Latest update November 30th, 2024 1:00 AM

Guyana's largest selling daily and New York's most popular weekly

Latest News

O – Day

Jan 20, 2009 Editorial

During the US Presidential campaign there was a popular aphorism circulating: “Rosa sat so Martin could walk; Martin walked so Obama could run; Obama is running so our children can fly!”
Today millions of people, not only in America, are flying as Barack Hussein Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.
Even though Obama and his staff have attempted to stress “the oneness of the American people” as the theme in the inauguration festivities, he cannot escape the widespread appreciation that his singular accomplishment is the culmination of a long and arduous historical struggle.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote from a jail in Birmingham in 1964, “We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights,” when African Americans were merely agitating to sit at the same counters as whites in restaurants.
What does one say about achieving the right to occupy the White House as the President of the United States of America?
“It’s breathtaking just thinking about it,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. “Two centuries of our struggle for civil rights come down to this defining moment. … Barack will be facing Abraham Lincoln and the sacred ground where Martin Luther King gave his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.
And just behind the Capitol will be the Supreme Court, which inspired the modern civil rights revolution with its desegregation decision 55 years ago. Unbelievable.” Another Senator remarked that Obama will be answering King: ‘The dream is fulfilled.’”
While the latter statement may be somewhat hyperbolic, there is no question that the US has reason to be proud on the question of whether it would ever live up to the assertion of its Constitution that, “All men are created equal”.
After utilising every artifice in law – and then some – to deny that equality to its African-American citizens, its democratic processes have delivered up an African American occupant of its highest office: one can be excused for engaging in hyperbole.
While there are many lessons that can be distilled from the American experience in dealing with its multiracial and multiethnic conglomerations, one that stands out is its rejection of its initial insistence on assimilation of all its citizens into some homogenous melange and its acceptance (and encouragement) of a unity based on diversity.
While on Sunday there was a “We Are One” concert at the Lincoln Memorial featuring Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Bono and Bruce Springsteen – it is more than symbolic that it was followed by the Obama’s Hip-Hop Ball (the “Kids’ Inaugural: We are the Future”) last night.
In fact, much of the reason why a Barack Obama could end up in the White House today is because of a celebration and institutionalisation of diversity.
Obama did not have to renounce his “blackness” to become President of the US. In the America of today it is O.K. to be a hypehenated American – Afro, Latino, Irish Jewish…or as the youths say, “Whatever!” There is no assumption of a contradiction between one’s ethnicity – and this is multitudinous – and one’s nationality, which is one.
There is an acceptance also that the experiences that shape one’s ethnic identity would inevitably impact on one’s beliefs and actions.
That African Americans voted for Obama in the high 90 percent range – obliterating all divisions of class and strata – was understood and accepted against the historical exclusion of African, as a group, from full participation in the body politic.
The politics of identity can – and did mesh – with the politics of individuality that typifies the American liberal tradition.
It did so because of the remarkable sagacity and perspicacity of Barack Obama. Mr Obama never flinched away from the historical and present travails of African Americans – but he refused to play the blame-game.

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | November, 20th, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

 

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Battle for Glory: Petra-MVP Sports Girls U11 Football Championship reaches thrilling Semi-Final Stage

Battle for Glory: Petra-MVP Sports Girls U11 Football Championship...

Nov 30, 2024

  Kaieteur Sports – The road to the 2024 MVP Sports-Petra Organisation Girls Under-11 Football Championship title narrows today as the tournament moves into its highly anticipated...
Read More
Dinar Trading and Forrester’s Concrete solidify support

Dinar Trading and Forrester’s Concrete solidify...

Nov 30, 2024

Linden vs. Georgetown rivalry takes centre stage at GBF Elite 16 Finals

Linden vs. Georgetown rivalry takes centre stage...

Nov 30, 2024

Diamond Mineral Water Indoor Hockey Tournament heats up ahead of Sunday’s Finale

Diamond Mineral Water Indoor Hockey Tournament...

Nov 30, 2024

Top athletes and officials recognized at 2023 National Sports Awards

Top athletes and officials recognized at 2023...

Nov 30, 2024

Guyana Beverages Inc. partners with GFF for Maid Marian Wheat Up Women’s Cup

Guyana Beverages Inc. partners with GFF for Maid...

Nov 29, 2024

Features/Columnists

  • The Windfall Tax paradox

    …Peeping Tom Kaieteur News- It is a curious feature of the modern age that the more complex our agreements, the more... more

Publisher’s Note

Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.

Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]