History in the making

posted by: Nick L | on: Friday, 6 June 2008, 05:42

Barack Obama’s victory in the Democratic Party Presidential nomination is a truly historic event. Whatever the outcome in November the fact that an African American can today be in this position would have been unimaginable in the 1960s. Back then, black Americans were still being systematically murdered because of the colour of their skin, forced segregation still existed in many southern states and, until the Voting Rights Act in 1965, there was widespread institutional disenfranchisement of the black community through literacy tests.

A poll conducted this week found that 68% of Americans thought their country was ready for a black President, up from just 38% eight years ago. (Click here)

However, while times have moved on racism is still widespread within American society and is sure to play a significant role in the Autumn election. In the same poll a quarter of respondents said “most of the people they know” would not vote for a black President.

This week we are also remembering the fortieth anniversary of the assassination of Robert Kennedy. I have to admit that I am mystified with the almost saintly status for his brother John F Kennedy, who himself had been killed back in 1963. Robert, I do believe, was far more committed to ending racial divisions in the country.

Delivering the news to the nation that Martin Luther King had been assassinated, an emotional Robert Kennedy said in a speech on 4 April 1968:

“What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.

“… the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.” (Click here.)

My question to you is can you imagine Britain having a non-white Prime Minister?