A few things make me nervous about Barack’s winning. Here is a few on my mind right now:
- The celebration and jubilation that is buzzing through Kenya is great but is its magnitude misplaced? If it is in fact appropriate then I hope that it does not give way to ridiculous expectations upon the Obama Administration vis-à-vis US-Kenya relations etc. That makes me nervous.
- The state of African-Americans – I hope that the African-American will not now walk around with extra padding on their shoulder because this is a step towards the process of leveling the field as opposed to tipping the scales in the opposite direction to the status quo.
- The White Americans – I hope they don’t feel too complacent by having voted for a Black president and actually start acting the way their vote suggests they are beginning to think about racial politics.
- The Foreign Black Student From Botswana: I hope everyone will stop trying to drag me into false solidarity based on color.
That said, CONGRATULATIONS PRESIDENT OBAMA!!!
No rain on Obama, but read on.
Barack Obama is on his way to becoming the first Black President of the US. As a political scientist and someone interested in world politics I see this as a miraculously good thing in many ways including symbolism of progressive thinking of the American people, the changing of America’s face to a world angry at and sometimes hateful towards the US etc.
That being said, I do not have an emotional response towards the outcome of Obama’s run. I do not even use such words as “victory” to describe it. Whose victory? I may love Obama as a leader but truth is though I may live in America but I am still a foreigner looking in on American politics. They do not make me react on a personal level as opposed to an intellectual one of a voyeur. And this distant reaction of mine has earned me a few odd looks from the Americans I speak with who expect the opposite.
WHY cannot they understand that I will not sing praises for Barack based on the fact that he is Black and so am I? Given the History Barack’s presidency will be making, will American people assess their understanding of a compartmentalized understanding of identity being the basis for phony solidarity? I respect the man as a leader, not for the fact that he is my color.
