The Obama Factor

It was August, 15, 1992, I was speeding down an empty highway with a stranger at the wheel. All I can remember is a disorienting feeling looking down a dark highway lit by headlights and trying to have a conversation with the driver who was so gracious to give me a ride. We were driving through corn fields in the middle of Ohio. I had just got off a small plane at Toledo airport, and was being driven to a small town called Bowling Green. I was to start a graduate program in Mass Communication at the Bowling Green State University. This was the first time I had left my homeland, India, in search of change, I was 24.

The first few weeks at Bowling Green were extremely disorienting, foreign and stressful. While I settled down and dealt with my anxieties and inner demons, one thing I knew was certain, there was no turning back. I had come very far. I had two hundred dollars in my pocket and a promise of a scholarship and no return ticket. My parents had high hopes, they had mortgaged their house for this trip and the pressure was immense. There was no question of failure. Quitting was not an option.

For the first time in my life I was a foreigner in a foreign land. I was the "minority". I was one of the few people on campus whose skin color was not fair. Up until then I had grown up a part of the ruling class. The middle class educated Hindu. This new identity I had acquired made me grow up many fold and opened my eyes to the history of the American civil rights movement, and the sacrifice of Martin Luther King and all those who followed in his foot steps. With out them I would not be standing in America shoulder to shoulder.

For a campus town Bowling Green was unusually homogeneous. It was a small town with a mile long downtown surrounded by blue collar families. One night a couple of Indian friends and I were walking home from downtown. We saw a car drive by and saw something fly by and land on the grass next to us. It took us a moment to realize that someone had thrown an egg at us. We were shaken. A few days later, I was walking down main street and someone shouted out"Why don't you go back where you came from?". For a moment I could not understand what this young boy was trying to say. It did not take long to figure out what he meant. I was a victim of physical racism. I had never faced something of this nature ever before. Racism exists in India in the form of caste-ism, but as I had grown up in a city and belonged to the elite class, I was immunized. My parents made sure we were never subjected to it. Racism based on the color of ones skin is much more subtle in India as the shades are too many. Even though these were the only two racial epithets I ever faced, they did leave a deep scar. I could not bare to imagine what black America went through in the depths of segregation.

I met more people in Bowling Green who were nice, gracious, tolerant and understanding of me. Intolerance and ignorance can show its ugly face anywhere, but I truly believe it has become the exception than the norm in most parts of the country. At least there is a modicum of civility around race unless you are a black man driving down an interstate highway.

The phenomenon of Obama is being marked as a turning point in the ugly legacy of racism. It is truly an historical moment for many reasons, but in no way does it mean that racism has been banished. By the act of becoming president, Obama has given people of all races and origins the power to walk proudly with their head held high. By the nature of his progeny he has also asked us to have trust and faith in the humanity of all people. Today, I can walk into an upscale restaurant in Manhattan and expect to be treated like everybody else and not be judged by the color of my skin because Obama is president. I can make that argument in my mind, no matter what the reality is and feel good about myself. This is truly historical. America may not have turned the corner when it comes to race, but in its people's mind that corner is on the verge of being turned.

Tomorrow Obama becomes president. It also happens to be my birthday. I became a US citizen a few months ago. I had mixed feelings about it, but Obama's ascendancy gave me hope. I actually began to feel proud, and for the first time in my life made a campaign contribution to a political party and actually made phone calls for Obama. The alternative was just not acceptable to me.

And so we celebrate a change tomorrow. But I fear Obama's cult of personality is pushing its limits. He is being portrayed as "The Messiah" who is going to deliver us to the promised land. He is being compared to Martin Luther King and I am afraid that the bar is being set unreasonably high because of the historical nature of his presidency. If he falters, he runs the risk of being judged unfairly. Washington D.C. is a behemoth, and to move and shake it is going to be difficult. So let us treat him like one among us. A president is always a citizen first. He is a rock star lets not make him a rock god prematurely. He has the most difficult job at hand. Let us be fair and critical. That is what people do in a free country. It is what it is.