AllHipHop.com, the No. 1 global destination for all things Hip-Hop, formally endorses Senator Barack Obama and his bid for the presidency to its community of millions.

One of my closest of friends is a White male.

His name is Mike.*

Mike and I have known each other for over 20 years and have remained close. The early grade school years were innocent filled with sports, regular silly things that children do, b-boying (Dr. Uprock and Kidd Rock respectively), and Hip-Hop music. But this is bigger than Hip-Hop. Both of us had two married parents who meticulously guided us. This led my parents to move me to a different school district after a number of bouts with a few teachers and bits of the system that seemed to discriminate against its Black students.

That’s how my family saw it. Perhaps, Mike’s saw it differently. He stayed in that school system.

These days, as I see it, our perception of politics has changed through the years. Back in the day, it was simple: you voted Democrat if you were a Black American or of a working class background. In the 1980’s and 90’s the atmosphere was different too. There was a certain drive to change the system and policy, there was more hope and there was a very different consciousness.

The last two elections have left a lot of people hopeless and those that reelected the present administration have largely caught up to the rest of us in 2008 in their opinion on the state of affairs. Those that voted the “wrong way” in the past have a way to receive full amnesty and we hope to present that option.

So, AllHipHop.com formally endorses Senator Barack Obama for the presidency of the United States of America right here, right now.

The process of arriving to this conclusion was not a sudden one, as it took several months of intense observation, arguments, debates and scrutiny of all the candidates, including Republican candidates earlier in the primaries regarding their positions on the state of affairs. My friends, associates and I have never been so involved in the political process. It also wasn’t an easy decision like leaving the school district that educated and socialized my good friend Mike.

Something interesting happened after Mike and I left high school. My father died young and later in the 90’s so did his mother. We ended up at the same university in Delaware and after doing some time floating, we both settled on an English major with a concentration in journalism.

In the aftermath of September 11 and the war on Iraq, something happened. Mike and I started talking politics and I discovered that he was a Republican. All these years, all these similarities and yet we were in two totally different places politically. After that conversation, which eventually became quite heated, we opted never to discuss politics again. The friendship was more important. Mike and I have come to a more common political ground since that disagreement and in the seven years of America under Bush.

The past holds a fundamental curse in endorsing Barack Obama. The free-thinking people of America have been burned so many times, that it is very difficult to fully embrace a candidate that you feel truly has your best interests at heart. It is much like a female that has had all of her lover’s cheat on her, but when a good man comes into her life, she’s not sure how to respond. It boils down to trust.

AllHipHop and millions upon millions of others are willing to trust Barack Obama and back his push for the presidency. In many ways, we trust him with our lives. We trust him with the lives of soldiers in Iraq. We trust him with our young and our elderly. We trust him with our future, the future of our children and the future of America. We trust him to inspire us to do better and be better.

Finally, I want to end this on how difficult it is to inspire people in this era. Mike and I grew up with many of the same people. Most of the ones I knew have succumbed to drugs (selling and using), HIV, poor education, jail, or just marginalization. I recently read where one of the most daring b-boys had fallen victim to drugs, but had cleaned up his life only to see the drugs prey on his children. With no aid from local police officials, he’s still in a horrific dilemma. Mike and I are doing well by our own standards, but obviously want more opportunity for our peers, family, friends and children, not only in the future, but now. The youth now are faced with even more compounded, complex issues and will have to adapt quickly in order to thrive. Mike and I share commonalities, have had differences and now see the need for a brave, daring leader.

AllHipHop believes that person is Barack Obama.

We believe in his enormous ability to inspire people in a sustained long-lasting manner. We have faith his judgment (see how he voted on the war in Iraq). We don’t think that he’ll “save” us, but rather make opportunity more readily available. We are hopeful that Barack Obama will bring America back to its rightful place in the world as humankind globalizes and seeks to heal itself from corruption, corporate opportunists and the status quo in politics. America the Divided has been torn at the seams and we feel and government under Barack will stitch it back together regardless of race, color, creed or political indoctrination.

From the elderly Delaware lady volunteering to the 20 White youth going to the inner city to lobby for Obama to the Pennsylvania working class, people all over are looking to be united via this one candidate. Never have the youth been politically engaged in this way. Never have we seen the upper crust activated like this. And they all have stories that lead them to this conclusion, this personal connection to Barack Obama.

“This is where we start, this is where we begin.”

Thank You,

Chuck Creekmur, CEO and co-founder of AllHipHop.com

A Call to action:

Click here to donate.

Click here to volunteer.

Click here to register to vote.

Click here for the Barack Obama website.

Here are 15 (of hundreds of) reasons why we support Senator Barack Obama in his bid for the presidency of the United States.

Here are 10 simple reasons why we support Senator Barack Obama in his bid for the presidency of the United States. There are many more.

1) Barack Obama is more electable in a general election than Hillary Clinton.

2) Barack Obama had the judgment, foresight and insight to oppose the war in Iraq. We don’t need to be warring in Iraq for another 100 years.

3) Barack Obama builds bridges and has been praised by Republicans and Democrats alike. He has a track record of working with Republicans-the only way to induce substitutive change in Washington. He also has extensive associations across class and race. Click here for more information.

5) Barack Obama has never been a candidate that resorts to fear tactics to achieve his goals.

6 Far from an elitist, Barack Obama worked hard for his tremendous success, overcoming insurmountable odds. He personifies the understated power of inspiration. One person referred to Barack Obama as a "hope monger."

7)  Barack Obama energizes young people and engages our nation’s future in the political process.

8) Barack Obama is the only remaining candidate of the three that seems willing to communicate and change the way we have been dealing with other not-so-friendly governments.

10) Barack Obama intends to repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans.

Special thanks to Janieka Brown for everything.

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