Racism is highly overrated. American Blacks claim it is the prejudice of others as the reason they fail (fill in the blank). If one spends time on the Internet communicating with Afro-Americans, (the politically correct term, at this moment) half of them will attribute their failings to "racism".
Those of us who believed, wholly or partially, that there was a huge monolith of "racism" in America were stunned by the ease Senator Obama won the Presidential Election.
This was no "nail-biter", this was no Gore/Bush or Kerry/Bush in which it came down a handful of votes, this was an overwhelming majority. The BBC had "called" the election before voting began, as their polls gave Obama at least 330 electoral votes where 270 were required to win. Clearly, Americans of every colour voted for Barack Obama.
What this means for African Americans is that they will have a bit more difficulty in attributing their personal failings to racism. The majority of Americans voted for Barack Obama not because of his skin colour, but because of his platform.
If Mr. Obama was white, his vision for America would still galvanise the population. Perhaps African Americans would not be as active in support and might have stayed home, but white voters, with a choice as clear as it was on November 4, 2008, would have elected Barack Obama as President of the United States. Although I may gain the opprobrium of my Black American readers, the fact is, in many cases, 'failings are not in our stars but in ourselves'. If a black man, whether in Akron, Ohio, or Accra, Ghana, wants to idle on a corner, he won't get far in life.
In Akron he can claim it is "white people" who keep him down. In Accra, whom does he blame? If a black woman wants to engage in unprotected sex and spew out fatherless children when she can not even support herself, if she's in Pittsburgh she can claim it is the "white man" who keeps her in the "ghetto" and in poverty.
In Port of Spain, Trinidad, whom does she blame? American Blacks have just lost their catch-all excuse for their failures. If Barack Obama can reach the top, can be elected President of the United States, elected not by the "black" vote, but by the votes of the majority of non-black Americans, then perhaps racism is not as prevalent as media mouths wish to make us believe.
It has always been the way to power for a dark skinned demagogue to tell other dark skinned people that they must align with him to fight against the "white power structure". No longer will these demagogues have a platform of the backs of "their" people to raise them to a standard of living they aspire to become accustomed to.
The greatest effect of Barack Obama on the Black community will be the removal of their excuses for self immolation.
