Afternoon:
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How Obama’s triumph will inspire us black Britons
Roy Williams6 Nov 2008
IT was like a carnival on Times Square. New Yorkers all around me, more young and black than anything else, were cheering, clapping, letting out those deafening American whoops, beeping horns, screaming until they were hoarse "Obama, Obama!", "Bush is gone".
Earlier, with a director friend, Leah Gardiner, I'd been at an election night party in Greenwich Village. It was in a nightclub, filled to the brim with young revellers, all black. Shoulder to shoulder, we jostled along to the odd soul classic and it took me back to my teenage years. A giant flat screen suspended over the dance floor was tuned to CNN for the results. At intervals, the dancers all stopped at once and looked up to check Obama's progress as the votes came in. At 9.45pm there was a rowdy cheer when Obama took Ohio.
Leah's husband is an actor, and a cast member of The Wire, the TV cop drama that every writer wishes they'd written. At the party, he introduced me to a couple of the other members of the cast, and we were soon talking about how much this election meant to them as black people, how the fact that there was a black presidential candidate was a victory for their mums and dads who had endured so much racism in the past so that their kids could reap the benefits of change.
To them, it was creating a new faith in the American dream which, someone said, they could now embrace without sounding like an Uncle Tom. Corny though it sounds, they seemed to be feeling more American.
So, that's what Obama's victory means to black Americans, but what does it mean to me, a black British man? I think it means a new way of thinking, a new beginning that will end with "black" no longer being negative. We do not have to settle for being let in the room, now we can run that room.
Black people in Britain have always aimed high but this election sows the seed of a black Prime Minister. What inspiration for our young people. Even if a teenager on an estate doesn't want to be Britain's next political leader, he cannot now escape the notion of possibility in his life.
Obama didn't lose because he is black. The young man can't use the colour of his skin as an excuse not to try whatever he wants to. To misquote the new President, yes he can. Don't just look to Barack. What about Lewis Hamilton? He gave the drive of his life last week, while sticking two fingers up to the racists.
What a difference a few days make. I'd touched down at JFK on Saturday, expecting the very name Obama to be flowing in the unusually warm air. But I wasn't quite feeling the love. As I made my way through passport control, I asked a heroically outsized black customs officer if he was excited about the election. He looked at me coldly and came back at me with: "Oh, you mean that farce that's going on on Tuesday?" I was keen to hear what he had meant but there was a huge queue behind me and his partner, another XXL-sized man, was hustling me along.
My motto is "never question a man with a gun", so an hour later I was in the city. One of the first things I do when I get to New York is wander through Broadway and check out the theatre district. Not wanting to waste a second of my week, I went out straight away, hoping to find a more positive vibe on the streets. That night, the most exciting thing I saw was a guy selling condoms with a choice of Obama's or McCain's face on the packets. His slogan: "Either way, you're going to get screwed." I laughed like a hyena.
That aside, I was soon wondering what the hell was wrong with America. Every other bar I passed had a TV the size of a truck showing non-stop coverage of the last campaign efforts but the sound was turned down, no one was watching. I couldn't honestly believe they didn't care about what was arguably the most important election ever seen but it definitely looked that way.
An American writer friend, Kara, offered an explanation. She said she thought most people cared a great deal about the election but they didn't talk about it because the super-liberal, Obama-friendly New Yorkers had been there before with sure winners - 2000 with Gore, 2004 with Kerry - and feared Obama would lose. Barack was on their minds all right, but so was the fact that he was black. Was white America really going to elect a black president?
By the time election day rolled round, though, a new confidence settled, that seemed to be blowing in from nowhere. Suddenly, T-shirts appeared, printed with Obama the smiling statesman, and queues of people sprang up in front of unlikely buildings. At 8am, I met Kara at a small post-office polling station in downtown Manhattan, to watch her register her vote.
We were shepherded into the small hall where more than a dozen booths with curtains were lined up. Kara showed me her ballot paper, which looked like something a PhD student would struggle with. Volunteers, meanwhile, tried to keep the new arrivals in an orderly queue. There was a lot of pushing and shoving. Soon one queue became six, then seven, then eight. It was hot, it was chaotic.
After a long hour, we finally got out and headed up to Harlem. It didn't seem odd to stop and talk to strangers and ask their view. I met one black lady in her eighties, who told me about her life in Sixties New York voting for Kennedy, being spat on by white bigots when she campaigned for civil rights.
