Now that the Inauguration is nearly a week behind us, can we PLEASE stop calling Obama the "First Black President"? And we don't need any more of this debate about whether he's the first "Black" President or the first "Mixed" President, do we? I mean really. Couldn't his rise and his election have been used to show that we as a country are finally entering an era BEYOND race? That's what I hoped for early in the race, as it started to seem like his rise was possible.
In fact, early on, no one talked about Obama as a "black" candidate. He was simply one of several candidates entering the presidential race. Even as he started achieving some early success, he still seemed to be an American candidate, capable of representing a new America that had finally moved beyond racial identity and division. That's what filled me with hope in the early days more than the fact that a "black" candidate could rise up--but that we could finally speak about characteristics (like intellect, charisma, and eloquence) of a person of color, without prefacing it with a mention of their racial identity.
Suddenly, Obama had the Democratic nomination and he became the "First Black Candidate" and later the "First Black President." Certainly he is that, but everyone knows that without endless discussions about it on every talk show in the world. The more we talk about him as a "Black President"--or even worse as a "President for Black America" the more we continue to remain divided. Surely, if Obama doesn't simply become the "American President" and soon, we will have missed a monumental opportunity for everyone to realize that race and ethnicity, finally, do not matter as much as we think they do.
Jan 25, 2009
Our President's First Week
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