'Gatesgate' and Race
When Barack Obama was elected President, there was immediately talk of how racial tensions in the United States had gone by the wayside now that we had a "man of color" in the Oval Office. If the recent hullabaloo over Harvard 'scholar' (side note: I wish that I was a 'scholar' somewhere.... are there applications to be a scholar at Ivy League universities?) Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s arrest in his home is indicative of anything, it's that as a country we are far from moving past race as an issue. And that's not a bad thing at all; from several different perspectives.
First off, for anyone that was naive enough to think that racism was a thing of the past, this serves as a wake up call. While I'm the first to admit that this situation has become an over-hyped victim of the 24-hour news cycle, it has also been an excellent reminder that race and racism is still a hot topic in America. During President Obama's hour-long news conference on health care reform two weeks ago, two minutes were dedicated to this topic. What was the news the next morning? 'Gatesgate' (second side note: If this entire situation has taught us anything, it's that the media really needs to stop adding 'gate' to every scandal). As a country, we are still hyper-sensitive about racism, and, as I said at the beginning, that's not a bad thing. Racism is still a problem in this country, and should be focused on as such. The only problem I saw with the story was how it was covered. This type of coverage, without a serious and sincere discussion on the problems of racism in a forum not driven by ratings, cheapens the topic.
Secondly, American is the quintessential 'melting-pot.' As such, it's difficult to identify with any sort of 'American' culture, because (aside from patriotism, NASCAR, and country music) there really isn't a dominant American culture. In the United States, we take from different cultures and add them to the mainstream as they grow in popularity. This type of cultural environment means that many individuals and communities hold tightly to their race and unique culture because it is central to their identity. That is what America is all about: The freedom to choose how you express yourself insofar as it does not infringe on another person's ability to live and express themselves.
Race should always be a topic in America, it just shouldn't define how we interact with each other. We should all be able to sit down and have a beer with one another.
