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The election of Barack Obama to serve as the 44th President of the United States does not bring and end to racism nor racial politics. However, the election of the first non-white president will likely have an effect on political engagement and involvement (empowerment) of not only African Americans but other racial and ethnic groups as well.
Academic literature in political science has long considered the effect of the election of members of minority groups and their presence in governance on increasing political empowerment. The examination of the election of black mayors has been most prevalent. Without a doubt, Obama's election as President will lead to many years of research and study of what empowerment it brings.
Election dynamics on the national level are very different, of course, than on a local level. Given the relatively small percentage of the population blacks are nationally and even at a state level (affecting electoral college votes), blacks alone cannot elect a president as can happen with a mayor or congressional representative. Obama was elected by a coalition of every racial and ethnic group including the majority group of whites. Obama's election likely would not have been possible had he not received a larger percentage of whites than voted for John Kerry and Al Gore though he did not receive a majority. This election dynamic may lead to increased engagement from minority groups other than African Americans as they see that multi-ethnic coalitions can succeed.
One possibility is that Obama's election may signal, for the African American electorate at least, less of a need to see one of our own elected in local or state election in order to feel politically empowered. Similarly, increasing numbers of black politicians represent majority white districts. As I previously noted, in a majority black congressional district in Tennessee, voters chose a white candidate who better represented their views rather than a black candidate in a Democratic primary.
However, Obama's election may encourage more African Americans to run for office at all levels. Other groups may also see his election as a sign of the success of political empowerment and seek to increase their own through electing group members to office.
In the not-too-distant future, Americans of color will collectively outnumber white Americans. Younger Americans show less interest in identity and more in political competence. These two forces combined with increasing political engagement of Latino and Asian American voters along with increased political coalition building will likely lead to a very different future of race and politics than the form it has taken in recent history.
I for one will be watching with great interest the exciting promise this future holds.
Related Reading:
Dom Apollon at RaceWire: The Colorlines Blog: "How to Accept It’s a Post-Racial Society (a.k.a., How You Can Learn to Stop Making Excuses, Throw Away All Your Race Cards and Accept We Are Living in a Post-Racial Society)"
Claire at Hyphen: "Obama the 'Asian American'"
What makes his identity so multifarious is that he had to find an identity using the terms and concepts of 20th century identity-building, which is a mutually-incompatible system of separate races. Keep in mind that it's only the 2000 census that allowed people to identify as multiracial. The other concepts -- transnational, bilingual, third culture -- aren't yet in mainstream currency as concepts, although increasing numbers of Americans of every race are sharing in these experiences. So Obama can, and has to, use the terms of 20th century racial identity building to communicate what he is to people. That's why he's called "African American," although the usual meaning of the term simply doesn't apply to him.
Strange Maps: "From Pickin' Cotton to Pickin' Presidents"
Juan Williams at The Wall Street Journal: "What Obama's Victory Means for Racial Politics"
The change in black politics has been slowly coming with the growing black middle-class. It now accelerates with Mr. Obama's victory. As King said at the end of the 1965 march for voting rights in Alabama -- when he reached the state capitol in Montgomery -- the result of black political participation is a "society that can live with its conscience." There are no quick solutions, he added, but no matter how difficult or frustrating there will be success because "the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice."
In terms of racial politics, the arc of