If Obama wins the Democratic nomination, I believe America is ready for a black president. [View All]

[Skinner]

(Reminder: The DU Administrators are officially neutral in the Democratic primary, and we will continue to be neutral throughout this process. This is a narrow response to a particular issue, not an endorsement of Barack Obama.)

Since Barack Obama won the Iowa caucus on Thursday, I've seen a number of posts here on DU on whether an African-American man could win the presidency. This is an issue that came up in my family discussions over the Christmas holiday, and my brother-in-law made a comment which has really stuck in my brain for the last week and a half. He said:

"Barack Obama has achieved Tiger Woods status."

My impression is that this is basically true. But what, exactly, is "Tiger Woods status"?

There is no doubt in my mind that there is still a significant amount of racism in this country. In my mind, this racism is of two broad categories: Bigoted Bias, by which I mean feelings or attitudes -- both conscious and unconscious -- that people have toward individuals and/or groups of people of different races; and Institutional Racism, by which I mean the vastly different circumstances that exist for different racial groups (eg: poverty rates, access to quality education, safe communities, etc.). For the most part, overt bigoted bias is no longer considered acceptable in our culture (thankfully), but sadly less-overt manifestations are still relatively common. Institutional Racism is still a huge problem, and many in our culture refuse to even admit that it exists, preferring to dismiss the issue as being entirely a by-product of problems in minority communities themselves rather than accept that the problem is caused by society as a whole.

By "Tiger Woods status," I think my brother-in-law meant that Barack Obama has managed to transcend the racism of our society. He is not seen as a "black leader," but rather as a leader, period. His race is incidental to how he is perceived by society as a whole. Tiger Woods does not belong to the black community alone -- he has been embraced by (almost) our entire culture. Barack Obama has shown that he is capable of being accepted in the same way. Both of these men have been able to do this because first, they have been careful to project images that eschew any overt racial identity, and second, because America has (believe it or not) progressed far enough that a majority of our citizens are willing to accept them on these terms.

In this, I think politics is a lagging indicator. Barack Obama and Tiger Woods are able to appeal to Americans in this way because they are beneficiaries of the society that previous African Americans have made. They are part of what I think is a sort-of "second phase" of the civil rights movement.

The first phase of the civil rights movement was about knocking down barriers. By necessity, it was confrontational, and the response from racist whites was, predictably, negative. The leaders and trailblazers from this era are people like Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, Jack Johnson, James Meredith, and the Little Rock Nine. Looking back decades later, MLK and Rosa Parks and Jackie Robinson are now seen as almost saint-like, but they were not seen that way at the time. Others, like Malcolm X and Jack Johnson, are still today seen as highly controversial. Those who were successful in politics -- people like Coleman Young in Detroit or Marion Barry in Washington, DC, or even Jesse Jackson -- tended to appeal mostly to black voters for their political success, and were viewed with great suspicion by most whites.

Decades into the first phase of the civil rights movement, a second phase has quietly emerged. After the first wave of civil rights leaders busted down the doors, millions of ordinary African-American citizens have integrated into society. They did not have to bust down the doors, but they did have to understand how to navigate the treacherous racial landscape. This is the society that I (a 36-year-old white male) grew up in.

I missed the civil rights movement. During my lifetime the country has seen plenty of "controversial" African Americans. But I think racial relations during this era -- and in particular the last twenty years -- have been characterized mostly by interactions between "regular" people. At school and at work, whites and blacks interact with each other every day, and while there is still plenty of ignorance and misunderstanding, many of us have seen firsthand that we have little to fear from one another. In the public sphere, prominent African Americans during this era have been able to focus less on breaking down barriers, and instead focus on doing their job, whatever it is.

So, Barack Obama is standing on the shoulders of giants.

He is standing on the shoulders of all the ordinary African-American citizens that white Americans interact with every day. In our schools. In our workplaces. At the grocery store or the mall. On our favorite liberal discussion forums. And sometimes (but not often) in our places of worship.

And he is also standing on the shoulders of prominent African Americans from this post-civil rights era. People who transcend racial stereotypes and have been embraced by almost all of America. People like (off the top of my head): Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby, Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe, Michael Jordan, Will Smith, Halle Berry, Denzel Washington, James Earl Jones, Morgan Freeman, Bernard Shaw on CNN, Ed Bradley on "60 Minutes," and (of course) Tiger Woods.

In politics, the trend is more subtle, but equally important. While there are still plenty of African-American politicians who are narrowly considered to be "black leaders," there are more and more who have broad appeal to both whites and blacks. Here in Washington, DC, where Marion Barry was once Mayor, we had Anthony Williams and now Adrian Fenty. In Detroit, Coleman Young was followed by Dennis Archer. In Massachusetts, Deval Patrick. In national politics, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. (Yes, I know.) They have all helped pave the way for Barack Obama's run today.

No, America is not ready to elect a "black leader" like Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton to the presidency. But I believe they are ready to elect a strong, inspiring leader who also happens to be black.