Obama & the politics of race

Despite all the glorified rhetoric that the U.S. is now a post-racial society and that race won’t be a factor in this year’s election, that day isn’t in sight. The U.S. hasn’t proven that it’s ready to turn away from racism and oppression. The use of its power and wealth has not been used in the service of true democracy either here or abroad.

There is much need to review its myopic view of the world and its place in it; practicing what it preaches is still wanting. The U.S. is anything but united, since the ruling class has always pitted one group against the other and instilled divisions to feed its capitalistic needs.

Senator Barack Obama’s popularity and rise have more to do with the destructiveness of the past eight years under the Bush administration than with the death of racism. Sorry, pundits, but racism isn’t even in its terminal stage or on life support, much less dead. Race has always mattered here, and there are few real indications that it won’t continue to matter.

The reality is that we have a presidential candidate who faces death threats solely because of bigotry and his skin color. He has had to strive twice as hard and be twice as good as the next person to arrive at where he is today. He has to bear an additional burden—racism, which has been a hallmark of U.S. culture since its inception.

If elected, Obama will be inheriting the worse mess the U.S. has encountered in a long time. And if he falters in office, there will undoubtedly be many who’ll attribute it to the “inferiority” of his race, despite the fact that his predecessor and all the presidents before him have been white men.

However, they’ll put aside those facts of what Obama will inherit and insist on a quick fix. Superman, Obama is not.

For those who clamor that if Obama is elected there will be reverse racism and he’ll cater to Black people, this is a ludicrous assumption if ever there was one. It’s a fear probably based on their own racist behavior, and stems from the principle of doing unto others as they have done unto you—thereby expecting that Obama will turn the proverbial table.

And then there are Black folks who seem to believe that if Obama is elected, their standard of living will drastically improve. The reality, though, is that his election alone will have no significant impact on the conditions that most have suffered under for many generations. No one Black man can undo that.

For that to happen there needs to be significant changes in attitudes, beliefs and behavior toward so-called minorities. The resistance to change at all levels of government in policies, procedures and practices and by individual citizens has been legendary. If the will to change the status quo is not present, the racial disparities that have been built into economic, social, health, housing and education systems will remain wide.

As president, Obama will not be able to effect change without the cooperation of the people and without demands on him for accountability. And until such time as there’s a collective will to level the playing field for Black citizens and nonwhite immigrants, to stop segregating and discriminating, to discontinue oppressing “the other” and to reject the notion of white supremacy, race and politics will unfortunately continue to go hand in hand.