The Illusion of Race

I have decided that for U.S. Americans, race is just an illusion. I came to this conclusion for many reasons. My great-great grandfather "looked just like a Chinaman", I was told long ago by my grandma (or maybe she said Indian). This explains the Asian (Native American?) slant to my eyes. My father spoke with a Carribean accent (Or maybe it was French?...Congo?...who knows?). My sister-in-law is Asian. My niece is half-white. I stopped calling myself an "African American" about 10 years ago and switched to calling myself just "black" when I realized the term was designating my skin color, not my racial background. My success in life is due in large part to the wonderful schoolmates, teachers and community in the small town in Alabama where I grew up, most of whom were white, but all of us had every opportunity to be and do almost anything.

At my church there is a grown white woman whose sister and brother are black because they have different fathers. She's nearly my age, not one of the new millenial bi-racial kids you see now all over the place. Her nieces and nephews are both white and black. Her brother married a white woman so his kids look white. Her sister married a black man so her kids look black. Never in my life have I seen more evidence that all of us are only one parent or grandparent away from being either white or black in skin color.

When I still lived in the south I was stuck between feeling the racism of the past and behaving with the bold confidence of knowing I was equal. Thanks to my year and a half in Omaha, Nebraska I no longer struggle with that. I feel liberated and free to walk into any room or business and look around and know that I have more in common than differences. My expectations, demeanor, and attitude are the biggest contributors to my experience, not my skin color.

In countries where the entire population is still one ethnic group, race may still be considered a real factor, but no longer in the US. I hope that all Americans who have longed for equality to become a reality can now see in the victory of Barrack Obama in Iowa that their battle has been won. The fact that he can win Iowa means that racism is almost extinct.

I admit that I had not decided to vote for him for president. My support was leaning towards Hilary Clinton years ago before she even announced her candidacy, while she was still first lady. But to see the change in attitude of the entire country with the victory of Barrack Obama in Iowa is amazing. It's like the entire country is breathing a sigh of relief..."ahhhh, we are not the racists we thought we were" and "see, we were just waiting for someone who was really qualified". Previously in this post I had written that this country was in fact once as racists as we seemed to be, but I am going to recant that. I am changing my opinion on the idea that America is fundamentally and historically racist. I think if that were true the civil rights movement wouldn't have been successful. None of the progress towards equality would have been possible without the cooperation of all races. I am going to cling to that thought.

Recently several states have been issuing apologies for slavery. All rational inteligent Americans want to repent of slavery and racism and finally put them behind us and actually practice the values the current administration likes to pretend to have. An Obama victory might do more to restore a return to family values than anything any Republican candidate could do. It would bring about a huge healing process for the entire country. We might finally be seen throughout the world as the example of Democracy that we proclaim ourselves to be and perhaps be redeemed not only from the hypocracy of slavery but also from the humiliation and ignorance of the Bush administration.