(ThyBlackMan.com) One is Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful nation on earth. The other is Public Enemy Number One. As one stood before a thousand cameras, his image flashing across 70 million television screens, the other was holed up in a cabin on the other side of the continent, hundreds of police streaming to the scene. They had two completely different perceptions of the “State of the Union.”
Two Black men in America in 2013, one at the very top and the other at 
the very bottom of the heap. Sooner or later there comes a fork in every road. And when you get there you must choose to go right or left? The Latin word for “left” is “sinistro,” “dextro” is Latin for “right.” If you work hard and do everything they say, and you somehow have the dexterity to navigate the many pitfalls you will face, you might just end up president of the United States.
If you refuse to go along to get along, and will not under any circumstance whatsoever compromise, fight back blindly, and literally take no prisoners, you will become a sinister figure, and they will hunt you down to the end of your days.
Most will never get anywhere near the crown, or end up in a final, desperate showdown. Nearly all shall end up somewhere in between far from the two extremes. But all will be conflicted, criticized and second-guessed for the choices they have made. “To be or not to be, that is the question: whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take up arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?” said the Bard in his timeless way.
Most will at least try to “do the right thing” for fear of the “the undiscover’d country from whose bourn no traveler returns. (It) puzzles the will and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others we know not of.” But it was not always so, and it may not be so again. But for now, listen to the speech of the African standing in the camera’s glare, and also hear the sirens wail as they surround the other one, the Native Son. .
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