Now we will actually have a black president. This fact will be the solution to so many problems yet it will also create new, unprecedented problems that our nation and the world must face.
So the nation now trusts a black man to make decisions that affect their economy, their health insurance and their national security but how much will that affect my chances of getting a cab? None I think. USA Today happens to disagree. In this article about our future president and race relations, the paper states that "Two-thirds of Americans predict that relations between blacks and whites 'will eventually be worked out' in the United States". Well, that would make sense if two thirds of Americans was taken from a very diverse pool however, America itself isn't as diverse as it seems. The Census taken in 2005 tells us that about 80% of Americans were white, about 13% were black and about 2% were mixed race. The Americans that made predicitions with USA Today may be very representative of our population however, that does not make it a diverse view.
I am an extremely optimistic person. One of the most optimistic people that I know. Many people have been publishing articles or making speeches or delivering sermons on race in the Obama era and they have been very optimistic in terms of where America's future concerning race is headed. I do not see eye to eye with this optimistic view of Americans finally ending racism.
Barack Obama and the democratic run senate can be pressured to create laws affording more opportunites to people of color in this country but these laws cannot be enforced in an effective way. First of all, there will be issues if the first black president happens to be the one who attempts to enforce Civil Rights. Second, many will think that the country is too progressive to even have laws to enforce against racism. And third, if these laws ever do come into affect, racism is kinda like jay walking; we have laws againgst jay walking but everyone does it anyway.
President elect Barack Obama has way too much on his plate right now. A devastating economic crisis that President Bush will hand over, a war in Iraq that he and his administration have to end and a horrible American foreign reputation that again, as the other two aforementioned issues, were started by his predecessor. Race is just as important as these issues but unfortunately Obama had a to do list as president before he even announced his candidacy in 2006.
It's sort of like father coming home to find the mess his child left. And guess who get's blamed if it's not cleaned up?
two times.
Posts
1 comment:
barrack may not be in a position to change people's minds about race as part of his agenda, but that isn't his job. The change that will come with having Obama as president will not come from how good or bad a job he does with policy. It will have to do with Midwestern housewives who have never had a black friend reading in the paper about what Michelle wore to the reception dinner, where she chooses to put Malia and Sacha in school, and how she handles the pressure of being First Lady. This is a model family that Americans can get to know and use as some kind of refernce point where before they had none.
It is not going to get completely better. And there may not be any change at all in older generations, especially those who supported McCain. But for the 5 and 6 year olds of this world, they are going to grow up through (hopefully) their entire childhoods with a black family living in the while house. These kids are going to look up to Barrack and Michelle whether or not they are black. Having the Obama family as a basis for knowledge in young people will be where you see the positive change, that is inevitable in the next generation.
Post a Comment