Black or White?

African Americans have come a long way in this country. Besides achieving the descriptive label “black” instead of that other taboo word, they now have the luxury to “behave” as either black or white—surely, no less freedom than what Martin Luther King Jr. intended in his glorious cry atop the Lincoln Memorial...right?

Such is the view through the skewed and foggy lens of segregation apologists—one of the many groups with which Senator Barack H. Obama has to contend come election time. Following a luncheon speech given by Obama recently to an overwhelmingly white and approbatory audience, Rev. B. Herbert Martin, who served as a pastor to Chicago’s first black mayor in the 1980s, told The Washington post of his concerns over which group Obama would identify himself with come campaigning time: “Will [Obama] continue to be an African American, or will he become some kind of new creation?”

The point missed by many such concerned commentators is that Obama cannot, and should not, be a “black president” any more than he should be a white one. A multiracial nation demands a colorblind president—one willing to fairly address the plight and concerns of every citizen.

African Americans would not deny that having a president they can call their own would make for much needed changes—in the way they live, in the way their children are raised, and in the stereotypes they face. Unfortunately, the president must attempt to appeal to all groups—it represents the conflicting interests of millions. Our president must inevitably pick and choose between them and broker compromise in order to be the president of all, not of a few.

But what is aching at some members of the African American community is that Obama isn’t “black enough,” or that he doesn’t pander enough to their special interests. Presumably, they think a black candidate should work for black voters. But that is the very viewpoint that perpetuates damaging stereotypes about blacks—and provides fodder for Obama’s opponents to portray him as incapable of national leadership.

So will Obama be viewed as a candidate for the American community or as a candidate for the African American community? Despite his reliance on black supporters in the past, Obama himself would prefer the former—and rightly so. On the national stage, his constituents are different, and his politics must be too. Obama is well-rooted in the African American community, but to represent the interests the nation, he must outgrow those roots and prove himself independent.

Soon, campaigning for the 2008 presidential election will hit full swing. But it remains to be seen whether this political circus can yield what might perhaps be the greatest demonstration of freedom in our nation’s history: the sight of a black man representing both the community he came from and the whole national melting pot. Will freedom really ring from “the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire… from the curvaceous slopes of California… from every hill and molehill of Mississippi?” Only time will tell.

Patrick Jean Baptiste ’09, a Crimson editorial editor, is a biochemical sciences concentrator in Cabot House.