By Kara Augustine
“To say that we are on the brink of a historic occasion by now is cliché. Nevertheless, cliché though it may become, the election of an African-American as president is a stunning fact, with all matters of implications, even globally,” said Milton Metz, retired radio personality.
Metz moderated the event, “On the Eve of a Historic Inauguration: Covering Race and Politics in 2009,” which was held at the Chao Auditorium Thurs., Jan. 15.
The panel included Al Cross, University of Kentucky communications professor; Betty Bayé, columnist for The Courier-Journal; and Ricky L. Jones, University of Louisville Pan-African Studies associate professor.
The event co-sponsored by the Louisville chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the College of Arts and Sciences.
“The idea here is that with the election of Obama, we are going to have routine, daily coverage of a president who is African American,” said John Ferré, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “We are now looking at perhaps a shift in the way the African Americans are reported in the media.”
In her opening statement, Bayé said: “I would like to say that there is a lot about Barack Obama that I like, but he is not the magic Negro. I say that Barack is not the magic Negro because I do not think that is going to end whatever the discussion is about race.”
Cross explained that there has been a 17 percent increase in the number of people who think race relations are good or very good. But, the fact that President-elect Barack Obama was not the end of the race problems in the United States was a prominent piece of the discussion at the event and throughout U of L.
Blaine Hudson, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said, “While the election of Barack Obama is a great thing, it doesn’t symbolize the beginning of this so-called post-racial era. It doesn’t mean that racial problems have just miraculously disappeared. It is a sign of progress, but it is also a challenge to make as much progress in all these other areas, like eliminating poverty and improving educational opportunity.”
Freshman music performance major Andrew Witten attended the event and agreed with the panel on some of their points.
“They did bring up a good point that the worst mistake we can make is to assume that everything is going to be OK once Barack takes office. There will be change, but nothing will be perfect,” he said. “There will still be race problems. Obama is not going to be the perfect person who is going to fix everything.”
Although Obama’s presidency is not believed to solve all problems, the issues of negative foreign affairs and the economic recession are hoped to improve for the better.
“George Bush has not helped and I think he has actively harmed the image of the United States abroad. And, I think we are beginning to reverse that process with Obama,” Ferré said. “I am hoping, like everyone else, is that he and his team will begin to help pull us out of the very deep and scary recession. I am confident that we have a very good leader who can. If anyone can, he ought to be able to help us.”
With Obama’s inauguration occurring today, U of L history professor John Cumbler explained that he hopes students also pay close attention.
“I think it is important to pay attention to the inauguration if for no other reason that students should understand what this means for the history of our country. It was inconceivable twenty years ago that an African American could be elected president of the United States. I think that is hugely important,” Cumbler said.
Ferré also believes this is an event that is very significant.
“This is the only time ever in the history of human kind that the first African American president will be inaugurated. That will never happen again. What a historic opportunity. There are not too many opportunities to see something as important as that,” Ferré said.
According to Cumbler and Hudson, young people in America had a large influence on Obama’s election.
“The strengths in his victories were amongst young people,” Cumbler said. “It gives me real hope in the future of this country. It was a rainbow of people: black, whites; young people that made this election possible.”
Young people also support another historical African American figure that was celebrated on Monday: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“You hope that students will see in some of this, the kind of roles they can play,” Hudson said. “Young people were the backbone of the civil rights movement. When you look at the voting patterns for Barack Obama in this past election and the role young people played in electing him is very significant. Young people have not played a big role politically in this country in a long time, until now.”
Hudson held a commencement on Monday honoring King.
“If you think of King as a person who opened a door, men like Barack Obama represent the folks who move through that door,” Hudson said.
“King was in an unwavering way committed to the issues of race, racial reconciliation and racial equality. Obama is not that type of person. Obama conversely avoids issues of race as much as possible,” Jones said.
“I think many things King did in his life paved the way for Obama, but Obama is not necessarily the ideological child of Martin Luther King.”
Cumbler explained that Martin Luther King, Jr. Day should be one day in which students should note what it means to be black and white in America.
“I think that most important thing about Martin Luther King was that he was a revolutionary thinker. That he was an absolute fighter. He was not just a passive person who just delivered the, ‘I Have a Dream,’ speech,” Jones said. “What most Americans remember about King was not even that speech; they remember those four words from that speech. They know nothing about his life. They see him as some really passive individual who didn’t do very much outside of some non-violent sit-ins. That is absolutely not true. I think people underestimate King’s toughness and dedication.”
Along with King’s holiday and the inauguration, Feb. 12 will be the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. The African -American Theatre Program will perform the play, “Abe Lincoln and Uncle Tom in the White House,” by Carlyle Brown. The dates are Feb. 4th to 8th and 12th.
With all of the celebratory programs, Hudson hopes students will receive good information.
“We want to be sure we educate as best we can. With the play and that, we hope to entertain as well. [The hope is] really to help folks to enjoy a very celebratory occasion,” Hudson said. “This confluence of President Elect Obama’s inauguration, the King holiday (his eightieth birthday) and the Lincoln bicentennial is kind of like a triple conjunction in astronomy. These things will not come together like this again. I think it is a very special time.”
