Does Barack Obama’s Candidacy Signify the End of Civil Rights?
The New York Times has done an incredible job on the racial ramifications of Barack Obama’s run for the presidency of these United States. Their latest offering outlines the possible signals of the end of the civil rights movement as a result of Obama’s, and other black politicians’ political ascendancy and merit.
“I worry that there is a segment of the population that might be harder to reach, average citizens who will say: ‘Come on. We might have a black president, so we must be over it,’ ” said Mr. Harrison, 59, a sociologist at Howard University and a consultant for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies here.
“That is the danger, that we declare victory,” said Mr. Harrison, who fears that poor blacks will increasingly be blamed for their troubles. “Historic as this moment is, it does not signify a major victory in the ongoing, daily battle.”
A more than valid point. America has never been worried about the well-spoken, well-intentioned negro. This country has always been and always will be afraid of the uneducated and exploited African-American, who doesn’t know much, but does know they can’t lose what the country never afforded them the opportunity to have.
And to that end, there will be endless consternation on both sides about what are fair and equitable resources in education, how much social programming means in urban and rural settings, and how the media can balance dueling perspectives on belief systems and their impact on national legislation.
Just because the country is willing to elect a black man as its leader doesn’t mean that the country has a crush on people of color. It means one of two things; that Bush was genuinely that bad of a president and people want to make up for the mistake in a big way, or that the country is more respectful of intelligent leadership, no matter the color of the person dispensing it.
By and large, many white folks are likely to assume the all bad things in society are most likely to be committed a minority, and most likely a black person. To that end, they are going to put laws, rules and safeguards in place to ensure that it doesn’t happen. Black folks, and soon enough Hispanics, are likely to continue disliking this form of preemptive action, and will continue rallying against it in the name of freedom.
And that’s not a black or white thing, it’s an American thing.
So don’t worry. Civil Rights will be here to stay with Obama and beyond Obama. Because the truth is that we’ll never be fully civil to each other, and we’ll always have the right to be that way.
