Editorial
The Light at the End of the Racism Tunnel
In 2008, Leo Tavares* convinced his mother to vote for Barack Obama. He actually walked with his politically naïve mother into the voting booth and told her who to pull the lever for. But poor Leo made a huge tactical error: He had, in hindsight, wanted John McCain as his president. It’s just that, for the moment, Obama’s name had been all the rage; and in a moment of confusion, he’d told his mother what to do and thus, another vote was cast for America’s first black president.
Four years ago, Leo was 6 years old. Today, the 10 year old is all the more aware of his rookie mistake and does not intend to repeat history. This November, Leo is going to ensure that his mother’s vote rightfully goes to Mitt Romney. We tried to get Leo – without badgering the child – to tell us what was so wrong with Obama and so right about Romney or McCain. In that matter of fact way of his, Leo simply said he just thought both Romney and McCain looked acceptable while Obama was not.
Now, without necessarily going into palpitations over race and the negativity around racism, this young man’s profound deduction – whether pleasant or not – is based on the fact that there are just not that many African Americans around regular white folks.
Poor Leo does not know why he should support Obama over Romney – but knows for a fact that Romney is acceptable and Obama is not. It is pure instinct and we cannot blame a young person for seeking to further people of his skin color. Besides, how is he supposed to know that Obama belongs to a much bigger system called the Democratic Party? How is this boy supposed to know that a Black Democratic president can provide just as much as a White Republican aspirant?
But of course, he cannot know this. And it all comes down to one thing: There are just not enough black people to go around positively influencing society at the grassroots.
Standing at less than 50 million strong, the black population of the United States does not stand a chance when it comes to opportunities.
Yes … Our Emmanuel Musaazi writes an eloquent opinion piece on elements of race – but makes the salient point that there is also the soft bigotry of low expectations. In essence, Leo expects nothing but good things from white men and not as much from people of another race. He is aware that Obama is black and although he does not articulate this, what prevents him from endorsing this good and decent man stems from a psychological disposition towards his own kind.
If you have watched The Help, a feature film about black housemaids and nurses, the one overwhelming theme is that people will mostly side with their own skin color.
But there’s even something much more seminal at this juncture: Barack Obama’s presidency is forcing all and sundry to deal with the reality that black people [and all other minorities in America as it were] just need the same opportunities as the majority white people – and they can be part of the rising tide that elevates all ships.
At the same time, Obama has faced intense opposition from the mostly white men of the Republican party in Congress and in the different state legislatures. Although the Democratic Party does not necessarily get the white men vote, Obama is doing marginally worse than John Kerry did with this voting segment in 2004. But Obama is doing so very well with white women voters of all social and economic classes.
Does this story of a ten year old boy tell us the story of America’s dark history of race relations? Perhaps it does since there’s a lesson here: The first is that racism will be with us much, MUCH longer than we even think it will last. In fact, compounded with elements around the economy and the equitable distribution of resources, the blacks will continue to bear the ‘wretched of the earth’ title and there’s a chance that the systematic forces that conspire to “keep people in their place” will continue to do so at an even more precipitous pace.
However, secondly, just like usually happens in nature, there’s a forebearer of what tomorrow will look like. We spoke of Tomorrow People in an editorial a long time ago. Then, we said that racism would end when people of the world were allowed to interact, intermarry and especially legitimately intermingle. While he has brought the ugly aspects to the fore, all those men and women of the Civil Rights Movement look at Obama’s America as a nation that is almost there.
And of course, there is hope for Leo. He has a friend that sees him as often as he can – a friend who engages him in conversation, a friend that seems to understand what he is going through. This friend is black; and that friend is me.
Dennis Matanda
Editor – editor@thehabarinetwork.com
* Last Name altered