Tuesday September 16th 2008 
The influence of Barack Obama on American politics has been immense, but his social impact may be even greater. Brian Egeston is the editor-in-chief of Barbershop Digest, a monthly magazine published solely for the consumption
of African-American men. He talks about the challenges he faces as a black man in the US and what Obama's presidential campaign has meant to him Tuesday September 16th 2008
Brian Egeston down at the barbershop, listening to the debate As an African-American man my main challenges are skating around subliminal racism and trying to decide what is racist and what is just people being buttholes. I'll give you an example. I always have a press pass, but my press pass means a lot more to me. If a white guy goes to a press conference as a reporter, there's a high likelihood they're just going to let him in. If I go, they're going to look at me very strange and say, "He ain't no damn reporter; he doesn't look like a reporter because most reporters aren't black." So it's really about having credentials - something to tell people who I am because I don't fit the mould of the industry or profession I'm in.
When I was a pseudo novelist, fighting that kind of racism was really about going to a bookstore and having to convince them that I was not just a black writer. Black books aren't typically welcome at most bookstores. I remember setting up a book-signing in Meridian, Mississippi, and when I got to the bookstore they said, "No, you're not having a book signing." I said, "Wait a minute, I set it up. I can't have it?" They said, "No, we don't have any record of you setting it up."
Then I went to Jackson, Mississippi. I said, "My name's Brian; I'm here for the book signing," and they said, "OK, we'll be right back." They came back and said, "Your publicist called and cancelled it." I knew they were lying because I had made the call - I was acting as my own publicist.
I started my publication, Barbershop Digest, to cover the issues that typically start a discussion or debate in a barbershop. My dad always took me to the barbershop. He never taught me to play football, baseball, basketball or any sports, but the one thing he did consistently was take me to barbershops. From that connection I realised how important these places were to black people. Ninety percent of black men only get their hair cut by a black guy. A haircut is probably one of the only accepted intimate acts between black men because you've got one guy rubbing on another guy's head, and it's perfectly normal.
I spend a lot of time in barbershops listening to what is being talked about. And I get a lot of feedback from people about the magazine. I'll ask, "Do you prefer to see celebrities on the cover or do you prefer to see issues on the cover?" Most black men want to see the issues, because we have huge egos. We don't want to see LL Cool J or Michael Jordan on the cover because they're not us. That's another false reality that we don't see; we appreciate and applaud their celebrity and achievements, but we're talking about discussions. The barometer is that we're trying to publish something that people can talk about for an entire month. If we put in something about Michael Jackson's new album - well, that's only going to be hot for a week, so we've got three more weeks of the magazine sitting in the barbershop looking stupid.
In our January edition we ran a cover story about Barack Obama entitled "Please Don't Shoot This Man". At the barbershops we talk about what everybody is thinking, and everybody was thinking Obama was going to be assassinated. If you went into any barbershop before he won the nomination the talk was "he ain't going to make it, they're going to kill him". The title was an attention grabber, but when you go in to read it, it's talking about an entirely different death. It's about black people not being involved, not taking part in his campaign.
As far as I'm concerned, Obama can do no wrong. He can take the Oath of Office holding his groin, scratching his head, spitting, drinking a 40-ounce bottle, and I don't have a problem with that. He represents what African-American men have become, what we are and what we can become. He's smart, he's successful, he's articulate, he's got a great family, and there are a lot of people who are like that. But then you go to the "hood" and there are people who don't talk like Obama, don't look like him and haven't been to school like him. But the amazing thing is that in some way he represents the entire spectrum of black people.
What Obama has done is inspire black people to actually register to vote. They care that they can vote because now they can vote for a black person. And for the first time we're seeing black people wearing T-shirts of a black person who is not a celebrity, not an entertainer and not a sports icon. I don't ever remember in my life people wearing T-shirts of a politician.
The thing that blows my mind is that if Obama is elected, you've got kids who will remember their first president, even if he only serves one term, as being a black person. I think to young black kids especially, that's huge. It says to them they can be anything they want to. The first president I remember was Gerald Ford. He was on the cover of People magazine. I really didn't care who he was because he was some old, bald white guy. But when a kid sees somebody who looks like him, and is told "that's the president", it must do a huge amount for their self-esteem.
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