Hotel Vegas
Obama's Election Is Just a Beginning
RECEIVED Wed., Nov. 5, 2008
Dear Editor,
Barack Obama’s ascension to the presidency of the United States of America as the first African-American to do so has rightly been heralded by The New York Times as “a strikingly symbolic moment in the evolution of the nation’s fraught racial history.” It’s a victory that has prompted some to draw parallels to Nelson Mandela’s victory in South Africa insofar as the alleviation of guilt that white voters where able to experience. In fact, the declarations of the beginning of the end of racism in the United States have already begun: “Obama Is Elected President as Racial Barrier Falls,” says The New York Times headline of the aforementioned article.
Truly, the record number of young voters that turned out to help elect Sen. Obama is a welcome sign that racism is slowly eroding with each successive generation. But conversely, does his popularity with white voters not in itself point to a kind of passive racism? There have been African-American candidates in the past that did not engender the same kind of response from white voters: Shirley Chisholm, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton. These were all “black” candidates, whereas Sen. Obama has framed himself as a candidate for president who happens to be black. This distinction has borne itself out in his platform too, which has remained largely race-neutral, meaning he has not stepped up and spoken out on “black issues” – the very issues that African-Americans who supported him in record numbers deal with daily.
Barack Obama’s victory is a victory for race relations in this country, but we can’t stop there. There will be a tendency on the left to not pressure him in office because of his popularity with progressives. But we should act while we have the momentum. A people’s movement has been created around Obama. Corporate America will be louder than ever.
Barack Obama’s ascension to the presidency of the United States of America as the first African-American to do so has rightly been heralded by The New York Times as “a strikingly symbolic moment in the evolution of the nation’s fraught racial history.” It’s a victory that has prompted some to draw parallels to Nelson Mandela’s victory in South Africa insofar as the alleviation of guilt that white voters where able to experience. In fact, the declarations of the beginning of the end of racism in the United States have already begun: “Obama Is Elected President as Racial Barrier Falls,” says The New York Times headline of the aforementioned article.
Truly, the record number of young voters that turned out to help elect Sen. Obama is a welcome sign that racism is slowly eroding with each successive generation. But conversely, does his popularity with white voters not in itself point to a kind of passive racism? There have been African-American candidates in the past that did not engender the same kind of response from white voters: Shirley Chisholm, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton. These were all “black” candidates, whereas Sen. Obama has framed himself as a candidate for president who happens to be black. This distinction has borne itself out in his platform too, which has remained largely race-neutral, meaning he has not stepped up and spoken out on “black issues” – the very issues that African-Americans who supported him in record numbers deal with daily.
Barack Obama’s victory is a victory for race relations in this country, but we can’t stop there. There will be a tendency on the left to not pressure him in office because of his popularity with progressives. But we should act while we have the momentum. A people’s movement has been created around Obama. Corporate America will be louder than ever.
Justin Finney
