Is Racism Dead?

Some have suggested that I probably put too much pressure on my kindergartener if he was so stressed about a school election. Let me explain what happened the day before. I have also been blessed with an energetic four-year-old. On Monday, before the election, he came home from pre-school very excited because he had the opportunity to vote in school. He smiled proudly as he told me how he had voted for Barak Obama. I only began talking to my small children about politics because it was clear that someone else was already doing so.

What’s really interesting about the whole situation is the method they used at both my sons’ schools. The children were shown pictures of the candidates and asked to point to the one they chose. We live in an area of the country where my blonde-hair, blue eyed children are a clear minority. My kindergartener is the only white child in his class. I chose the school for the programs it offered, but passed up another school which was closer to my home and offered similar programs because I was told it had some tension between different ethnic groups. That school had many more white children than the one I chose. My reasoning was simple: he could not be part of a faction if he was an anomaly. I do not want my children to even notice skin color, let alone be influenced by it. I found it interesting that my son looked at the pictures and did not pick the one that looked like him and his family. Whatever his reasons for choosing Barak Obama, race was not in it. This, I believe, is what it means to not be racist.

Many do not share my definition. In both the concession speech by John McCain and the victory speech by the president elect, a main theme was the gigantic step this country has taken by electing a black man president. This bothered me. In my mind, it is racism of another kind. Shouldn’t the main theme of an election victory be the victory of the politics represented by the candidate? Shouldn’t we care less about the color of a man’s skin and much more about what he believes is best for our country? I suppose it is more than can be hoped for during an election where we were out to prove that we weren’t racist. But someone who is truly colorblind doesn’t have to prove it.

The librarian who conducted the election at my kindergartener’s school noted that one child when shown the pictures of the candidates and asked to choose, looked a little confused and then asked, “Which one is the black one?” Perhaps the parent who told him to “vote for the black one” only meant it as a description so the child would know the candidate with the better vision for America. Perhaps. But the child was clean of the bias that plagues so many in the world and only saw two men in the pictures, not grouping them into racial categories.

During this election we saw black panthers intimidating voters. We saw a white McCain worker make up a story of being assaulted by a large black man supporting the Obama. We had a candidate who attends a church that proudly defines itself as only for people of a particular race. Further, as always, we had polls that grouped voters on categories according to their race and ethnicity, as if they all should vote the same. And we had a victory that was considered more important in terms of civil rights than politics which could change the face of this country for our children.

What is my point? Am I arguing that progress hasn’t been made? Of course not. The world we live in today is much better than the one plagued by segregation and open hostility. My point is that progress cannot be legislated. If we truly want racial equality, it comes with freedom. Each time the government attempts to dictate equality, another type of discrimination is born. People resent being told what to do and others resent being forced to accept help from a government for something they can do themselves. Have hope in the people of this amazing nation. Most of us want racial equality. Most of us teach our children what is right and wrong. Let those who insist on being racist make fools of themselves until they get tired of looking idiotic. Nobody should have to prove they're not racist by endorsing reverse racism. I look forward hopefully to the day when the little boy who asked which candidate was the “black man” will look at a spectrum of politicians in every color and gender and ask, “Which one is best for America?”

Racism will only truly die when we stop trying to make it a martyr.