Sometimes I think it is as real as all this when it comes to African American Obama supporters
(Graphic by The Dark Wraith, originally spotted at Pam’s House Blend)
Maybe it’s this real for non-Black supporters too, but in the interest of fairness I don’t claim to speak for them.
At this stage in the game, Obama is not my candidate of choice. If he wins the nomination, I will of course support him, but I have to tell you I spend more time worrying about his safety and whether he’ll live to grow up to see his daughters (with all that hair) grow into women.
Maybe this says more about my own (not completely unfounded) ideas on the levels people have gone to in the past to make sure that influential Black voices are silenced. Those in power rarely ever concede that power willingly or peacefully. This isn’t about whether non-Black people will vote for Obama; after all, he’s a 
Senator from Illinois — the entire state, not just the Southside of Chicago — and he came in first during the Iowa caucuses. He’s electable and likable (thanks, Hil!) and while it’s still too early to call, he seems to have tapped into a particular cultural moment where we not only desire change, but hunger for a symbol that is the antithesis of the American image crafted by Rove, Bush, &Co.
I get that, I do. But that doesn’t change the fact that I haven’t been able to erase the image of Senator Obama in an assassin’s crosshairs since he announced his candidacy.
Maybe the graphic is gallows humor. But you know there’s a small subset of American society for whom violent protest is the only answer to injustice. It may well be tongue in cheek, but there’s a part of me that thinks not only is it true, but that I might end up enaging in a little civil disobedience myself should the unspeakable happen to Senator – or President – Obama.