RACE:
BARACK OBAMA
Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4th
1961. He was a civil rights lawyer and teacher before pursuing a political
career. Obama is the 44th and current president of the United States
and the first African American to hold office. [1]
Being the first African American to gain presidency would
suggest that America has moved forward and that ‘race’ is a historical product
that is ever changing. However, during Obama’s campaign to run for president,
there was a lot of controversy as to whether or not he should play on his race
(and whether he did or not is still highly disputed among some). “Many African
Americans said that, in order for Obama to win election as President of the
United States, he could not bring up race during the campaign” in order not to
alienate many white liberal constitutions; although the fact that he did this
would suggest that racism is still a large problem in the US.
The journal article goes on further to illustrate,
although Barack Obama has made history in being the first African American
president in the United States (and that is progress in itself), that he is not
“acknowledging the black ancestral struggle that preceded him and which in many
ways opened the doors to his rise in American politics”. Obama has ran campaigns
for and promoted ‘Change in America’ however
when compared to someone such as Martin Luther King and other African American
activists, it would be hard to bring something like this about without bringing
up race. This makes you wonder whether or not the US will ever be fully equal
and without racial discrimination, even in light of the political breakthrough
of Obama becoming the first African American president.
Sources:
Journal
Article: Asukile, T, The Barack Obama New Era: Race Matters More Than Ever in
America, The Black Scholar, 38(4),
BARACK OBAMA 2009 (WINTER 2008), pp.41-43, Published by Paradigm Publishers,
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41069364
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