When Barack Obama was elected the nation's 44th President in November of 2008, another milestone in the country's long struggle against racial inequality was met. There is no real need to belabor the point--we all know what his victory meant to African Americans at home, let alone the message it sent to the rest of the world where civil injustice based on ethnicity, race, or gender still hold court. 21st Century America was now about change, and no longer would this be a country that practiced or tolerated civil rights violations. For all those Americans who found difficulty accepting the argument that race was still a cause of inequality or targeted social injustice, they finally had an answer, and what an ace it was: "Just look at our President."
The fact that our President is part African American makes me extremely proud of this country (and I'm not even American). Even further, the fact that President Obama is of a mixed racial gene pool and spent different parts of his life living amongst people of many different cultures only emphasizes this point. The United States of America has always been an experiment in determining the outcome of people from all over the world trying to live together in one place under one set of laws. It has taken a long time to get it right, and we still have a very far distance to travel before complete social equality is achieved; but no one can dispute the progress that has been made over the last four hundred years of civilization. Just recalling how women and African Americans were treated as recently as forty years ago when reviewing the state's top officials (President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi) impresses even the greatest skeptics. So what are the risks then?
In a world where nothing is black and white, there is almost no other way to divide this argument. One can only speculate at the number of white people in America who now think the four hundred year-old race issue in this country has finally been conquered--because the commander-in-chief is black. And for all the African Americans who celebrated in astonishing rapture that November night in 2008, one can only guess how many feel the way Velma Hart feels--or at least, felt in the spring of 2010. when she addressed the President directly at a televised town hall meeting:
HART: I'm one of your middle-class Americans. And quite frankly, I'm exhausted. I'm exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for...
OBAMA: Right.
HART: ...and deeply disappointed with where we are right now. I have been told that I voted for a man who said he was going to change things in a meaningful way for the middle class. I'm one of those people, and I'm waiting, sir. I'm waiting. I don't feel it yet. And I thought, while it wouldn't be in great measure, I would feel it in some small measure.
To the first wave of naysayers, instead of looking to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. as proof that there is no longer an embedded race issue in this country, I ask you to turn away from CNN and tune into shows like The First 48. Case after case is represented by inner city African Americans struggling to find a way of life in this country. Better yet, go visit your local state penitentiary and just do a visual account of the ratio between whites and non-whites (African Americans, Latinos, or mixed race individuals) yourself. According to statistics from the Bureau of Justice, in 2007 : "The custody incarceration rate for black males was 4,618 per 100,000. Hispanic males were incarcerated at a rate of 1,747 per 100,000. Compared to the estimated numbers of black, white, and Hispanic males in the U.S. resident population, black males (6 times) and Hispanic males (a little more than 2 times) were more likely to be held in custody than white males. At midyear 2007, the estimated incarceration rate of white males was 773 per 100,000. Across all age categories, black males were incarcerated at higher rates than white or Hispanic males. Black males ages 30 to 34 had the highest custody incarceration rate of any race, age, or gender group at midyear 2007." [1] I wish I was able to find a stat on guards and Wardens as well.
What has the image of Obama done to fix or worsen this problem? I am not talking about his policies or what his administrative staff is doing to address the increasing prison problem in America (let alone the relationship between racism and the institution of prison). I am talking about a collective subconsciousness that believes America has become a country where the objective missions of twentieth century Civil Rights leaders have all been met. Has his victory to the White House underhandedly propelled this problem by creating a diversion?
For African Americans, one has to wonder how much Miss Hart's sentiments represent the status quo. President Obama has taken a beating over the last two and a half years from Washington, the media, and from many of the international community. Especially on Wall Street, Obama's term is seen as static and/or misdirected. His struggle to get health care reform through Congress while the rest of the country screamed for economic priority over anything else greatly affected his image of change. As he moves more towards the center, conceding to the whims of big money, lobbyists, and the "old boy" network of Washington he swore to dismantle in his campaign, imagining him re-elected seems more and more unlikely everyday. Where would a loss in 2012 leave the confidence and hope of the African American community then? As Martin Luther King's monument gets erected in the D.C. mall mere yards away from Lincoln's, the country continues to hold these two men with the highest revere--as they should.
Primary-level trivia for the reader: What do both Lincoln and MLK have in common? Let's hope Obama doesn't join the martyrdom of great leaders in America's Civil Rights history and become the third to be assassinated. Yet in the masochistic pleasure of some in the American public who love to see great ones fail, is Obama going to be another example of high expectation and low result whose only saving grace would be a glorious death while still so full of promise? It seems to be the main ingredient in American iconography.
The election of President Obama was a fascinating time in history. After eight years of George W. Bush at the helm, when the rest of the world thought the American Empire was on the brink of collapse, it's democratic principles and ability to adapt and change shocked the globe by electing a young, vibrant, intelligent, charismatic leader who, yes, happened to black. This, only 67 years after the brutal murder of Emmett Till. Let this great moment remind us of all that can be achieved in America, but also let it not be the smoke and mirrors that disguises a problem that is unfortunately still very rampant and very ingrained into the fabric of this country.
