Easy there buddy – Racism is NOT dead!

Barack Hussein Obama is the President of the United States of America (Acceptance Speech: Goosebumps Galore).  But slow down there big fella!  Racism is not dead in America simply because we elected an African-American as President.

You don’t need me to tell you that you can win an election with less votes because your candidate has more electoral college votes (see 2000 Presidential Election Results).  This year, President-elect Obama received more votes than Senator McCain, and many more electoral college votes.  While I am not trying to cast a shadow on this tremendous achievement, and this monumental step forward in equality in America – I would find it naive for us to believe that racism is a thing of the past.  People still voted for McCain because he is White, just as people voted for Obama because he is black.  But when people vote for McCain because Obama is black; that’s when we have a problem.

Last night on CNN, their table of old white dudes said that many questions of racism have to be put behind us if Obama is elected President.  I could not disagree more.  While racism is not a way of life for the majority of Americans, racism is still quite prevalent in this country.  I don’t see the old white lady smiling and waving to a black man at night because Obama is President.  I don’t see the KKK and Al Sharpton sitting down at a table together and sharing a cup of coffee (guess who wants their coffee light and sweet?).

Far beyond the racist tendencies of the individuals and small racist organizations peppered throughout America, stands the ever powerful Institutionalized Racism.  This form of racism exists at the institutional level; education, corporations and other public/private organizations.  This type of racism is the strongest because the discriminatory acts against people of different color are not performed at the individual level, but are aimed at the roots of these people.

An example of Institutionalized Racism would be a requirement by an organization that all members of the board must be able to track their lineage back at least three (3) generations.  Or an organization that provides health benefits to all workers that are not in seasonal-work like agriculture.  Even the SAT’s have come under heavy scrutiny as a form of Institutionalized Racism as the test is written and designed by a generation of men who decide what children today should and should not have learned.

It is no secret that many African-Americans cannot track their lineage as many are descendants of slaves.  It is no secret that African-Americans and Hispanics make up the majority of seasonal workers, specifically agriculture.  It is no secret that public schools across this nature in the poorest neighborhoods suffer from low funding and are populated with more African-American and Hispanic students than White students.  These students from these poor school districts and poor homes are not meant to pass the SAT’s and receive grants to help them pay for school.

The social structure of this nation has already decided how far we may go and how much success we will have.  I am unable to count the privileges I’ve had in my life because I am a White Male, but I am certain that I have received leniency from some and favors from many.  The practices of Institutionalized Racism hardly come into question because to question the foundation of such long tenured institutions, to some, is to question the foundation of America.  The America that was founded through bloody wars and civil uprisings.  The America that was cultured by Western Europeans who initiated the Slave Trade and defended it as a right of “God’s Children.”

I could not be more excited for President Obama and the next four years (maybe eight?).  I believe he will lead America into a new era where having the most bombs doesn’t necessarily make you the most powerful nation.  This new era is a Global Era, because we cannot continue to act in our own self interest without regard for the other members of the Global Community.  A nation and its people cannot be successful in life by amassing wealth and property.

We can be successful in this Global Era under the guidance and leadership of Barack Obama.  The foundations of our racially biased institutions will no longer be able to compete and survive unless they change; drastically.  I don’t expect Obama to illegalize or investigate institutionalized racism, that task is nearly impossible.  I do expect Obama to encourage people to participate in the global community and to encourage people to help out in their own communities at home.  I expect people to change their way of life for the better because they will be faced with a growing trend, a trend that is calling us into action.   A trend that refuses to deny a Black Man a job simply because he is a Black Man.

The first step of many has been taken.  We cannot expect change to happen; we must be the catalyst for that change.  We cannot become complacent and put racism behind us because we have a Black President; we must work to better ourselves and in turn our neighbors and friends.  If I’ve learned one thing from this past election, it’s that when people really want something, when they really need it – they’re willing to do whatever it takes to get it.  I hope others are as hungry for change as I am, because we’ll need that hunger to continue this tidal wave of change.