Obama's Post-Election Good Outweighs the Bad Remnants of the Past

It has only been two weeks since the tremendous goodwill and massive celebrations across the nation that resulted from the election of Barack Obama to be the 44th President of the United States. When positive change happens, there are always forces of negative reaction.

This week, the Associated Press reported that "Obama has received more threats than any other president-elect." In addition the AP stated, "Incidents around the country referring to President-elect Obama are dampening the post-election glow of racial progress and harmony, highlighting the stubborn racism that remains in America."

But let's not rush to conclusions that somehow the progress that Obama's election verified did not also signal good steps forward toward healing America's historic racial divide. The fact is the majority of Americans, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native and others all voted for Obama to be the president and did not allow racial prejudice or hate to be a decisive factor.

The Inauguration on January 20, 2009 will usher in the Obama administration as millions of people in the US and throughout the world will continue to celebrate this change and transformation with joy and great hope.

Don't let anyone or anything steal your joy and hope. Carrying the weight of the past only hurts you. The world is either a beautiful sweet place full of opportunity and hope where everyone can dream and fly or its a place only full of strife and pain that keeps shackles on your feet and mind.

Beware of the cynics who prefer to cast the negative stones of the past. We are not yet a perfect nation or society, but I know that we are getting better everyday. We should not let all the weight of making America a better place fall only on Obama's shoulders. The new president will need our involvement, our giving, and our prayers.

Yes, there are still racial problems in the US, but sometimes we respond to racial incidents in a manner that does nothing more than cause more polarization rather than work to eliminate racism in all of its manifestations. The growing number of incidents being reported is an indication of stubborn "aberrations of intolerance" and do not at all represent the mindset of most Americans.

The positive and uplifting spirit of the African American community and all others of goodwill will not be broken by the these latest random acts of madness.

Obama's victory was a victory for all people and for all Americans. The pendulum of history now has swung too far toward equality and inclusiveness for any of us to permit group or individual acts of racial hatred to entice the majority of the people to start stepping backwards rather than to keep marching forward.

The bad societal remnants of the past should be buried. Let's work harder to plant the right seeds in the consciousness of all people and let's give Obama our active support.

-Russell Simmons

From Global Grind.

Comments

[vicenteduq]

Mr Russell Simmons

Thanks for nice article and I agree with you in your attitude and considerations.

You said : "The positive and uplifting spirit of the African American community and all others of goodwill will not be broken by the these latest random acts of madness." ... I agree.

Keep doing the good work of sound opinions !.

I am also happy that Mr Obama was elected president of the USA. Tha alternative seemed to me too horrible to consider.

But we should be on guard. That is why I operate a website called RACIALITY.COM, where I pinpoint interesting articles about race relations, Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Minorities, etc ...

You are right in the Information that there are many threats --- Besides I add that some Racist Websites are increasing their visitors and verbal violence.

I try to collect the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Good Raciality, Racialness and Racism. Because everything should be reported to be fair.

http://raciality.blogspot.com/

http://milenials.blogspot.com/

Vicente Duque

[vicki122]

I enjoyed your thoughtful commentary, Russell. Thank you for not painting all whites with the same brush. I read with horror the reports of threats against our president elect and pray for him daily, that God will keep him safe. I cannot wait until Inauguration day!

[Bitsko]

Nice commentary, Mr. Simmon, but as an Irish-American I was brought up to never forget those who have done evil in the past. But we can agree to disagree, and move forward with the most intelligent and inspiring President-elect of my lifetime.

[EqualMeansEqual]

"The positive and uplifting spirit of the African American community and all others of goodwill will not be broken by the these latest random acts of madness."

Tell that to gays in California and the positive and uplifting spirit of AA's that came out to vote for Obama and oppress them.

[NYSF]

Please stop!
You should tell the folks who opposed Prop 8 that they need to do a better job in promoting their cause. There was so much mystery about the deal that it looked shady.
The thing about teaching gay marriage in schools got me.
You gay people keep saying that we as black people didnt support you like you supported us.
STOP!
I hope that you voted for Barack Obama because he was the best candidate, and not because he was Black. That would be stupid!
Dont give me the BS about us both being oppressed.
Gays werent forced into doing free labor for 100's of years, while building this country, and then being told that you were nothing, just because of your skin color.
Your ancestors werent raped and families split up forever just because of your skin color.

