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The Obama Story
Redefining Intercultural Relations
January 23rd, 2009
Barack Obama's election to the office of United States President opens up renewed possibilities for confronting issues of race, nationality, and stereotypes. In reality, Obama is not the first to defy tremendous odds in the face of overwhelming sociopolitical and media pressures. Nelson Mandela achieved the unthinkable in 1994 when he became President of South Africa and leader over the same racists that had suppressed and imprisoned him for 27 years. The same is true of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who became President of Liberia in 2005, negating any doubts that free and fair elections could take place in a nation that had been gravely plagued by war and anarchy for several years, but especially silencing any pundits that scoffed at the prospects of a woman rising to the challenge. Still, Obama is the first Black individual to assume a position of authority that wields powers well beyond any that an African or African descendant has ever held.
United States history is rife with evidence of African descendants overcoming desperate, substandard conditions and debilitating segregation practices, and rising to claim power positions once thought unattainable. In the case of Obama, the plot is even more unique, since he is the son of an American mother and immigrant Kenyan father, and not a product of the dismal transatlantic slave experience that majority of African Americans derive from. Whereas the laudable Civil Rights achievements of the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons cannot be disputed, the once held notion that Americans (particularly African Americans) are only inclined to seek out a president from this base — for psychological as well as progressive reasons — has been proven wrong, and establishes the truth that voters are becoming more enlightened and less sentimental. It is a refreshing reminder of the power of balanced and comprehensive education in shaping the human mind to unconditionally acknowledge and celebrate ingenuity and excellence, regardless of their source.
In essence, Obama's success, which is not just an African, African American, or American phenomenon; is a human story that recaptures the central goal of The Africa Society of the National Summit on Africa in educating Americans about Africa and subsequently harnessing the importance of engaging in learning that takes us well beyond the environments, cultures, and values that we are familiar and comfortable with. Whereas many would say that Obama won the election because he is young, dynamic, a great orator, and an opposer of the Iraqi War, the truth is that Americans and indeed a supportive international community demonstrated that vital information has opened our minds to increasingly accept that not only is the world shrinking, but we are drawing closer to each other and realizing the common human traits we share intimately in spite of traditional differences. Otherwise, the once held and pervasive notion that Africans and their descendants are subhuman, inferior, barbaric, and suited for certain fixed roles would have been more than sufficient to deny Obama victory at the polls. Still, it is not the reeducation of Americans and others about Africa that is really the key here, but the realization that a good number of us are yet to embrace, understand, and appreciate people of other backgrounds, and the truth that this can and has been the root cause of a series of splits and conflicts, both currently and in the past.
Another major theme in this exciting saga is one that advances the invincibility of the human survival spirit. Although this message exceeds the Obama experience and has already been preceded by the historical and universal human ability to prevail over diverse instances of repression, there has been an urgent need to be reminded of this power in a world that currently suffers a range of economic, political, and military crises. Regardless of class, nationality, belief systems, or background, each of us can find within us an Obama willpower and vision, one that rises above the pressures of modern society or the injustices of history, and that clings fervently to the ideal that, with the right resources and pertinent opportunities, anything is achievable.
America and the entire world are therefore inspired by the implications of Obama's election to the highest and most powerful office in the world. True, there are many who are primarily swayed and energized by the truth that Obama is of Kenyan descent and is the first African American to occupy this office. But the significance of his victory would be seriously minimized if restricted to Africa and its Diaspora. The African component of this occurrence notwithstanding, embedded within it is essentially a deep-seated human quality that we can all identify with. In any case; Africa, its progenies and resources, do not exist in isolation but constitute a fundamental ingredient in the interconnected socioeconomic trends that are increasingly defining survival strategies in the modern world.
As The Africa Society moves forward in its vision of educating Americans about Africa, a culture is set in motion, one that underscores the importance of rejecting any learning process that confines, and that awakens the necessity to explore well outside of the settings that we know and are safe in. It is a culture that forges recognition, appreciation, and respect that dismantle boundaries artificially erected by nationality, gender, religion, and racial insecurities. It is a culture that honors the several Obamas that are yet to emerge regardless of their origins, and that inspires, unshackles; and that empowers other Obamas that may still be inhibited by the self-doubt engendered by anxieties of not being fully understood, accepted, or trusted.
Philip U. Effiong, Ph.D.
Director of Academic Research & Information
The Africa Society of the National Summit on Africa