Obama and the Promises of Racial Equality
The words “history,” “change,” and “hope” have made their rounds in virtually every media outlet around the world in an attempt to describe President Obama. We feel good as a country knowing that we have made a huge step forward. It takes a lot for a nation to elect someone from a group that it has for so long despised and abused. His election should not be taken lightly in that regard yet it should not be taken as a signal that we are now a completely equal society. I have loved his campaign, his election, and his swearing in because of the conversations that have been sparked.
So I’ll say right off the bat that I have several problems with the idea of a color blind nation. The main one being that the notion is insulting. There is nothing wrong with the color of my skin and the identity attached to it. It is not a burden or something to overcome. Additionally the task of creating such a society is frequently thrust upon people of color. Obama has made no such promises of closing the racial gap that places black Americans at or near the bottom of every measure of social progress yet somehow we expect him to. How many white presidents have had such a lofty task?
Yet for better or worse, the black American experience is now front-and-center of the American experience. Which issues will come to light? Will discussions of critical issues stop being labeled as “airing dirty laundry” and finally be seen as necessary for progress? Every time I hear the phrase “dirty laundry” I have to remind people that perfection is not and should never be a requisite for fair treatment under the law and that policies should never be crafted under the guise that a group has no agency.
With that said, we need to realize that change is about the process not just the product. It is not about creating a color blind society; it is about acknowledging the fact that problems exist and committing ourselves to addressing them. What I think many black leaders fought for and continue to fight for is the recognition that the issues facing black Americans are real, urgent, and unequivocally American, not sideline issues and not simply examples of cultural failure.
So as we begin the Obama administration, I hope we continue these conversations and ecnourage new ones.
“So I’ll say right off the bat that I have several problems with the idea of a color blind nation. The main one being that the notion is insulting. There is nothing wrong with the color of my skin and the identity attached to it. It is not a burden or something to overcome. Additionally the task of creating such a society is frequently thrust upon people of color. Obama has made no such promises of closing the racial gap that places black Americans at or near the bottom of every measure of social progress yet somehow we expect him to. How many white presidents have had such a lofty task?”
I absolutely LOVE this paragraph. So well written and so right on. I don’t want my color or ethnicity to be a non-issue. I want my distinct ideas and experiences (which come out of my ethnicity and my color) to be a a part of the overall discussion.
You’re a fantastic thinker and writer. Keep it up.
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“With that said, we need to realize that change is about the process not just the product. It is not about creating a color blind society; it is about acknowledging the fact that problems exist and committing ourselves to addressing them.”
You know what I find fascinating about this issue… process is everything in some areas, especially public education, where my husband taught for 12 years. There has never been an actual end result with laws like No Child Left Behind, just a general “better test scores” and “accountability.”
Really, product and process go hand-in-hand; the danger is forsaking one for the other, and that’s easy to do in bureaucracies. My hope for Obama is that his community-organizer background and “inexperience” will work in his favor, help to cut through some of the red tape to integrate process with product.
“What I think many black leaders fought for and continue to fight for is the recognition that the issues facing black Americans are real, urgent, and unequivocally American, not sideline issues and not simply examples of cultural failure.”
Validation is a fundamental psychological need for most humans, yet it strikes me that some groups are deemed more “worthy” of validation than black Americans. I almost think it has to do with ease of understanding. It’s easier to validate drug and alcohol addiction, for instance, now that we have scientific data that point to there being genetic and other biological/psychological reasons why addicts become addicts. That makes addiction a neater package, easier to digest and relate to.
Is there a way to validate black American experience and issues by tying them somehow to white American experiences… not to water them down but to help whites understand? To integrate, perhaps, starting with socioeconomic issues faced by ALL races, then break down from there what the various causes were that led to whatever point? Where would you start… and wouldn’t it take early integration, almost like a “Seeds of Peace” camp (http://www.seedsofpeace.org/) for American groups?
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@christa: “Is there a way to validate black American experience and issues by tying them somehow to white American experiences… not to water them down but to help whites understand?”
I think this is exactly what Dr. King tried to do. To help people see that justice is not a matter of charity but rather that the well being of our nation is in jeopardy when in injustice prevails. What happens, though, is that the moment you bring up how an issue may disproportionately affect black Americans, the blame game begins.
While I certainly do believe that black Americans have a unique history and identity in this country, half the battle is in making people (black and white and everyone in between) emphasize the American aspect of that identity. Ownership of a nation is just as important as inclusion. What prevents inclusion and ownership is my key question.
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