Progress

Last night was unbelievable.

And somehow the above statement seems just wrong. A man was elected regardless of (or despite) his skin color. Unbelievable? Well, the whole world believes it now. The whole world believes in America again because of President-elect Obama’s skin color. Doesn’t that just seem silly? Today is like all of our aunts and uncles applauding silly little America in its high chair because it finally acquiesced to eating broccoli. We finally decided that it wasn’t so bad to have an African-American president. (Please note that I did not say that we decided to “do the right thing” because the “right thing” is not unequivocally electing an African-American president.)

I am elated by Obama’s election. I am so happy that I get emotional thinking about the milestone for civil rights that it represents. However, when I think about why it makes me so happy, it is because I find beauty—and incredulity—in witnessing people act generously and responsibly. Am I such a cynic?

I am.

To me, people are inherently good, but inherently selfish. Generally, they would not wish harm on other people, unless they got too scared or it cost them too much. In terms of the long road leading to a black man’s election to the presidency, 100 years ago it would have cost the people in power too much, and 20 years ago, they were just too scared.

California voted to amend its constitution to limit the rights of same-sex couples yesterday by a slim margin, voting at the same time to send the first African-American man to the Oval Office. That means that people voted for Barack Obama—let’s face it, consciously voted for a black president and probably patted themselves on the back for it—and then a little farther down the ballot, voted to remove rights from gay people.

What breaks my heart is that California decided to do the unequivocally wrong thing, to strip people of their rights, to write discrimination into their constitution, and to deny the validity of millions of people’s ways of life across the country. California had the chance truly to be a leader, and to do so in acting as quintessential Americans: to stand up against discrimination, to act against injustice, to respect the rights of their neighbors as vehemently as they hold their own, regardless of personal differences. That is the right thing.

America is so special because people don’t often do the right thing; here, we are expected to do it. That is why I get emotional when I think about it. That is why Obama’s election is not at all silly. That is why Californians should be ashamed of themselves today. Sure, they voted for the black guy (which, again, is not the unequivocally right thing to do), but they spurned their countrymen by claiming a gender-based superiority when they really wanted just to say, “I think being gay is wrong.”

Why did they do this? Two reasons: 1) the fear referenced above (and in an earlier post). I guess the silver lining to that is that eventually people get over their fears, and at least we are not talking about it costing the people in power anything; and 2) people are trying to legislate their religious views. That is simply unacceptable. They are allowed to have their religious views because their countrymen uphold that right for them. Working to take away someone else’s rights on that basis is the greatest and most consistent American hypocrisy.

“Those who sacrifice freedom for safety deserve neither.” –Thomas Jefferson

“In giving rights to others which belong to them, we give rights to ourselves and to our country.” -John F. Kennedy

“I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way.” -Robert Frost

Harlem is basking in the glow of last night. It is a wonderful moment for so many reasons, but just as last night does not mean we have put to bed “the race issue” in America, we always must be active in protecting equality among all of our citizens. The moment we stop doing that is the moment that we lose equality ourselves.

“Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.” –Abraham Lincoln