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The Obama Presidency: The Challenge and Celebration

By Obi. O. Akwani
MGV Editor

Posted November 27, 2008

Barack Obama's win of the US presidential election on November 4, 2008 was a monumental history making event. The ascendancy of this African-American as the 44th President of the United States of America fulfills, at least, a part of the Dream enunciated by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. forty five years ago - that part in which he said:  "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

America judged Obama and found him well suited and the better choice to be their chief executive. They weighed his ideas, examined his pronouncements, scrutinized his character and chose him to be their president over and above his white rivals.

The election of this African-American into the US presidency is a huge milestone and a major turning point in the history of America. It confirms the United States' continued leadership of the world in political advancements. The significance and impact of Obama's election reverberates well beyond the United States. It has brought hope to Africa and helped renew the continent's faith in democracy. It has given Europe a reason to believe that they can continue to trust in America's leadership of the world. And everywhere else, in Asia and the Moslem world, there is renewed hope for justice in global affairs and a more peaceful era.

My own quick assessment pinpoints only three other turning-point periods that can be adjudged of equal significance with Obama's election:

1. The Declaration of American independence

The founding fathers of the United States escaped the failings of monarchist Europe with its stark social inequities, religious intolerances and class discriminations. They came to America and did not hesitate to fight in order to establish the society of their dream. They set out their ideals about that society in a new Constitution and Bill of Rights. Part of that ideal was a belief that "all men are created equal." In reality, however, that society of the American dream did not immediately materialize. The struggle to fully realize the American dream continues.

 

2. The Emancipation Declaration and the End of the Civil War

The end of slavery in America was a critical milestone in the development of this nation. It marked the beginning of the struggle for civil rights in America.

 

3. The Outlawing of Segregation and the Rise of the Civil Rights Movement.

Emancipation did not bring social freedom for Blacks. Instead it brought on White backlash and increased segregation. Ultimately segregation was outlawed in the 1960s. however, it took the struggle of the civil rights movement to effect desegregation. That struggle ended sometime in the early 1970s, and from that point on the struggle has been to assert the guaranteed civil rights of African Americans. Obama's election confirms completely that African Americans have attained full civil rights in their country.

Such is the euphoria surrounding the rise of President-elect Barack Obama that many around the world have declared racism dead. But I dare say that declaration is premature. As with the earlier turning points it will take some time before the changes promised by the election of Obama will fully take effect. We may yet witness a spike in incidents of racism well into this 44th presidency. What happens depends on how Americans prepare for and handle things over the coming months and years.

The change wrought in America is also profoundly affecting the world at large. The world is still following America's lead. The election of Obama as US president means that American race-relations has advanced further. The world will follow suit. Progressive Americans should not look back or be deterred by any regressive backlash.

Even as we gird ourselves for the struggle ahead, this is indeed a moment for celebration and thanks giving. Let us give thanks for everything and everybody who made the election of the first African American president of the United States possible:

• Let us give thanks for the American spirit which makes the dream of the apparently impossible, possible.
• Let us give thanks for the indefatigable spirit (the soul) of the African-Americans which keeps hope alive even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. It is this spirit which has helped to sustain and give value to the African identity in America. The American example continues to inspire spiritual rebirth for individuals and communities across the globe.
• Let us give thanks for Barack Obama's mother and maternal grandparents for imbuing in their son a solid sense of identity as an African American. They could have raised him, like many other biracial children, into a conflicted person unable to resolve and come to terms with the biracial identity.
• Let us give thanks for the president-elect's father for the immediate Kenya-African connection and the basis of African hopes for some kind of windfall out of this American presidency.