True or false: The world is a better place for African American children because a black man has been elected to the presidency.
This was the question that I asked myself as I listened to a very impressive lecture on “shalom” by Terry McGonigal in chapel. As he wove the story of his involvement in racial reconciliation into a discussion of peace in our world, the statement with which I opened this letter was mentioned. Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during President Obama’s inauguration, McGonigal was told by an African American friend of his, “The world is now a better place for my two boys.” As this thought settled in, warnings sounded in my head. Something about this statement screamed of falseness. Something about it seemed unsettlingly dangerous to me. But why? I had to stop and wonder.
Many people–most well-meaning people like Mr. McGonigal’s friend–would label President Barack Obama’s winning of the presidency with 53 percent of the popular vote a great victory for the cause of racial equality in the United States. They might label it an accomplishment for the minorities of our nation. They might join McGonigal’s friend in assuming that a minority in the Oval Office means a brighter future for children of minority background. But in assuming this, I would assert, these individuals would be mistaken.
Racial equality once demanded that everyone, regardless of their skin color, would be permitted to stand on equal footing. Legislation such as affirmative action sought to institute these principles as laws and correct the social climate of our nation, but through such action and in our fervor to bring about the justice that minorities deserve, we erroneously attempted to destroy inequality by placing minority accomplishment on a separate scale.
On the day of our president’s inauguration, we unquestioningly joined with those who proclaimed our nation better than it was the day before, simply because he is in office. No Caucasian president has ever been credited with improving the world simply by taking an oath. Our nation’s previous 43 presidents have been required to do something positive with their presidencies to merit such a compliment.
If we really want to create equality, we must fight the temptation to think differently about the accomplishments of a black man and a white man. A job well done is a job well done, regardless of who is completing the task. True equality demands that we look long and hard at the way we’re accomplishing racial equality, ensuring that we are not simply condemning minorities to fail by creating softer definitions of success to tip the scales of judgment in their favor.
Sincerely, Olivia Pool