The Obama presidency --- less than a month old as this is
written --- is already generating a tsunami of commentary,
appraisal, praise, criticism, advice, warning and general
can-we-really-believe-this wonderment.
The voices producing all this punditry come overwhelmingly from
white observers. In this wide-ranging book, TV journalist Gwen
Ifill (remember her as moderator of the 2008 vice presidential
debate?) gives us a much-needed perspective from the black
community itself.
Some of her conclusions may surprise you. There are, for
example, sharp generational divisions within the black community
over what the election meant and what it may mean for our political
future. Race still looms as a major issue in American politics. A
huge step forward has indeed been taken, but where the path leads
and who will blaze it are unanswered questions.
The major theme of Ifill’s book is the deep psychological
and tactical division between the older generation of black civil
rights activists --- those who endured the fire hoses, the attack
dogs, the beatings --- and the newer crop of young black political
hopefuls who want to build in their own way on what their elders
accomplished. The younger group reveres and respects what the
pioneers did, but their own objectives are quite different. The
situation is nicely summed up by a quote from Michael Steele, the
Maryland politician just elected chairman of the Republican
National Committee: “This generation is less interested in
having a seat at the lunch counter and more interested in owning
the diner.”
This amounts, in Ifill’s phrase, to a
“redefinition” of black politics and politicians. In
his campaign Barack Obama tried to straddle the divide by
soft-pedaling the idea of past black militancy and struggle,
speaking instead of the need for blacks and whites to seek common
ground for the general good. It was a kind of unconscious echo of
Thomas Jefferson’s “We are all Republicans; we are all
Federalists.”
Obama’s election certainly marked a milestone in the long
road toward racial tolerance in America, but most of the
politicians Ifill consulted have no rosy illusions that we have
entered a “post-racial” political era, and Ifill seems
to agree with them. She repeatedly invokes the image of sandpaper
to characterize the uneasy state of friction that still exists
below the political surface.
The younger generation of rising black politicians is still
irritated by the idea that they should “wait their
turn” instead of pushing aggressively toward their political
goals. In this regard, Ifill focuses on three highly visible black
activists: Newark Mayor Corey Booker, Massachusetts Governor Deval
Patrick and Alabama Congressman Artur Davis. While admiring the
political skills of Booker and Patrick, she is somewhat critical of
both men for ignoring sound advice and trying to accomplish all
their goals in too short a time.