Urban Thought Collective

The election of Barack Obama to the Presidency of the United States represents a major, attitudinal shift in America with regard to race. Bigotry and racism are still alive in our nation (on both the individual and institutional levels), but Obama’s victory proves that most Americans want to move past the divisive and oppressive racial construct that has defined the United States through most of its history. That’s why 250,000 people of every racial and ethnic background flowed into Chicago’s Grant Park to celebrate Obama’s victory on election night. And that is what Obama meant when he said that his win was about us and not him. A new America is emerging but the old one won’t go away without a fight.

While there is much cause for jubilation and hope at this milestone moment, we know that racial profiling, discrimination; exclusion, stereotyping, hate crimes and the general contempt with which some whites regard black folks will not disappear simply because Barack Obama is our new President.

The campaign revealed just how entrenched and violent racism is. Indeed, while Election Day reflected America at its best, the bitterness of the campaign revealed America at its worst. We must never forget: the t-shirt with Obama’s name next to a picture of cartoon monkey Curious George, the “New Yorker” magazine cover that depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as Muslim terrorists in the Oval Office, Fox News calling the Obamas’ affectionate pound a “terrorist fist bump,” the conservative “family values” convention that hawked “Obama Waffle Mix” boxes emblazoned with racist caricatures and text, the persistent lie that Barack Obama was an African-born Muslim with ties to terrorist groups, the biased and dead-horse-beating coverage of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Hillary Clinton openly appealing to white working class voters in the Pennsylvania primary, Sarah Palin repeatedly praising small town white folks as “the real Americans,” John McCain sitting elbow to elbow with Obama in their third debate and defending the vile supporters who shouted “terrorist” and “kill him” when Obama’s was mentioned at McCain rallies. Remember, also, that some 500 death threats were made against Barack Obama during the campaign – more than any other candidate in history.

As millions of people of all races, ethnicities, orientations, religions and socio-economic strata celebrated Obama’s victory in peaceful celebrations all across America and around the world, other people with backward and warped hearts, responded in a different way. We heard them boo when John McCain mentioned Obama’s name during his concession speech. And there were more blatant expressions. “All the hunters gather up, we have a nigger in the White House.” That’s what the Facebok message posted by University of Texas football player Buck Burnette said. And you know he wasn’t the only one. Not by a long shot. In fact, Burnette claims that the message was sent to him by somebody else.

That wicked message, with its overt racism and unmistakable threat to Mr. Obama’s life, is another reminder of what most of us already know: the Old United States, the Traditional United States, has not passed away. But here’s the silver lining. The University of Texas kicked Burnette off the football team because of that Facebook posting. Burnette quickly apologized in a letter saying that he had been “immature” and “ignorant” but insisting that he is “not a racist.” Personally, I don’t believe him. I suspect that Burnette is a racist, that he knew exactly what he was doing and he wasn’t “sorry” until he got caught and saw his college football career snatched away from him. But the fact that this kid did not escape with a slap on the wrist is a further evidence that above-board racism no longer socially acceptable.

This gives me hope that race relations in the U.S. will continue to mature in the Obama era.

Thanks for listening. I’m Cameron Turner and that’s my two cents.

THINK! IT AIN’T ILLEGAL…YET!

Cameron Turner is a Los Angeles-area native whose editorials, entertainment news features and audio documentaries have appeared on national radio networks, online and in print for over 20 years.