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Black without being black
Adnan Morshed
AS I had lunch with family and friends at Art and Soul Restaurant, it appeared to be a microcosm of pre-inauguration Washington, throbbing with excitement on the eve of Barack Obama’s swearing-in as the 44th president of the United States.
The restaurant was filled with jubilant out-of-town inauguration attendees, and blacks seemed to outnumber all others in the inauguration-themed dining area.The restaurant, owned by the media queen Oprah Winfrey’s former chef Art Smith, was the command center for star-studded inauguration parties across town. Almost everybody had an Obama-themed artifact
on them, ranging from buttons to hats to purses and earrings.
Now zoom out from Art and Soul to the capital city. It presented the same scene of euphoria, reminiscent of ancient Roman grandeur before the coronation of an emperor. Ordinary folks tired of Bush doctrines, security officials, vendors, news crews, young political worker bees, idealists, lefties, Hollywood stars, and a new generation of power brokers, descended into the federal city. Streets were colonised by a sprawling cottage industry of Obama collectibles. Everybody appeared eager to buy a piece of history.
The Sunday concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, featuring Bruce Springsteen, Shakira, Beyonce, Bono,
Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, and Tom Hanks, was just one of many inauguration events that galvanised the city. Amidst all this political frolicking, Obama figured as a larger-than-life messenger of hope, change, and destiny.
Yet, the question of race in American politics hovered over this landscape of charged festivities. No doubt, America is at a crossroads of racial historiography as trans-racial camaraderie spreads magic across the capital and beyond.
As recently as 2007, African-Americans almost never thought that a black American president was a realistic option during their lifetime. So they generally supported the white guy who came closest in their imagination to fulfilling the black dreams of equal citizenship.
African-Americans embraced Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Bill Clinton as black sympathisers, but they also understood that these presidents were not blacks who had experienced the psychological trauma of slavery or its genera-
tional agonies that keep lingering on among blacks. These great presidents were well-meaning outsiders who empathised with their cause, yet not then-ilk.
But with Obama on centre stage, it is no longer about projecting hopes on a foil that blacks could never fully trust or claim as their own. Thus, a sense of vindication has recently permeated the collective mind of black America that blacks too can realise their dreams without the moral buttressing of a white saviour like Lincoln. One of their own can also reach the pinnacle of the American government. This has proved to be a hugely empowering feeling.
Yet, this is not how Obama himself saw things. Like a master politician bent on impressing the whole country, he simultaneously mitigated and bypassed the quintessential black anxiety of social inequality. With his great eloquence, Obama encouraged blacks to see in him the fulfillment of their dreams without asserting his own blackness the way such
black leaders as Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson would.
The ingenuity in Obama's journey to the presidency was not in his post-racial politics - as many politicos have argued --but rather in what I would call his "aracial" campaign th at envisaged blacks as worthy citizens like any other ethnic group. Obama comforted the black wound, even while casting himself as a colour-neutral American who just happened to be black. This was the brilliance of Obama's "aracial" politics.
At the beginning of Obama's presidential bid, distrust brewed among the black establishment with the whispered allegation that he was an inauthentic black with his mixed-race ancestry and lack of slavery history. But Obama gradually solidified his self-image, not as a black messiah but as a mythical American character that endures against all odds and embraces the classic American work ethic as a vehicle for personal fulfillment.
With this self-positioning, Obama
could command the trust of black America without having to act black. With a magisterial view of the land, Obama focused on earning the trust of an across-the-board America -- white, black, brown, yellow, and the myriad amalgamation of these colours -- without being seen as safeguarding the interest of one group. Obama projected himself as an American unifier, vowing to renew the promise of the republic.
This struck a vastly popular chord. A true cross-section of the American population poured into the capital city as Washington hosted the largest gathering in its history to witness the momentous beginning of the Barack Obama era. Whether or not this era undergoes the typically predictable souring, right now the capital is still aglow with an unbridled optimism for the future.
Dr. Adnan Morshed teaches at The Catholic University of America, Washington. DC. He can be reached at morshed@cua.edu
***Whether or not this era undergoes the typically predictable souring, right now the capital is still aglow with an unbridled optimism for the future.***