Senator Barack Obama won democratic primary contests in both Iowa and in South Carolina. In Iowa, Obama made history when he became the first person of color to win that state’s democratic primary caucus. His victory was most impressive when you consider that the state of Iowa is over 95 percent white. In order to win Iowa’s caucus, Senator Obama had to win the white vote. He won the caucus over the efforts of two prominent and politically established U. S. senators, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. Both, Senator Clinton and Edwards are white. In South Carolina, Obama won by gaining the support of black voters in a state in which over 50 percent of the registered democratic votes are held by people of African descent. Senator Obama is on the verge of wining the democratic nomination for President of the United States of America. Just last week he established the single month record for raising the most money for a political campaign.
Obama is of mixed heritage. His mother is white and from Kansas while his father is black and from Kenya. His intellect, charisma, and political acumen have captivated a wide range of people in this country. Obama’s rise to prominence has illustrated that the diversity movement, which began in earnest nearly three decades ago, is accomplishing its goals.
The eminent black sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois considers skin color, hair and bone to be the primary human signifiers. It now appears that we can look beyond these human signifiers to form valid impressions of a person who is campaigning to be the president of our country and the leader of the free world. Moreover, Obama is proving that our society has evolved to a place where Dr. Martin Luther King could only dream about (that is) to measure the person by the content of his character not by the color of his skin.
During the past half century, a movement established by a number of disenfranchised groups (people of color, women, gay males and lesbians) argued that they were being marginalized in society. As a result of this marginalization, these individuals contend that they were denied a voice in determining their own realities, their own identity, and the conditions of their lives. As these groups established a voice within the dominant society, their politics began to be identified with their life experiences. Unfortunately, the public began to place less weight on the thoughts, values, and positions articulated by advocates of this movement. Instead emphasis was placed on the identity that signified who the person is. Thus if you are of African descent, white, Asian, Latin feminist or gay male then your politics are inextricably attributed to the aforementioned essentialized characteristics of race, gender or lifestyle.
When we seriously study the nature of identity politics, we have to be immediately impressed with how Obama has walked the political and psychological tightrope in establishing his own identity which is far removed from politics based on racial identity. So it appears as if diversity has won. It appears that we have evolved to a place in this society where we can acknowledge the range of human experiences but look beyond the experience itself. Obama clearly is not a race candidate. If you examine his career you will find that he never has been a race candidate. His politics are not based on his racial identity. He has done what Julian Bond, Shirley Chisholm, Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton could not do.