Where There Is No Struggle, There Is No Progress! Frederick Douglass
Despite the fact that Barack Obama had to endure some harsh criticism from the political right regarding his views, personal values and style, he was able to circumvent those voices, and become the first African-American president in the history of the nation. Some may look at this and say, "see. Black Americans have overcome! As Dr. King predicted, we as a people have gotten to the Promised Land."(Burrell, xiv). Mr. Obama won the election notwithstanding the ardent opposition from the right and harassment from people who could not envision an African-American in the white house. Those voices,however, could not influence the election in any meaningful way and most considered them as nothing more than faint echoes of a dying past.
Almost two years ago, Americans by and large seemed poised to make a huge leap into the future. We were fast approaching an era of a "post- racial" society, or so it seemed. The egalitarian struggle seemed to be winning the battle for racial equality. An Obama victory might be seen to support the claim that racism has been eliminated and racial equality achieved in the United States (Knowles et al. 2010). This would seem, superficially, a legitimate claim. However one has to comprehend the marketing brilliance associated with the 2008 presidential election before making such a generalized claim.
In this day and age, imagery is power. Never before has the country had the image of a black man occupying the highest office in the land, delivering the State of the Union address, drafting and promoting national policy, or disembarking from Air Force One with his black wife and daughters. From a marketing perspective, this is powerful, life-altering stuff. [...] In the so-called "post-racial era," internalized black inferiority combined with this new media reality means the rules of engagement have changed dramatically. (Burrell, xiv)
Indeed they have! Research has shown that the willingness of the country to vote for a black candidate for the President of the United States is not an evidence of the end of racial disparity; to the contrary, Obama's election did provide [...] individuals with a new justification for the claim that racism no longer exists and therefore policies designed to address racism are no longer necessary (Knowles et al. 2010). According to Knowles, individuals rationalize opposition to hierarchy-attenuating policies or candidates in terms of what he calls, "legitimizing myths"(Knowles et al. 2010), which means to say that there was dominance motivated rationale among some whites for supporting Obama's candidacy. Those motivated by maintaining the current hierarchy see value in the potential "post-racial" implications of Mr. Obama's victory. This notion of post-racial society, If widely embraced, could undercut real efforts to work towards racial equality, by denying the conditions that would justify those efforts(Winant, 2001). Even the term "post-racial" seems to suggest that discussions pertaining to or leading toward racial equality are no longer applicable and therefore not needed. After all,
" how can you say that there is institutional racism when people in Nebraska vote for a guy who is a self-identified black man?" Similarly, former US Secretary of Education William Bennett claimed that Obama's victory meant that "[y]ou don't take any excuses anymore from anybody who says, 'The deck is stacked, I can't do anything,[...]"(qtd. In Neiwert, 2008).
Needless to say, racism is alive and well in America and manifesting itself in some disturbing ways. In Seattle alone, in the past few weeks, there have been four headline-grabbing incidents that have brought to life the issue of racism and the discussion thereof. Nobody will forget the incident in South Seattle where a white cop was videotaped punching a young African-American woman, on the face, for trying to stop the officer from arresting her friend who was caught jaywalking (Miletich, 2010). Though, both action and reaction are questionable, had the women been of Caucasian descent, would the officer have responded the same way? Probably not!
This incident came a month after a robbery suspect, who was later found to have no connection to the robbery, was videotaped being stumped on, while racial epithets were being thrown at him by the Seattle Police Gang Unit. Similarly, on August 30th the SPD shot and killed a very talented native totem carver for walking toward the officer with his carving knife on hand (Westneat, 2010). He was later found to have a hearing impairment which hindered him from hearing the officer's commands to drop his small carving knife. Just a few days ago, Bethany Storro of Vancouver, Washington , grabbed the headline when she admitted to burning her own face with acid and blaming the attack on a factitious black assailant (Duara, 2010). Mrs. Storro figured by appealing to society's unconscious racism , she could gain sympathy and comfort and to her story, acceptability. This is the kind of racism Shankar Vedantam is referring to in his book the Hidden brain, which is more prevalent in our society today and exists in the unconscious of most Americans.(I agree with Vedantam on this point; however, I quarrel with some of the other things he has to say regarding this issue).
Furthermore, Obama, in some regards, has become a litmus test for the nations achievement of racial equality. Yes, we as a people have elected a black president but we as a people have yet to reach the promised land. We have not achieved the kind of racial tolerance and coexistence that affirms our diversity and that comes as a result of our cognizant and deliberate attempt to strengthen institutions that were set up to advance, protect and promote the interest of minorities.
Bob Herbert, the syndicated columnist for Seattle times, in his article, neglecting the base, talks about the despondence that is being felt throughout the African-American communities who are affected, disproportionally by the lingering recession: What has taken a toll is the perception that the president has consistently seemed more concerned about the needs and interests of those who are already well off, who are hostile to policies that would help working people and ethnic minorities, and who in many cases would like nothing better than to see Obama fail.
Most blacks are reluctant to publicly express their concerns about the president because they are so outraged by the blatantly unfair and often racist attacks against him from the political right. But many blacks are unhappy that Obama hasn't been more forceful in the fight to create jobs . And there is disappointment over the dearth of black faces in high profile posts in the administration.
