The Obama Family
North Carolinians ordinarily have little stake in the presidential primaries. Voting here, slated for May, comes so late the races are all but over.
But this year, many African-Americans are watching closely to see whether a black candidate might have a realistic chance of reaching the White House.
Polls show Democrat Barack Obama, an African-American from Chicago, is almost even with Hillary Clinton in Iowa, where caucuses Thursday will begin to shape the 2008 presidential race.
In a country where less than 45 years ago, blacks were fighting for desegregated schools and other civil rights, a black man appears to have a good shot at winning the Democratic presidential vote in a state like Iowa that is 95 percent white.
“It’s a pretty impressive moment in political history for this country,” said Courtney Crowder of Raleigh, a public relations professional who is active in the Democratic Party. “There’s definitely some excitement.”
Crowder, 31, said Obama has become the buzz of the local African-American community, and many are anxiously awaiting the results of the first few primaries to see whether something they had long believed was impossible can happen.
Even those who don’t plan to vote for Obama say his swift political rise could have implications for blacks in America. Some say they hope his success will dispel the notion that America would never vote for a black man and propel more black candidates into politics.
Pastor Patrick Wooden, a social conservative who opposes abortion and homosexuality, said he won’t support Obama. But he said he still sees the campaign as a symbol of how far blacks have come in America. Just the fact that he has not been assassinated, he said, means something.
“What it says, more than anything else, is that we as a people can fight for the right to be judged by our qualifications and our character,” said Wooden, pastor of Raleigh’s Upper Room Church of God and Christ. “That’s great, especially in a country where, at one time, they didn’t think we were all human.”
Obama isn’t the first black candidate for president. Civil rights leaders such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have made several runs in past primaries. But Obama is the first not to be relegated to the fringes. Some of his black supporters say that’s because, rather than casting himself as a civil rights crusader, he has focused on issues that cross racial lines.
“I think that the racism that can keep black people down is mostly gone,” said Justin McKenzie of Durham, a senior at N.C. State University who volunteered at an Obama rally in November. “It would be nice to have a black president, but that isn’t necessary for black people to be on the way up. ... It’s kind of nice that Obama’s black, but that’s just one of the things that he is.”
TheState.com
http://www.thestate.com/local/story/270282.html
