By MJK | January 2, 2009
The Illinois Governor Blagojevich appointment of Roland Burris to Obama’s Senate seat reminded me of an article I read in August (see below). I do not want to comment on Blagojevich’s motives behind this appointment, except to guess that he is trying to reassert his role as Illinois Governor and find allies in the Illinois African-American community. For example, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL.), a former Black Panther, insisted that Obama’s seat be taken over by an African-American, and defended this appointment using racially-charged lingo: “I would ask you the not hang or lynch the appointee as you castigate the appointer and separate the appointee from the appointer” and “There are no African-Americans in the Senate, and I don’t think that anyone, any U.S. Senator who is sitting right now would want to go on record to deny one African-American from being seated in the U.S. Senate. I don’t think they want to go on record doing that.
I will give Obama huge credit for the following: He ran as a national politician, not as a black or multi-racial one. He did not use racially charged language in his campaign, and appealed to Americans of all ethnicities and backgrounds. In other words, he ran as a candidate for us all.
The New York Times Magazine in “Is Obama the End of Black Politics? ” (8/6/08) identifies this trend, citing Obama’s efforts as well as those of young African-Americans holding high office such as Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, NJ; Representative Artur Davis of Alabama; and Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia, PA. These are all young fresh politicians moving forward and working hard to improve the lives of all their constituents, regardless of color, race, religion, etc. I contrast this with the spectacle going on in Illinois, the overt and implicit use of old time racial politics by those players to advance their personal selfish agendas.
Technorati Tags: african american, black, blagojevich, booker, burris, davis, illinois, new york times, nutter, obama, race, racial, rush, senate, senator, white
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January 7th, 2009 at 1:12 am
There has clearly been inequalities in America and a need for “affirmative action” policies, which are designed to reconcile the imbalances caused by racial discrimination in America. However, President elect Barack Obama did not begin his legacy with running on racial politics. He did not ask to be the next “black president” to make black history, but he motivated the hearts and minds of Americans to vote for him based on his ideals for a new America. Barack never denied his African-American culture, but he did not asked for any favors because of it. He wiped the floor with McCain through debating the issues. McCain political reflexes were shot, and he started to look like a desperate deflated fighter searching for a knockout punch. President Barack Obama was, pound for pound, the best politician in 2008(lol). He did not accomplish this through black politics. I think that it would be a disservice to his movement and America’s growth to continue racial politics.
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MJK
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January 7th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Elvin, thanks for your comment! I generally agree with you, though I wouldn’t say that Obama wiped the floor with McCain on the issues — I think it it was style and that he on experience related-points, he kept up and often surpassed McCain. Anyhow, now that Obama will be President, do you think that affirmative action is still required, and if so, to what extent?
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Elvin Reply:
January 13th, 2009 at 2:16 am
Privilege awarded for racial reasons is hypocritical to the movement of equality. However, racism has been apart of America’s “hard wiring”, and the systemic discrimination in the institutions of America disallow homogenous social-economic conditions for people of ethnicity and White Americans. Just as a chemical imbalance in the body needs to be off-set by another chemical to restore homestasis in the body, so are policy and laws that would encourage the institutions of America to promote racial diversity.
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MJK
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January 13th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Elvin, the fact that we have an incoming black President (as an example of how things have changed), how much longer in your opinion should affirmative action remain? If you were in charge, under what conditions would you end affirmative action? In my opinion, the time has come to at least start phasing out affirmative action based on race alone. Instead, we could consider some preferences based upon a person’s total background: economic, social, etc. But as this country moves further into the 21st century, traditional affirmative action is clearly antiquated.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:29 am
MJK, There has been progress regarding racial divide in America. However, there is still a matter of invisible institutions of racism. For example, African-American men’s average jail sentences are 10 months longer than those of white men [for the same offenses]. (“State of Black America” Washingtonpost.com, Saturday, April 21, 2007; Page A16). It would be ambitious to say that we have resolved the problem on race in America.
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MJK
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January 14th, 2009 at 3:02 am
Elvin these are good points, thanks! We haven’t come close to solving the problem of race in America, but we are definitely making progress.
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