Light-skinned and tiny, she put me in mind of my mother, with her checked shopping trolley and the look of a long- lived life all over her face. She kept calling me honey, loved my English accent, and never stopped patting me on the arm as we talked. She told me, until Obama came along, she never believed this could happen in her lifetime. I told her how pleased I was she was here to witness this.
At the party with my friend Leah, we were all puffed up with pride and confidence well before victory was declared at around 10.30pm. The roof came off that place. I have never been hugged by so many strangers in my life. The joy was pure and absolute. The tears on every face didn't seem odd; no one was embarrassed to cry.
We left soon afterwards, to drive to Times Square. Progress was slow because of the dancing in the streets and the swaying, yelling crowds.
My last few words are for a charming, eccentric old man, who I encountered in Harlem. He was oblivious to everyone else, wrapped up in his own little world, chanting the same phrase over and over. I got the sentiment though I did not know exactly what he meant, but I loved the sound of it. "Fat, back and baking history in the making."
Reader views (20)
Rob from Rochester, the funny thing is when a 'mixed race' man does something criminal you are quick to label him a 'black man' but when he is intelligent and successful he is half white and half black.
As soon as President Obama does something wrong he will be a 'black man'.
I am living in the present day where my friends, family and I have to experience racism from young and more mature British and European citizens who tell us 'to go back to where we come from' and some of my friends and members of my family are 'mixed race'. They are viewed as black men and women and treated by society in the same way.
Have you watched the media coverage of this election? Have you heard CNN, Fox news, ABC news, The BBC news, ITV news or Sky news refer to President Elect Obama as a mixed race candidate? No, he is referred to as African-American.
Obama has said himself that he is a 'black man' with a white mother.
I say thank God his mother and grandmother raised him to be the man he is today, regardless of his race.
- Hiedi, London, 10/11/2008 17:29
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He's as much black as white, and like a true man Tiger Woods, should be the first to denounce the 'black' label as wrong and misleading. Further he does not have the 'slave' experience in his background that most multi generation blacks in America do. He actually has very little in common with them.
There are far better qualified, bona fide "African-Americans" out there but politics has become so destructive they put their families first and stay out of the arena. Obama is a perfect example of the Peter Principle. So was McCain.
- Trunk, US, 10/11/2008 15:25
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'It was decided a long time ago during slavery that someone who had one black parent (a slave) was labelled black.' Heidi, London
So are you saying that we should adopt the standards and classifications of a slave owning society that has long since vanished. Try living in the present instead of the past. Get used to the fact that Barack Obama is mixed race and nothing that anyone says will change that.
- Rob, Rochester, 10/11/2008 14:20
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We have the luxury of growing up in Britain, which is a completely different experience from growing up in the States. I'm a Black Briton who moved to the States 10 years ago. It's hard to 'get past' race when the car in front of you has a confederate flag displayed proudly in the window, or hearing people shouting 'kill him' and using the n-word at republican rallies, or your last name came from the family that owned yours as slaves not so long ago. They are very big on labelling people and being divisive, which is why Obama's campaign didn't focus on race and why he was successful. Here's a well-educated, poised, level-headed man who happened to be half black and half white. It wasn't even something I thought the States would be ready for until the next 3 generations.
- Rachel Jones, Washington, DC, 10/11/2008 13:48
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I can't knock the celebrations, though his skin colour shouldn't matter. It's a necessary growing stage as the human race works to get beyond race, nationalism and religion.
- Paul Freeman, London, England, 10/11/2008 12:28
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& on top of that, he is married to Michelle.
- Ija Ikoko, Amsterdam The Netherlands, 10/11/2008 09:56
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Get past skin colour, its social our status / class that seperates us.
- Brandon Thomas, London UK, 10/11/2008 02:21
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I think he's fit...
- Sian, London, 07/11/2008 12:05
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Obama is our first bi-racial President whose father was black and abandoned his white mother, who was then brought up by his white grandmother. So why is he 'black' - who determines that?
- Dee, EX pat, 07/11/2008 03:50
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Helen from London, why are you so obsessed with Obama being mixed race?
It was decided a long time ago during slavery that someone who had one black parent (a slave) was labelled black.
As a white man he would have had a clean path to the white house.
