March 21 and the politics of race

Unless you've been under a rock in the Rockies listening to rock, you probably know that some dude named Obama (pictured) made a speech about race in the U.S. Democratic primary race. Praised by some, dismissed by others, there is little doubt that the speech was Obama's most direct comments on the issue of race and has opened the floodgates to a national conversation on the issue. Whether it will eventually help Obama win the Democratic nomination (and potentially the presidency) is not certain, but it definitely has raised some questions for me.

If I were an American I would vote for Obama for a variety of reasons, but not because he is African-American. I would not vote for him because he is of mixed race. I would not vote for him due to his roots in the white Kansas town where his family is from. None of these reasons are compelling for me. But for others, that's what it's all about.

I'm not sure what that says about the American polity. I suppose I'll be able to form a more solid opinion once the Democrats choose between Obama and Hillary Clinton (who sparks a quite different debate about identity in politics that I will not discuss further here -- perhaps in a future entry). But it does highlight the difficulty Blacks face in the political world here in North America.

Black people, simply put, rarely occupy senior executive positions in North American politics. Obama is a rare Black senator -- only the fifth in American history and just the third that was popularly elected. The recently inaugurated David Paterson in New York is only the fourth African-American governor of a U.S. state. There have been Black members of the federal Cabinet, with Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell (pictured) being two recent and notable examples, but there have, of course, been no Black U.S. presidents or vice-presidents.

In Canada, Michaëlle Jean (pictured) is the first Black Governor-General and serves as the country's head of state (though the position is largely ceremonial). In the political field, there have been a limited number of Black Members of Parliament (such as Lincoln Alexander, also the first Black person to serve as Lieutenant-Governor of a province, Howard McCurdy, Ovid Jackson, and Marlene Jennings). Jean Augustine was the first Black member of a federal cabinet and in 1993 was the first Black woman elected to Parliament. In the current Quebec National Assembly, Yolande James serves as the province's first Black cabinet minister. Rosemary Brown was the first Black woman to be elected to any office by winning a seat in the B.C. legislature in 1972. Brown was also the first Black person to run for the leadership of a federal party, running a strong second to Ed Broadbent in the 1975 NDP race. McCurdy ran for the same position in 1989, losing to Audrey McLaughlin. No African Canadians have ever run for the leadership of the Conservative or Liberal parties.

Since there have been no Black leaders of a major political party in Canada, there have been no premiers or prime ministers from the African Canadian community. And frankly, there are no immediate or medium-term prospects for changing that particular fact.

It remains a difficult truth to comprehend for some Canadians, but a Black person in the United States stands a much better chance of becoming the head of the government than does a Black person in Canada. For those who believe the myth of Canadian racial superiority over the barbarian Americans, that must be a bitter pill to swallow. But there is little doubt that Blacks in Canada, though capable of attaining less senior positions, cannot hope to gain a leadership position in Canada in the current context.

How do we change that, and create an environment where anyone, truly, can become Prime Minister? On the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, that should be the conversation we are having about race in Canada.