Race played a multifaceted role in the election of Barack Obama in minority communities and affected public perception on the effectiveness of his presidency, experts said.
The inauguration of America’s first black president Tuesday afternoon marked a monumental shift in the perception of race across the cultural landscape, said African-American studies assistant professor David Hinds.
“In the course of American history, we have avoided dealing with the question of race, and Obama’s election signifies a change in the American mindset,” he said, “one in which [the nation] looks at itself and says, ‘How long can we avoid the question of race?’ And with the election of Obama, [the country] has decided to tackle that question head on.”
The reactions to Obama’s election and inauguration from the black community have been far from one-dimensional, he added.
“The black community bases their [voting] decisions on political rationality,” Hinds said. “But it is also based on pride. Of course, we are proud to see ‘one of our own’ succeed, and most of us didn’t think we’d see [a black president] in our lifetime. And now [the black community] can be proud of ourselves, and proud of our country.”
The initial response to Obama has been varied, Hinds said, but undeniably influenced by race.
“Race is essential to the American experience,” he said. “The black community’s response was not just about race, it was also about rationality. It was not just about rationality, it was about race.”
News coverage focused heavily on Obama’s ethnicity during the election race. How media outlets handle America’s first biracial transition of power is yet to be seen, said Carnegie Professor of Journalism Rick Rodriguez of the Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
“The relationship with the press is going to be an interesting one that is going to have to evolve,” Rodriguez said in an e-mail. “The American media have never dealt with race as a potential issue on this level of politics. It’s a sensitive subject with different sides potentially charging the other is playing the race card, just as it happened in the campaign.”
As the monsoons of election season ebb and Obama settles into the presidential term, Rodriguez said a decreased emphasis on the president’s ancestry may occur with the arrival of more pressing concerns.
“I don’t think the country has a lot of time to be dwelling on race,” he said. “We have huge economic and international issues to deal with and my guess is the vast majority of Americans will judge the new president on how he handles those issues, which is the way it should be.”
The race of the new president may be a double-edged sword for Obama, said Alexander Persky, president of ASU’s Black Business Students’ Association. Obama will still have to play politics while in office, Persky said via e-mail, regardless of race, and his presidential agenda may not please all who voted for him.
“For now, blacks are just happy another black man is in the office because of the hopes that he will implement policies and laws that will improve the lives of blacks and other minorities in this nation,” Persky said. “This puts Obama in the position of either becoming the most prominent black leader in American history or the biggest ‘sell out’ [or] ‘Uncle Tom’ in American history.”
Hinds said it would be an inaccurate assessment of President Obama’s future in office to completely ignore the issue of race. It is inseparable from self-image, his public perception and the shared consciousness of the nation he will lead for the next four years.
“It is very good that we’re emphasizing his race,” Hinds said. “You cannot separate Obama from his race. But being black does not distract from being president. Obama doesn’t just ‘happen to be black.’ He is black. It’s part of his identity.”
Reach the reporter at trabens@asu.edu.
