(Long Island, NY) A quote from Associated Press writer Charles Babington says it nicely. “Barack Obama achieved a historic breakthrough with his nomination for president, but you wouldn’t know it by tracking the official events of the Democratic convention’s first three days.” Babington wrote in an article I found at MyWayNews.com, “In becoming the first black American to claim a major party’s nomination, Obama has reached a milestone that many felt was at least a generation away. But the convention, like Obama’s overall campaign, thus far has dealt with race lightly, obliquely, or often not at all.”
It’s about damn time, isn’t it? In a sea of Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons, Americans have finally gotten themselves a leader who doesn’t see the need to make much hay out of race or skin color when it is clear that the real question is “Who is right for the job?” Has race been an issue in the Presidential campaign? Yes. Some of the most shameful pandering to the lowest common denominator ever happened in the opening six months of 2008, including people who had the nerve to say Barack Obama isn’t “black enough”.
We’re in the 21st century here, and I’m still amazed that people are making any sort of issue whatsoever of skin color. Barack Obama doesn’t NEED to discuss “racial milestones” when there are actual pressing issues for him to deal with. National security, foreign diplomacy, our creaky economy, you name it.
Not that this in any way detracts from the achievement he’s made as the first black American Democratic candidate for President. It’s a huge step forward for the entire country, especially given that our civil rights victories, in the grand scheme of things, are still very young. When America has a full century of civil rights for all citizens under its belt, then we can say we’ve really gotten somewhere. Right now, we’re really just reeling from the first few baby steps, and Obama’s candidacy is one of the benefits of a very young civil rights movement.
Too bad we’re still dealing with civil rights problems just as bad as when Rosa Parks refused to take the back seat. Can we really say we’ve made serious progress on civil rights when gay people–including gay black people–are discriminated against on a regular basis? If you are gay, can you legally marry in your state? If you’re not gay, does this bother you? If not, why not substitute the word “black” for “gay” and see how it bothers you now?
Our problem as human beings is that we’re afraid of cultures and practices outside our own. It’s natural, but it’s flawed. An old, outmoded survival instinct leftover from the days when we lived in caves and threw rocks at our food. We’re trying very hard to change–at least in some parts of the world. Even now in the 21st century when many sci-fi writers from the 60s and 70s thought we’d be flying around with rocket packs, living on board space ships and discovering new alien races to make friends with, we can’t get it together to overcome the most basic fear. “You don’t look like the people I’m used to.”
Of course, we’re also not flying around with rocket packs or living on spaceships, either.
Sometimes I think the human race is quite overrated, but then I’ll read something like what Charles Babington wrote and it gives me hope. To be fair, Babington does remind us that in March Obama said, “Race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now.” That came in the aftermath of the controversial “Obama’s Pastor” debacle, and it’s refreshing that Obama and his supporters have moved on since all that. As Babington’s article says, race is a tool some will use to divide voters. It’s pathetic, when you think about it. The question should be “Who’s going to do the job right?”
The entire discussion is circular. We start off saying “Elect most qualified person for the gig!” and we wind up talking about whether John McCain’s pale, waxy complexion is the the right one for the job. Does McCain deserve the presidency because he’s got no pigmentation in his skin? Are Obama’s qualifications any less relevant because he spent some time living overseas? Who’s skin color is better suited for the Oval Office? If McCain eats cream cheese, will he be soft on domestic terrorism?
The headline for this rambling piece asks if America is coming to its racial senses. If you ask me, we aren’t even close. But the fact that we’ve got Obama running for office and writers like Babington pointing out that nobody’s making an issue of either candidate’s race? That’s a great step in the right direction. Maybe if Obama gets elected we can start putting all this nonsense behind us once and for all.
Go to any junior college anthropology class and you’ll learn that “race” among humans is a social construct. We have no appreciable genetic differences between us all–at least not the kind that would type one group of humans as a scientifically legit “race” apart from another. What we have is variations in the gene pool of ONE race. One day, in some Star Trek universe, we might all get hip to that. Until then we have to grit our teeth and hope for the best–at least those of us who are clued in to the fact that the “race” issue is just another tool some will use as a smokescreen to get us talking about THAT instead of what McCain or Obama would do if elected.
