Hope and Healing: Part 3 -- World View

The world has looked at this year’s U.S. Presidential election, understood its historical significance and joined Americans in celebrating the outcome: a victory over a history of hatred, prejudice and bigotry. One simply needs to read the headlines.

In the Associated Press Article, Obama victory sparks cheers around the globe, John Leicester reports,

"Barack Obama's election as America's first black president unleashed a renewed love for the United States after years of dwindling goodwill, and many said Wednesday that U.S. voters had blazed a trail that minorities elsewhere could follow."

And there’s evidence that we have set that example. In another Associated Press article, Inspired by Obama, European minorities take action:

“In France, a pro-Barack Obama grassroots group created months ago is morphing into a campaign for political diversity. In Britain, a black voter group says it is inundated with calls and attendance is soaring. In Austria, a Rwandan-born activist has fired off letters to big parties urging them to field minority candidates. And in Germany, the staff of Turkish politician Cem Ozdemir started a Facebook group called "Yes we Cem" — a takeoff on Obama's slogan "Yes we can."

America leading the world on race relations? In the words of my father when he spoke of this year’s election results, “I never thought I’d see the day….”.

Of course, all has not been positive. One of the most popular white supremacist Web sites got more than 2,000 new members the day after the election, compared with 91 new members on Election Day, according to an AP count. And yet another source quoted a headline on the Web site of the National Democratic Party of Germany, a political party that sympathizes with neo-Nazi groups reading “Africa Conquers the White House”. The source goes on to report that in an accompanying article, Jorgen Gansel, a party leader and an elected lawmaker in the German state of Saxony, blamed Obama's victory on ‘the American alliance of Jews and Negroes.’" The Associated Press also reports that Klaus Emmerich, a veteran commentator for Austrian state broadcaster ORF, set off a firestorm of criticism after Obama's election by saying publicly he doesn't think the president-elect is "civilized enough.” What brings hope to some ignites hatred and fear in others.

Far more of the world has been inspired, however, by the global victory President-Elect Obama represents. An AP article quotes a 29-year old Thai sitting at a Starbuck's in Bangkok as saying,

"What an inspiration. he is the first truly global U.S. president the world has ever had. he had an Asian childhood, African parentage and has a Middle Eastern name. He is truly a global president."

Clearly America hasn’t instantaneously become a level playing field. Prejudice still exists, and the stereotypes of being lazy and entitled that have been cast on African Americans haven’t suddenly been lifted. Moreover, significant racial disparities remain in income, wealth and quality of education. But we can now have hope – in fact, we have an example -- that those negative factors can be overcome to achieve even the highest levels of success, if we dare to believe in our own possibilities. America belongs to all of us, and we all have an equal stake in its greatness. We can choose to lift ourselves up, and ride this tide, or we can hang onto the pain of the past which has tarnished our psyche. The world is once again looking to us to set an example of how to move forward.