This is another post leading up to a PBS election special about race and politics in the 2012 election and beyond. It premieres Oct. 16th, please check your local listings! Follow on Twitter @PBSRace2012!
I have a hard time imagining a conversation with the person who planted this sign in their front yard. I guess my position is simply more evidence that America continues to struggle with open conversations on race. This even though one in three Americans self-classify as multicultural. So I ask, “Why don’t people talk about race.”
I don’t talk about race because most of my life I held the belief that the powers-that-be are not really gonna change and/or risk their chance of forfeiting power. I inherited this belief and grew up thinking that most people who do not share a belief system that includes equity for its citizens are not interested in the air I breathe or my explanations of where I am coming from in discussions on race. Equally as volatile a topic in polite company is the subject of politics. To venture into either sphere is to reveal too much about one’s spirit, one’s dreams and one’s naivete. I can hear Rodney King saying, “Can’t we all get along.”
Along the way I ceased to be the teacher on race among my “other” friends because I no longer felt the need to be their conscience. I began to identify them as “other” and not myself. I lost the desire to help them become better informed citizens. And because the actions of the power structure did not support their words, I began to listen to the drummer in my own head. My job, I decided, was to help myself become a better person.
Given this I guess you’ve already surmised that I do not identify with the minority/majority’s political views of how power should be welded in order to govern. The songs and poetry I internalized coming of age spoke of a world changed by its embrace of a global equality, a middle class, and aspirations that cross ethnic and color lines. I expected government to reflect some of this.
So participation in this conversation on race and its impact on the election has been both uncomfortable and affirming. Because in spite of what I want to believe, what I see is a President hampered by his race to do his best job. It is hard to imagine a post-racial America if we cannot accept the idea of a New Mainstream. Yet il faut avoir l’espoir. I believe in hope.
Do you think hope is an inappropriate or naive sentiment? Please share in the comments or with someone you think might care. ;0) Thanks.
Monica's Tangled Web says
Having hope is not the solution, but it’s what keeps us going. That is what makes us human. We hope for a better future, for success, for good health, for our children’s happiness. We have two main political parties and only one of them seems to acknowledge and embrace the new mainstream. The other one seems to feel threatened and is holding on to a ledge. For them, it’s a matter of time. Accept the change or perish. One can only hope they’ll choose the former.