Letters to the Editor
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He's been running for over 10 years
Until a couple of years ago, I lived in Evanston, IL, across the street from north Chicago. I remember answering the door one afternoon to greet a tall white guy, in his mid-thirties, who had a fist full of glossy brochures.(An African-American, I lived in an integrated neighborhood, as I always had, being born and raised there, so I was used to an array of callers at my door.) He grinned as he began his pitch about someone called Barack Obama. "Who?" I asked. He repeated the name as he thrust a brochure at me, asking me to vote for him in the upcoming senatorial election (Peter Fitzgerald was stepping down).
He looked black, I thought as I scrutinized the brochure. No, he looks mixed. What kind of name is that? Always active in politics, I'd never heard of him before. And if he is black, how strange that he would have white men canvassing for him.
Over the months, his profile grew in Chicago and I gathered more information about Obama. But for awhile Obama's ethnic identify was still confusing. At work, I met a white guy about my age, a retired Republican politico in the throes of a scourging alcoholism. We hung out occasionally, and I saw that he still couldn't resist his old professional duties. Election day was upon us, and Obama looked like a victor. "You know he's actually Hawaiian, don't you? my alcoholic friend suggested, hoping that I'd not vote for Obama because he wasn't really black.
"I'm not voting Republican, sweetheart. And I'm not voting for him only because he is black."
Now Obama is off to the presidency, but remembering that day i answered the door, I get the feeling this day was in many minds long, long ago. Obama is not Jesse Jackson, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Al Sharpton, or Maxine Waters. His patrician style and exotic Tahitian looks comprise an X-factor that make him palatable to an interracial base. And it's the x-factor that troubles me. If Obama looked different, if he were ugly or looked more black, would so many be thrilled about him? I wonder.