The latest TIME features another version of the ?what if the nation is not ready to vote for a black president?? story.
To his credit, author Ta-Nehisi Coates does more than suggest a vote against Barack Obama equals racism. He offers some interesting insights, including the following:
No one is more tired of talking about racism than black people. The disenchantment with protest politics, the fatigue from refighting old battles over school integration and affirmative action, even the rise of politicians like Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick point to a shift in the disposition of black America. The big issues of the day aren’t so much racial profiling and police brutality as the achievement gap, the incarceration rate and unemployment. The great race conversation has not only decreased in volume; for black people, it’s also become much more introverted. At this moment, black America is in the grips of a kind of barbershop conservatism that is more concerned with its own progress than with the attitudes of whites.
It?s unfortunate that Coates didn?t explore another interesting angle: that Americans might be more than willing to vote for a black president ? if that person supports ideas and principles consistent with those that made America great.
