On March 18, 2008, Senator Barack Obama was in the thick of a primary campaign to be the Democratic nominee for president. His former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, was in hot water over some controversial remarks he made about race, and Obama was starting to falter. This was, no doubt, on the soon-to-be president's mind as he walked out on the stage at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He preceded to give one of the greatest speeches of his life, "A More Perfect Union". In the speech, President Obama highlighted racial divides, and urged the country towards unity. He spoke of his unique family history, stating that "in no other country on Earth is my story even possible". He sought to bridge the divide between people of all ethnic groups. This theme is one of the reasons President Obama was elected. It wasn't that John McCain wasn't qualified to be president. It was simply that Obama's message resonated with the masses, who were ready for something new.
The response to Barack Obama's election have had and will have books written about it. As I sit here re-watching the CNN election coverage from 2008, it's hard not to feel moved by the immediate response the world felt to his historic win. Even as someone who favored John McCain at the time, I realize that night will be forever ingrained in the memory of our nation.
However, as the months and years passed, the response to his presidency became concerning to many. People who felt an African-American winning the presidency indicated a "post-racism" society were wildly disappointed when prejudice reared its ugly head in a new way. Bigotry and hate speech could now be disguised as criticism of the president. Policy disagreements could be used as an excuse to make racist remarks. The campaign to delegitimize the 44th President of the United States was in full swing before he even took office, with false claims about his religion and birthplace becoming mainstream news. The "birther movement" escaped from late-night chat-rooms to the front page, with prominent Republicans like Roy Blunt, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, and Mike Huckabee adding fuel to the fire. From the ashes rose Donald Trump, who devoted six weeks in 2011 to reigniting the conservative conspiracy fever-dream. To suggest that the crusade to prove Barack Obama was born in Kenya was anything but race-related is an absolute farce.
It does make sense. Our country has done this in the past. When black people tried to gain the right to vote, many states put "literacy tests" in place. They claimed it was a way to make sure people who voted were informed and educated, but history will remember it as a way to disenfranchise minority voters. Our country has a history of downplaying minority accomplishments, and making an effort to delegitimize the progress they've made.
A claim I've often heard is that President Obama has made it worse for black people; that income inequality and racial discrimination have somehow only come to exist during his eight years in office. That is blatantly false. His time as president may not have come with the level of advancement many had hoped, but the man was tasked with an impossible job. Many expected him to completely resolve racial mistreatment, and that wasn't fair to him. An important thing his presidency has done, however, is draw national attention to the social issues still plaguing a nation. Even the very idea of him has empowered African-Americans to speak up when they see discrimination. It isn't that police brutality hasn't always existed (it has); it's that black people are now standing up and saying "this isn't right". The national conversation seems to have shifted from "I can't believe this is happening", like in the 1992 LA riots, to "this shouldn't be happening", as we see video after video of police brutality. In July, Newt Gingrich even said, "It took me a long time and a number of people talking to me over the years to begin to get a sense of this: If you are a normal, white American, the truth is you don’t understand being black in America and you instinctively underestimate the level of discrimination and the level of additional risk." So we are making progress. It's slow and not always pretty, but baby steps are better than no steps at all.
As I see Hillary Clinton navigate her way through the trenches of a vicious campaign, I tend to see the process happening again. The disdain and patronizing attitude towards women throughout history was extended to Hillary Clinton at her own convention. The historic nature of her nomination was overlooked to focus on the "Bernie bro" protests and the other speeches throughout the week. If I had a nickel for every time a man on TV criticized Clinton's voice throughout the years, I could probably buy Fox News.
I see Matt Lauer interrupt Secretary Clinton over and over to ask her question after question about her emails, while refusing to call out Donald Trump for his Iraq war falsehoods and his praise of Vladimir Putin. I saw a witch-hunt carried out against her and her involvement in Benghazi, which Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy admitted was a movement dedicated to lower Clinton's poll numbers. This isn't to say Clinton doesn't deserve some criticism for these things, but the degree to which she receives it has been overblown in many ways. A recent post by "Humans of New York" gave Hillary Clinton a chance to express a story of sexism she has been exposed to in her life, explaining why she sometimes comes across cold.
The idea that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama should be viewed through rose-colored glasses, void of legitimate criticism, is ignorant. However, the dedication we see to prove them invalid only highlights the racist and sexist undertones that still exist today. In fact, I believe the rise of Donald Trump is, in part, a direct response to their ascension, indicated by the "Trump That Bitch" bumper sticker I saw on a truck yesterday. It's important to realize that prejudice still exists today, and that policy disagreements don't give you an excuse to spread hate.
