Challenges to Hope in the Age of Obama

I would like to share a moment of revelation I had as President-Elect Barack Obama gave his acceptance speech in Grant Park. As words of hope, unity, and an acknowledgment of difference poured from his mouth, the moving tears crawling along the crows feet near my parents eyes signaled to me something profound: the history of this country beyond what we can read in books.

Everyone can acknowledge what we've all read throughout school: an essential fleshing out of Harvard Professor Nathan Glazer's claim this nation's story has been one of gradual inclusion into the graces of American-ness. Little by little, the story goes, things got better and more people were allowed to fulfill and realize their human rights. Aside from issues I take with the implications of this theory, we can all hopefully agree that this is the foundation in our public consciousness. What was different to me on this November night, was the breaking of generational separation-- I finally felt my parents experience rather than simply hearing it.

At that moment, when my Dad says "Remember this boys... this is history" and I contemplate myself remembering that night some other night after my parents are gone, I consider similar moments in their lives. As activists, they remember significant events in Civil Rights, etc. But more salient is the image of my parents as children slaving away in cotton fields, harboring not the slightest notion of what we saw Tuesday night. Thank God.

Obama brings notions of bipartisan progress and restoring the strength of America. Particularly touching to me were his comments about being all of our President, including those who voted differently. He said he would listen to the latter, especially when they disagreed with him. That is possibly the most hopeful message yet. Similarly, John McCain's concession speech dripped with harrowing eloquence. I was very impressed with this hero's commitment to our great nation. He pledged his work to the cause of fixing American after another historical milestone: George W. Bush, who will most likely go down as the worst president in Modern America. So we're all hopeful and joined beyond the categorical division of partisanship. We have a biracial president and are hopeful for a better tomorrow. Politically, it would seem that way (despite the troubles with felon senators from Alaska and Proposition 8, see later entries).

The American People, however, have in recent years proven otherwise. Those chilling comments and occurrences that surface to the media indicate deeper and more pervasive sentiments. Some "criticisms" of Obama being a Muslim, terrorist, or other accusations ring home the fear many minorities wish they didn't have to fear. I want to believe that we are beyond that dreadful chapter, but the irrational bigotry that persists is a challenge to that hope. I offer the following as things that scare me about fellow Americans:

(1) Nationally publicized comments about Obama's race, creed, or other "negative" demarcation
(2) Nooses being hung from trees at Baylor University (I hope we destroy them Saturday)
(3) Liknesses of Obama's face for Aggies to egg at A&M, and the University allowing it
(4) Comments by golfer's at some tournament after Tiger Woods' win: "Maybe next time he can serve fried chicken or collared greens."

(5) Finally, the Buck Burnette comment and his expulsion from the UT Football Team. I think that it's fair to hold him responsible for what he decides to publish: "Gather the hunters, we got a n* in the white house". It sickens me that such sentiments aren't limited to the fringes of the voting populace. The kooks we saw lashing comments I, among at least a few, assured myself were from older, less exposed corners of American society. This young man was in the national spotlight, on a team full of black students, and I am struck by the obstinate tendencies of bigotry. It just won't seem to go away no matter how far we've come.

We are an aggregate nation of different folks. We share a strong bond as patriots and citizens, and it seems to me that divisive partisanship, hatred, and bigotry are the most un-American things that consistently occur and thus a large threat to the strength and hope of this great nation.