The State of Post Race America and the Realistic Outlook on the Future of an Imperfect Union
August 2nd 2009 13:58
For those who have seen the Earth from space, and for the hundreds and perhaps thousands more who will, the experience most certainly changes your perspective. The things that we share in our world are far more valuable than those which divide us.
~ Donald Williams
~ Donald Williams
When the smoke cleared from Election “08” and it was assured that Barack Obama would be the next President of the United States of America, every journalist across the land was quick to be the first to coin the phrase “Post Race America” to describe the historical aspect of this milestone.
A simple phrase in theory that put the moment in perspective also became masked in confusion and double-speak as moments of joy and celebration for everywhere our nation has come turned into witch hunts of pointed fingers and accusations across party lines.
Walls were erected as the media gave the American people the impression that all of our racial problems in this country were washed away in an election that served as a mandate on an outgoing President.
Lost in translation was the pain of a nation in a financial crisis that was orchestrated into a political rally against everybody who stood on the same side of the fence as George W. Bush.
The red side of the fence that was painted as backwards and racist for not jumping on the bandwagon of the Obama express and left out of the conversation as majority ruled and those who opposed the issue were called road blocks to change.
In a time where we were supposed to celebrate a moment in history where our country advanced to a new era by electing the first African American President we chose to fight partisan battles and frame them in an “I won” and “you lost” argument.
We have reached a point in this country where the partisanship and bitterness from the walls erected during a time of celebration has pulled us into dangerous territory.
Dangerous territory where the American people are unwilling to have patience for things to work themselves out simply because we have now heard it all before and there is no one that truly wants to fix the situation.
With this understanding we have become callous and bitter beyond waiting for the next “Chosen One” to pull us out of the mud.
In the volatile atmosphere of national politics that has been created from a culture of exclusion the only products we will get on a national stage are the fruits of far left and far right politics.
The fruits that will make a segment of the population feel comfortable knowing our leaders are always going to sway to their Republican or Democratic roots in protection of hot button issues when the time comes to solve a problem instead of having the instincts of compromise.
The fruits that will shove arguments of God, Guns and Abortion down our throats when election season rolls around instead of encouraging conversation on the issues that are fundamental to Americans.
The fruits that will bring up conversations concerning race, gender, religion and politics without taking the giant leap of understanding to inspire conversation in schools, homes and churches around the nation by talking about the whole topic.
We are afraid to talk about these things because we leave the time and place for conversation in the hands of polarizing figures who are trying to divide us for their own gain.
The thing that made me a supporter of Barrack Obama in the beginning of Election “08” was within the fact that he came to the national stage as a different kind of politician who was ready to tackle these issues and bring the nation together.
Somewhere before the closing speech of the Democratic National Convention what emerged was the Al Gore, Michael Dukakis, Jimmy Carter, John Kerry type of Democrat we were all too familiar with.
It’s not that these weren’t great men with great ideas but in the dark times that our country is facing and will face over the next 8 years the last thing we need is the same old politician.
Here we are with over 100 days in “Post Race America” and we are left to ask ourselves, what has really changed?
The drapes have changed but we still have the same characters behind the wheels of a bus that needs major service.
Service that includes taking a look at the fundamentals that drive the bus…
The fundamentals of the American people who have the power to make the changes needed on the federal level and how our societal problems translate into the pettiness, gridlock and strife in our legislative branches of government.
Our leaders are only servants to a public that would rather fight and form a thinking process that begins and ends with a blue or red argument.
The time for the conversation to evolve is now but it will take each and every American giving up a little something in preconceived notions of everything we believe race, gender, religion and political structure to be if we truly want to understand how things went so wrong.
It takes a crisis for the eyes of the American people to open and we are in these times but it is up to each and every individual to grasp the opportunity.
The opportunity to listen and find the truth beyond a 30 minute news block and everything we are told is going on in the world through a partisan slant.
The opportunity to understand why segments of this country think the way they do and the real story of historical periods that happened to the forgotten members of our society.
The opportunity to listen to good ideas for being good ideas instead of playing wait and see games in judgment of an idea based on who brought them into the conversation.
The opportunity for us to get it right is now…
The opportunities to not only help America climb out of a period of darkness caused by mistakes from our strife but to create a brighter future for the next generation.
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