As a black man he had one obstacle in his way, the colour of his skin. He looks like a black man and in the eyes of the world he is a black man.
Helen that does not mean that we should ignore his white mother or grandmother who raised him, but we did not write the rule book.
His victory is a victory for black Americans who live with racism everyday, who were not allowed to vote 50 years ago and where in chains just over 100 years ago. Today a 'black man' is the most powerful man on the planet.
Wake up Britain.
Him being half white
- Hiedi, London, 06/11/2008 23:07
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Would the current lefty love-in be quite so gushingly self-congratulatory if a future black man or woman voted in as British PM was standing on a Conservative ticket? - Er, no - I don't think so either... - This whole triumph of so-called 'progressivism' is a massive sham and a front for bitterly divisive hard-left politics - Believe me: time will tell!
- James Murphy, Petersfield, 06/11/2008 18:43
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To Helen,
It surprises me that when mixed race individuals are committing crimes etc, there doesn't seem to be this desire to recognise their dual heritage as there are normally postings stating that the black community needs to do more etc. Surprising that when there is a positive story involving a person of mixed race, suddenly their dual heritage is of key concern!
- Mrs S, London, 06/11/2008 17:58
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Can I ask a question….
Why does it always come down to race?
It’s always “black this” or “white that”. Can’t everyone be inspired by a person no matter if they are black, white, green, yellow or purple? As a black man, can I not be inspired by a white person? It seems like too many people are concentrating on the fact that this person who has just been elected as President of the United States is from a partially ethnic background and not on the fact that he, himself is hopefully going to be a good guiding influence on the US. Over the past few weeks watching the news and listening to the radio it has become increasingly obvious that people care more about the face of politics than the actual policies being represented. No wonder the world is in such a mess.
- Gareth, London, 06/11/2008 16:28
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What is Helen talking about? She couldn't state more plainly that Obama owes his success to the white influences in his life and that is why he succeeded. Shame on you Helen!
- Maya, London, 06/11/2008 16:13
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Well, "Bloke" (whatever...) you may think it is obvious but it is clearly not obvious enough. He achieved what he did because he has the ability (and has inspired the majority of Americans to believe that he has the ability) not because of the genetic code that he inherited from one of his parents! Simple points are often lost on simple people.
- Helen, London, UK, 06/11/2008 16:05
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As a black woman in the UK I have been inspired so much by The Obama's I love them!! It gives me a sense of hope - to see them up there for all to see on the world stage! It's great and an excellent role model for young men!! Listen to what Black people are saying - we love this, don't try and take it away from us.
- Antoinette, London, 06/11/2008 14:49
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"Just a thought", Helen? What kind of a thought, exactly? Are you fishing for first prize in the category of stating the blind-bleeding obvious? Don't forget to mention, while you're at it, shock-horror, that he might have had (or even have) some white friends, too. What is your point?
- Bloke, London, 06/11/2008 14:47
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I agree with you Eddie from Hammersmith.
Britain and America are very different places. Black Americans have always been more united and have fought long and hard for this. Black Britains have little unity and that's why we have no black community, no African-Caribbean town like China town and our youths have no respect for themselves or their brothers and sisters.
America is a very different place where this was possible and inevitable.
I do hope black Britains will be inspired by this and unite and black youths will put down their knives and respect one another. I hope we can make our mark here in Britain, my great grandparents and grandparents fought in the war and worked on the railroads yet in the 21st century we are still struggling against blatant racism and we have no British black figures to look up to (except Lewis Hamilton now).
Both whites and blacks voted in their millions to elect
this intelligent inspirational man into the white house and take us one step further along the road to fulfiling Martin Luther Kings dream.
- Hiedi, London, 06/11/2008 14:42
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Barack Obama has clearly achieved a huge amount in his life, even if had not even stood for President. And he has done so as a person of mixed black and white parentage (and would doubtless have realised those achievements regardless of his racial background). It is also quite clear that his father was only a fleeting presence in his life and that most of his upbringing was done by his mother and his maternal grandparents.
Seemingly forgotten amidst all the hoop-la of there being a "black" president in the White House is the fact that this president must owe a lot of having achieved that first to the care and nurturing provided by his non-black relatives. Just a thought.
- Helen, London, UK, 06/11/2008 13:32
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I disagree,you cannot compare Britain to the U.S in this particular instance.
- Eddie, Hammersmith, 06/11/2008 13:10
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