Obama Assassination Exhibit May Be a Hoax, But Fears of His Assassination are Real

By: Earl Ofari Hutchinson

Hoax, cheap stunt, crank, crackpot, racist and sick were the apt terms tossed at so-called artist Yazmany Arboleda for his grotesquely named near-exhibit, "The Assassination of Hillary Clinton & The Assassination of Barack Obama" at a midtown New York store front. Near only because Secret Service agents and NYPD officials quickly moved in, yanked down and carted away the assorted painted nooses and the garish pictures of Obama from the building. The exhibit may have been a crackpot stunt, but it did again point to the real fear that legions quietly whisper and openly voice about the danger of physical violence to Obama.

This is not a paranoid or false fear. This year that marks the 40th anniversary of the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, and the 45th anniversary of JFK’s assassination. The three icons represented the best and brightest in leaders, and stirred the hope and longing of millions for change and a full throttle fight against poverty and racial injustice. These are the exact qualities that Obama symbolizes to millions. But in some ways, the luster on Obama’s star at this stage of his career outshines that of King and the Kennedys. Unlike the Kennedys, he’s an African-American. Unlike King, he’s the first African-American presidential candidate that could win. And unlike King and the Kennedys, he has drawn an instant global throng of admirers who see in him the embodiment of change and a fresh direction for U.S. policy on the war and the easing of global tensions. He’s also seen as a potential president who can put a diverse, humane face on American foreign policy.

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