There is real danger here for black people. In many cases, because of an excess of caution, policies that would help people in need are never even seriously considered, much less implemented. [...] When you have to tiptoe around absolutely anything that has to do with blacks, it can leave the insidious impression that there is, in fact something wrong with being black, something to be ashamed of. (Herbert, 2010)
All signs seem to indicate that we have taken a step back when it comes to race relations. Policies instituted to protect minority groups are no longer being valued therefore not implemented, African-Americans are still disproportionally affected by poverty and healthcare disparities, inner city schools, which African-Americans make up the majority of, are still performing very poorly, minorities still constitute the bulk of state penitentiaries, and African-American men are more likely to be unemployed than their white counterparts. For example, Black men over the age of 18 are seven times as likely to be incarcerated as White men of the same age range, Black families are nearly three times as likely to live below the poverty line as White families, and, compared to Whites, Blacks are 30% more likely to die from both heart disease and cancer (Kaiser et al. 2010).
Nonetheless, We, it seems to me, are now operating under the assumption that the issue of race no longer deserves the nation's attention. Obama's 2008 victory has become a smock screen for those who would like to advance their "post-racial" agenda which has nothing to do with protecting the interests of minority groups and even, in some cases, pushes for the dismantling of some of the most important achievements of the civil rights movements. If Americans assume that racism is less of a problem now that they have elected a Black president, their wrong perception could make it difficult to garner resources and support efforts that are so desperately needed to address these racial disparities (Kaiser et al. 2010). Moreover, any scrutiny to the current power structure, economic, political or social, could be undermined. In addition, some Americans may also use Obama's victory as a justification for further legitimizing the current hierarchy status and for blaming Black Americans for their disadvantaged position in society ( Kaiser et al. 2010).
47 years after the March on Washington, and 15 years after the Million Man March, the chains of discrimination are wearing out but have not yet been broken and black men and women are still languishing in the corners of American Society. Thus, there is reason to question whether Mr. Obama's election even signals the beginning of a post-racial era, in which racial disparities are non-existent. While the historic nature of Mr. Obama's election provides a powerful symbol of change, [...] those interested in substantive change still have work to do (Knowles et al.2010). Consequently, In the words of Martin Luther King, There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?"
We can never be satisfied as long as black people and other minority groups continue to be targets of police brutality. We cannot be satisfied as long as one thirds of our children are growing up in abject poverty, we cannot be satisfied until the issue of chronic unemployment among African-Americans continues to be left on the back burner, we cannot be satisfied until the criminal justice system stops criminalizing and incarcerating our kids unfairly, "No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."
There is no question that we have made progress toward racial justice but we have a long way to go before we can distinguish ourselves with a "post-racial" status. As evidenced by recent activities, we are facing evermore determined forces that are well prepared and poised to erode the gains made through the struggles of generations of people, we must first deal with these forces by striving to create a "post-racist society" where the rights and privileges of individuals are respected and protected, where laws enacted by congress to protect these rights are strengthened and enforced, where we, as a society, make a conscious effort to teach our kids the value of diversity, and racial tolerance, where our schools and Universities enforce affirmative action, and require their professors and instructors to undergo diversity training, etc, before we attempt to rid ourselves of absolutely anything that has to do with race.
Some are using Obama's victory as a perfect launching pad for attacking affirmative action and other minority protection acts, the hard-won gains that African-Americans have made in political representation (Young, 2000). We have to be mindful of these forces as we continue the struggle for justice and equality. Fredrick Douglass once said, "Power concedes nothing without a demand [and] where there is no struggle there is no progress!" In addition, those of us who are the new generation of African immigrants owe a debt of gratitude to the civil right struggle and to the people who made it possible for us to be here in the first place. Therefore, we should also be willing to lend a hand to the struggle for equality and justice for our children's survival depends on it; for we know that, "Freedom is Never Given it is Won!" A. Phillip Randolph.
Works cited:
Bob Herbert. Black Leaders: neglecting the base. Seattle Times. 2010
Cheryl R. Kaiser, Benjamin J. Drury, Kery E. Spalding. Sapna Cheryan, Laurie T. O'Brien. The ironic consequences of Obama's election: Decreased support for social justice. 2010
Danny Westneat. We need to see what police see. Seattle. Seattle Times. 2010
Eric D. Knowles, Brian S. Lowery, Rebecca L. Schaumberg. Racial prejudice predicts opposition to Obama and is his Health care reform plan. Science Direct. 2010
Howard Winant. The World Is a Ghetto. Basic Books. New York. 2001
MLK. The I Have a Dream Speech. US Constitution on Line. http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html
Nigel Duara. Police Say Wash. Acid Attack Self-inflicted. Seattle. Seattle Times. 2010
The Pew Center On the States, 2006
Richard Young, Color Blind Injustice, The Independent Institute, Seattle University, 2000
Shankar Vedantam. The Hidden Brain. Random House Publishing. New York. 2010
Steve Miletich and Jennifer Sullivan. Seattle police to review tactics, officer's conduct after videotaped punch. Seattle. Seattle Times. 2010
Tom Burrell. Brainwashed, Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority. New York. 2010
Picture courtesy of: University of California, Race and Pedagogy Project
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