Obama and the Next Black Revolution

As the media began to transition from the prospect of a President Obama to the reality of it, I was struck by the emphasis given to his race and the historic nature of it. For me, though the election of an African-American had been a wonderful achievement, it nevertheless was a sidebar to the man himself, who I had early pinned my hopes of true leadership for this Country. Still the attention to race gave me pause and got me thinking about what it meant. I don’t believe Obama’s race will have any immediate effect on the underlying problems associated with the darker side of America’s cultural evolution, but I’m hopeful that it will mark the beginning of changes in race relations that will bring us closer to being a colorless nation.

Real changes in race relations in the United States are not marked by events or people; they’re marked by decades and generations. Being part of the baby boom generation I can anecdotally see the changes that have taken place over that last 70 years by looking back at my parents and their contemporaries and then looking ahead at my children and their friends. Without even analyzing myself and my own generation, I can surmise that the baby boomers are likely the mean between that of my parents and children. It’s not hard to imagine the future mindset of my grandchildren and great-grandchildren in a very positive way. But I am not African-American and my experience is quite different from the Black experience. I don’t believe the change in my grandchildren will come from me, although I’d like to think it. The major changes that will take place over the next generations will come from America’s black culture, just as the prior changes have done, and the Obama election may historically be seen as the beginning of that period.

I believe the Black experience and White prejudice in American can, to date, be divided up into 3 distinct periods. In each the changes in the general prevailing attitude of White America has lagged behind the changes in Black culture. Of course the first period is obvious, early America was a nation that either tolerated or actively engaged in black slavery. Non-black slavery was essentially called indentured servitude, but the philosophical and ethical difference between the two was enormous since the difference between black and white was deemed biological and not just a difference of social class.

By 1870 and the end of the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, the Nation began the 2nd period of race relations which lasted for another 70 years, ending with World War II. It was a period of black acceptance of political freedom but social inequality. It many ways African-Americans were only elevated to the level of indentured servitude. They retained the economic shackles which denied them access to the means of becoming part of the economic mainstream, primarily education, but they also retained the stigma of being deemed biologically inferior. Except for the brief period of Reconstruction, Black history between the Civil War and WWII has minimal historical significance as African-Americans were not invited to the table where power and innovation were being served. Again, it took those 7 decades for Blacks to refuse acceptance of political and cultural inequality. Non-black America eventually followed with changes both in law and attitude, but only so far.

The 3rd period began with the close of WWII and perhaps ended with the election of Barack Obama. The civil rights movement was the natural end of the post-Civil War Jim Crow era which by the 60’s had ended statutory inequality between the races (and, in theory, all social sub-sets, such as women, religions, and gays). However, this third period was that in which the biological and cultural inferiority of African-Americans was attacked. Its beginning was marked by the efforts made during the 50s and 60s, not by such as Martin Luther King and his contemporaries, who finished the inequalities that began in 1870. Rather it began with what was seen at the time as radical behavior by Black America, with such movements as Black Power and Black is Beautiful, and spread to every corner of American culture such as politics, media, art, music, or athletics. These were the young people, primarily black but also many whites, who sought to elevate the black culture to a level of equality by emphasizing the uniqueness of the culture with a sense of pride. It evolved from the obvious need to overcome the philosophical and psychological chains that remained from the antebellum period.

The changes that have taken place over the 63 years since WWII have been as dramatic as the earlier changes that set the stage for the elimination of Jim Crow and the separate but equal myth. The contribution by Blacks to the American culture has been extraordinary over the past 6 decades and, as opposed to the post-Civil War period; recent history cannot be recorded without the significant impact of the African-American influence. I believe it can be argued that the election of Barack Obama is evidence of the success of cultural equality. But still, what have we got left?

The racial barriers that remain in the United States are still profound. The last 63 years may have eliminated the sense of cultural and biological inequality between races, personified by Barack Obama, but we still have a huge cultural divide created in great part by the efforts meant to achieve cultural equality; specifically the desire to be unique and separate from a perceived white culture. These barriers, complimented by the acceptance by both black and white cultures as being inherently separate, result in (among other things) depressed economics and the dilemma of Black poverty and social turmoil. As a consequence, most Americans, but primarily Black Americans, see the cultures of the races still distinctly black and white. Young Black men in particular view the assimilation into the greater economy as a conflict, or even denial of their own cultural heritage, which they may feel has been so recently vindicated.

Education is the key and the most important tools will be the English language and the family unit. It is my hope that the next revolution that may begin to take shape over the subsequent 10 years will be acceptance by the African-American community that there is but one Western economy in which they, as Americans, have an individual role to play. Not as Black Americans, but simply as Americans. White America will follow willingly. Maybe the next black President elected will get but 55% of both the white and black vote and no one will think anything of it. Then perhaps the racial differences of wealth, neighborhoods, languages, ethics, families, fears, or even skin color will be something my great-grandchildren will only read about, as they ponder their own generational challenges.