Looking back, looking forward

[skyring]

Obumper,
originally uploaded by skyring.

Normally I'd take the line that the colour of a man's skin doesn't make him a better or a worse choice for a job. Your skin colour doesn't make you smarter, or more articulate, or a better leader or more courageous.

But in one respect, Barack Obama's racial background gives him an advantage.

No, it doesn't make him a better basketballer, though the smart money would be on him over John McCain or Hillary Cinton.

The advantage he holds is something that wouldn't have seemed that way at the time. He would have experienced the humiliation of racism. Not only at firsthand, but in the living history of some of the tens of thousands of Americans he would have met and spoken to in his political campaigns and career.

Lincoln might have formally abolished slavery, but for a century the ex-slaves and their descendants were legally second class citizens. Today the laws of racism and separation have gone, but as anybody who has spent time in the USA knows, there is a distinction that remains.

Those at the top are largely white. Those on the bottom are not. Anybody can see this, but for the first time, someone with a deep and real understanding of what this means is at the pinnacle of the nation.

Barack Obama is not going to initiate a century of revenge. Nor is he going to legislate for redress. But there will be a subtle shift in perception. Today the promise becomes fact. Today every single American schoolchild can look into a mirror and say to themself, "Yes, I can."

And the message goes out to the wider world.

We're increasingly aware that we all share a planet. Let us trust that Obama's messages of unity and community, of fairness and hope will be received with a deeper understanding. It's not about our tribe, our religion, our race, our nation.

It's about us.

And we've got a big job ahead.

Comments

[wyldanthem.livejournal.com]

>> Let us trust that Obama's messages of unity and community, of fairness and hope will be received with a deeper understanding. It's not about our tribe, our religion, our race, our nation.

It's about us.

And we've got a big job ahead.


Hear, hear, Pete. Hear, hear!