PLEASE STOP!!!!!!!

[Bitsko]

You've got to fight for your right to be free. Stop playing the blame game and work even harder.

[ObjectiveRealist]

(1) If no African Americans had voted in California, Proposition 8 would have still passed. I believe the margin would have been even wider, but I'm not certain about that.
(2) Anti-8 campaigns didn't venture much into African American neighborhoods.
(3) Anti-8 campaigns didn't do a very good job, anywhere, to "Fight The Smears" for example that the result of a "no" vote on 8 would *force* all churches, not allow willing churches, to perform same sex marriage ceremonies.

If a significant number of No on 8 people had been volunteers for Obama, they would have found a more effective strategy for fighting smears. The same old religious hate wackos played their same old game on you, driving wedges between other groups, so theirs will be the only one that's united. It's unfortunate and I wish you better fortune next time, but it isn't the fault of the African American community that the gay rights community didn't speak up for itself until after the election.

[prof92506]

How about we agree to stop the divisive rhetoric? I read that, without the African American vote, Prop 8 would have passed with an even greater margin. Let's be real: Prop 8 passed because its sponsors used lies and deception to scare people into voting for it. Nevertheless, it only passed by a thin margin. Soon it will be taken up by the California Supreme Court to be considered for its constitutionality. There's a good chance it will be struck down. Take heart in that very real possibility.

[ElBruce]

When you lance a boil, icky stuff comes out. Just because racists are being more overt recently doesn't mean there's more racism. In fact, that's progress. It's the racism that hides quietly without exposing itself that's the true threat - the kind that passes itself under cover from generation to generation.

[Pearlswan]

Institutional racism is what we need to conquer now that the majority of Americans have voted to vanquish it from our culture by their vote for POTUS. No need to waste time and energy hating the haters. Institutional racism is invisible because skin color is visible and allows the racists to act without words and visibility that will hold them accountable for their actions. Thats why it persists. The fact that they are now visible in their acting out means they can no longer count on institutional racism to thrive. Racist policies will be under seige and they know it. Science now reveals that there is no such thing as race. Its a cultural construct used to maintain the status quo by dividing Americans into factions. A person cannot be black AND white unless the person is gray but can have ancestors born from both Africa and Europe in their lineage. Skin color is a manifestation of the amount of melanin encoded in our DNA, just like eye color, hair color, height and bone structure are encoded in our genes. Its time our social reality is harmonized with our scientific knowledge. We are all born to a tribe, not a race. Racial identity questions should be removed from government forms and replaced with tribal identity questions that reflect ancestry, not skin color. That would be a welcomed first step in eliminating institutional racism. Thats change we can all believe in.

[XME]

"The bad societal remnants of the past should be buried. Let's work harder to plant the right seeds in the consciousness of all people and let's give Obama our active support."


Absolutely...and this begins with those who are already planting seeds of doubt about Obama and the people he may or may not pick for his staff witholding their judgement until he and his staff show action in office! Right now this doubt is only serving to fuel the opposition who are using it to try and say that he is already failing, when he hasn't even taken office yet!

[trinidadgirl]

Let's face it ...what else is the Opposition going to say? They are now a reactionary party. If you say blue, they will say green. Check it out and pay them no mind. That is why they are where they are ..and O is where he is.
We just have to keep the faith ......and know that what O has to offer has to be more than what the last 8 years brought.

[Clavis]

Thank you for your positive words. It seems clear that human beings have within them the capacity for great cruelty and great love alike. The world is a wondrous place filled with amazing things and works of great beauty, but it is also a place filled with hateful people who commit acts of tremendout evil. We need to foster the former and constantly fight against the latter. Racism is just another form of faith -- a belief with no relationship to evidence or reason. People believe things just because they WANT to, or because their mental bosses told them it was so.

I'm still shocked and delighted and dazed by the fact that we've got such a dynamite person coming to the Oval Office. Congratulations to all of us!