As U.S. President Prediction For Future Decade,” By John H. Britton
Though Irving Wallace, in his book The Man, dreamed a wild dream (his critics call it a nightmare) that placed a Negro President in the White House, the wide-awake author appears deadly serious when he predicts a Negro American’s succession to the presidency within three decades.
“I hesitate to say flatly that a Negro will be in the White House as President. But I will say that the possibility of a Negro Vice President is definitely not far-fetched. The world climate may be such that political expediency will demand a Negro in the White House. And even within the next ten years, I believe a Negro Secretary of the State is possible; and you know that’s up in the line of presidential succession.”
The whole fantastic ideas is contained in Wallace’s run-away best-seller, The Man, the story of Douglas Dilman, as a Negro President of the United States, struggling to think and act like a President, like a man, and move away from the ghetto-thinking that America and Americans have forced upon him because of his race.
Because of his admitted sparse knowledge about the Negro, Wallace balked at predicting the Negro who may finally emerge as President. He does speculate, however, that the man will more likely come from without the area of current Negro political leadership, “unless, of course, a new breed becomes dominant.” Said Wallace, still speculating to JET: “I don’t know many Negro politicians or civil rights leaders. I do think, though, that men like Franklin Williams (UNESCO Ambassador) or Whitney Young (Urban League director) would easily fit the job. Of course, there will always be political expediencies to dictate any selection. But men like these, I believe, are qualified for President.”
It was Williams, then a Peace Corps executive, who encouraged Wallace’s book idea because, Wallace quoted him as saying, Williams believes strongly that world political climate will soon demand a negro at the highest executive level of the nation…

Is Senator Barack Obama this so-called “New Breed?” And if he is, where do this leave us as black people? What do we expect to happen if Barack is the next President of the United States? We have gotten so wrapped up in skin color and making history that we don’t even see the problem at hand, which is Us! Barack can’t stop a person from killing their whole family, or from killing someone else’s family, He also can’t stop, a shoot-out at a club that leave several people seriously injured. Neither can he make sure that children are at home at night, instead of at a club (where they are responsible for killing another child), nor can he assure you that there will be no more deaths of children due to playing with guns. He can’t guarantee a decrease in the teen drop-out rate, teen pregnancy or the numbers of black men going to prison. And all of these things are happening in our neighborhood. If Barack is elected as the next President of the United States, that is a huge leap for American History and for African American History. But are we making history as a people?