Obama and Multicultural Democracy

When Bryon Lee died on Tuesday, November 4 2008, in addition to feeling a deep sense of loss and sadness for his family and those of us in the entertainment industry, on this historic day for the world, it also struck me how much we take our progress as a multicultural society for granted.

In music, Byron Lee was an international symbol of our relatively successful experiment in a multicultural society. Of course, such examples abound in other sectors of our society; none more famous that the successful political career of Hon. Edward Seaga, Byron’s close friend and associate. I remember many discussions with African Americans and other diasporic Africans in the 1980’s, who thought it seemingly contradictory that a country of 98% Black people, who had been through the slavery experience, would freely elect a “white man” to the highest office in the land.

One of the characteristics that make Jamaican’s unique as a people is our relative ease in relating to different nationalities and cultures. The truth is that because for over 500 years Jamaica has been an important crossroads of world trade, geographically and politically we have integrated and assimilated many disparate cultures into one, symbolised by our chosen motto, “out of many, one people”.

Ironically, this was one of Barack Obama’s central themes in his long presidential campaign, but in the case of the USA, a nation founded on slavery 232 years ago, this experiment in a multicultural and multiracial democracy only started in 1965. This is what made his election to the highest political post so improbable when it began. Eugene Robinson, writing in the Washington Post on November 6, 2008, stated- “I can't help but experience Obama's election as a gesture of recognition and acceptance -- which is patently absurd, if you think about it. The labour of black people made this great nation possible. Black people planted and tended the tobacco, indigo and cotton on which America's first great fortunes were built. Black people fought and died in every one of the nation's wars. Black people fought and died to secure our fundamental rights under the Constitution. We don't have to ask for anything from anybody.”

Eugene Robinson might also have gone on to point out that since 1965, the success of Black Americans in many different fields of endeavour, such as sports (baseball, basketball and track and field in particular); music (from jazz and R&B to soul and rap); movies (actors and directors like Morgan Freeman, Spike Lee); and politics (Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice) has gradually given them a positive profile nationally and acceptance as equal citizens. This further facilitated Obama’s meteoric rise to power. He is without doubt a man of his times.

But make no mistakes about it- while it is true to say that Obama represents the majority of a dynamic country increasingly at ease with its diversity, George Bush’s presidency was such an unmitigated disaster (bringing the whole world to the brink of extinction) that it precipitated the election of a liberal African American with 43% of white voters endorsing his candidacy.

Even so we have to salute America. Which other rich, predominantly white society has elected a member of a racial minority to be its head of government?

All across the world, Obama has inspired many artistes to write songs about their renewed hopes for the future. Wyclef Jean penned Obama For President, Jay Z wrote about the American Dream and Ludacris sang about Time For A Change. In the land of Reggae, Capleton’s tune People Want Change and Mavados’ We Need Barack, join the early contribution of Cocoa Tea, which is simply titled Barack Obama. The Mighty Sparrow in his own inimitable style gives us Barack, The Magnificent, while Red Ride does another good calypso called Obama, You Make Us Proud. John Legend did one of the most popular tributes, If You’re Out There, matched by Will.I.Am’s equally popular Yes We Can. Meanwhile Sam Cooke’s A Change Gonna Come and Stevie Signed, Sealed, Delivered obtained new meaning and currency throughout his campaign.

Incidentally, in a conversation with Beverly Manley this week about her book, The Manley Memoirs, we commented on some other similar themes central to both Obama’s campaign and Manley’s political outlook. Throughout his recent campaign, Obama kept referring to the failure of the “trickle down theory of economics” as well as the need for self-reliance and personal responsibility, two subjects that Michael Manley consistently kept in the forefront of his many speeches and writings over the years. I learnt a very intriguing fact from Sister Bev. As it turns out, Barack Obama has credited an address given by Michael Manley to his college class for initially inspiring his decision to pursue a political career.

Host: Jamaica Observer, Sunday, November 16, 2008 - Obama and Multicultural Democracy by Charles H.E. Campbell