As I watched the Obamamania sweep the progressive political community and the reactive dominant community I saw two things. Each is an aspect of an experience that informs my worldview. While not wholly or totally the same but similar to the situations that I will share.
First, Barack Obama's election reminded me of two earlier electoral political events. The earliest, and possibly the most similar, example was the election of Harold Washington. The other was the election of Nelson Mandela. Both these events had similarities to the election of Barack Obama.
There were several features of the election of Harold Washington that foreshadowed or reflected the Barack Obama experience. One of the similarities between Barack Obama's election and Harold Washington's election was their status as a "first." Harold Washington was the first African-American elected as mayor of Chicago. Of course, Barack Obama was the first African-American elected as President of the United states.
I remember the actual election day for Harold Washington. There was a huge turnout of voters. This was possibly one of the highest voter turnout of African Americans since the founding of Chicago by the fur trader of African descent, Jean Baptiste DuSable. Reflecting on that day evokes images of elderly voters leaning on canes standing in line with voters on hospital gurneys pulling hospital equipment along with them. There were stories of long lines and long waits, polling places that ran out of ballots and hours that were extended to accommodate voter turnout.
We saw similar pictures of the response to Nelson Mandela's election in South Africa. There were the same, or similar, long lines with elderly voters leaning on canes, voters discharged from hospitals leaning on canes and lying on gurneys, first-time young voters and, ultimately, one time only voters. The fact that the election held promise and reflected a vision of equity and inclusion brought out and engaged sectors of the electorate that had been disengaged and disenfranchised with the hope, and expectation, that their vote would make a difference. One significant difference between Chicago, a municipal election, and South Africa, a national election, was that it was the first time that many Mandela supporters were able to vote; whereas Chicago voters felt for the first time that their vote could matter.
Barack Obama's election brought a similar type of energy for voters of African descent across the nation. Partly there was the notion that he (Barack Obama) could actually win. Based on the essentialist notions that are a basic premise of race certain expectations and assumptions regarding values were a major motivating factor. In all three cases the promise reflected by electoral promise was stunted by the institutional demands of white supremacy. The need to maintain the basic social and economic structures that reflects the European onslaught that began in 1492 constrains and contains the possibility of change.
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