Living through history

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: June 10, 2008

Columnist Eugene Robinson reported Sunday on these pages that 389 years elapsed from the arrival of the first African slaves in Jamestown in 1619 to a black man coming within one election of the presidency.

In the days since Sen. Barack Obama finally clinched enough delegates to win the Democratic presidential nomination, we’ve heard a lot about the history that has been made this year.

Obama’s achievement certainly dwarfs the first woman on a major party ticket in 1984 or the first Jew in 2000. In a city where nearly half the residents are black, we can’t ignore what has happened this year.

So we won’t.

In the space of Obama’s short lifetime, blacks have won the legal right to be treated equally in this country and to vote without threats, intimidation or restriction. Interracial marriages like the one that produced Obama have been ruled constitutional.

The civil rights movement unleashed the enormous wellspring of talent, intellect and energy long present in the black community. Freed from the physical shackles of slavery and the restrictions of Jim Crow, new generations of black lawyers, doctors, dentists, educators, politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen, inventors, engineers and other professionals have taken their place in American society.

We are a richer, stronger, better country because of it.

Obama has benefited from changing attitudes about race in this country. But he has also developed a keen sense of his place and time, telling the 2004 Democratic National Convention, “In no other country on Earth is my story even possible.”

This year, there have been reports of his campaign workers being subjected to racist taunts. His reputation has been pummeled by countless e-mails filled with lies about him, his life and his views. A few bigots have come out and said they won’t vote for a black man, while others will cower in the comfort of the voting booth.

Racism will always be there. Some whites just don’t like blacks. Some blacks just don’t like whites. For the rest of us, there is November’s contest between Obama and Sen. John McCain.

It took blacks 389 years to see one of their own get this far, but it won’t take 389 years for a black to be elected president of the United States. Too much has changed for the better in this country. To anyone who understands and appreciates history’s tough lessons, the glass is half full.

Whatever happens in November, Obama has demonstrated how far blacks have come in this country — and how far they will go in the future.