Reflection on election

(This is an excerpt from an ethics piece I wrote for a class)

The election of 2008 led to what was by most accounts the largest voter turnout of the last several decades. At least some Americans must have believed that blacks and whites (and all the other races, nationalities and colors we never mention in these discussions) were equal in more than just the theoretical sense.

Why then did Barack's run change the way that we look at ourselves as people?

During the aforementioned interview, a friend commented that he was relieved that the election had been decided. He commented that after the election, he didn't believe that anyone had the right or an excuse not to achieve.

One of the major news networks declared on that historic night that there was no more racism; in a sense, years of oppression and prejudiced acts were supposedly wiped clean on that historic night. The reporter asked me what I thought.

"I don't know if this election means the end of racism… but I hope so."

On the axis of history, standing at the threshold of what many consider to be the 'dream' that Dr. Martin Luther King spoke of, what is our ethical responsibility?

For hundreds of years African Americans have existed in our country as something of a second class subculture. As is typical of most oppressed minorities (racial or otherwise) the strength and even the survival of the black race in America has been directly tied to our ability to disregard the magnitude of the injustice that has framed our existence. In a way, being black in America is less about what you achieve and more about what you overcome. At times, forgetting seems both appropriate and necessary for us to function on a level that is anything above subsistence. I believe we choose forget because our world won't let us.

I believe that as ethical, moral and spiritual citizens African Americans have an obligation to understand. We need to know that we don't have the ability to achieve because any particular one of us did, but because innately, undeniably any of us can. If nothing else Barack's victory, should help us understand that we have everything we need to achieve anything we want.

As Marianne Williamson so aptly put it; "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

In the end, we the majority of blacks in this country are not Africans in America, we are Americans. In the end, we are citizens, second class or first in anyone's mind, we are simply citizens in reality. We are as American as sweet potato pie.

 

 

‘Change’ Clothes

To paraphrase a childhood TV show, "Like the old saying goes, it's the man who makes the clothes."

Considering the fairly extensive course of the American political landscape, I find the current presidential race incredibly unique. There have been 43 individual candidates for US president and as we begin to elect our 44^th, beyond the obvious, one of the most incredible things about our current election may be the omnipresent marketability of the Obama name, campaign, and face.

Now, I do recognize that there have been plenty of other political figures that have found their way into our closets (Che, Martin, and Malcolm come most readily to mind), but none with the intensity of Barrack Obama, especially while they were alive. In fact, in the some 200 plus years of campaigns and candidates, I believe we would be hard pressed to find another presidential race that spawned nearly as many t-shirts, hats and tote bags as the 2008 race for the White House. It stands to reason that the Obama campaign should draw a considerable amount of pop culture attention from the majority of society. His dizzying run to the top of the democratic ticket is probably one of the first things to draw the collective attention of white and black American cultures simultaneously since 'Birth of a Nation'.

Aloud (when I'm bold enough to dare question anything about his Barrackness) I wonder what statement that this phenomenon makes about this race and our society as a whole. Has the visual immediacy of our communication reached the point that our political contests are feed for the pop culture cash cow? The point of this post is not necessarily the advancement of any particular point. Rather than question the implications for our society at this more than pivotal point in American history, I simply wonder what statement does this Obama "fad" make about our culture as a whole. How will history regard our obsession with Obama tees (as well as a conspicuous lack of McCain wear for the fashionable Republican)? We've stepped beyond wearing hearts on sleeves, and moved to displaying wholesale political affiliations on our shirts.