alfred 2 - University of Winchester

Does the Election of Barack Obama Signal the
Success of the Civil Rights Movement?
Cherie Easter
Abstract
In the decades since ratification of the American Civil
Rights (1964) and Voting Rights (1965) Acts that outlawed
racial discrimination and restored universal suffrage in the
Southern United States, the black Civil Rights Movement has
become less visible as a political force within mainstream,
American society. Although organisations such as the NAACP
(National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
continue to champion policies which seek to address racial
socio-economic inequality, race-specific issues have become
subsumed within the generalist mandates of civil rights
organisations such as the ACLU (American Civil Liberties
Union) and LCCR (Leadership Conference on Civil Rights).
However, America’s problematic racial history signals that
the election of Barack Obama, the nation’s first non-white
president, is both an historic, political landmark, and the
legacy of social change catalysed primarily by the efforts of
20th centuary black civil rights activists.
Race and the American electorate
Beneath the self-congratulatory response to Obama’s
election (Barnes and Shear, 2008; Montanaro, 2008), lie
contradictions between the mainstream perception of postracial
universalism, and the specificity of the individual’s
experience within a still-racialised society. Writing before the
election in 2008, Princeton academic Paul Krugman declared
racial polarisation as a diminishing force in political discourse
(Krugman, 2008). A few months earlier, National Public
Radio’s (NPR) senior analyst Daniel Schorr speculated on the
electoral impact of “‘color-blurred’ voters” (Schorr, nd). Both
proved atypical commentaries in a year in which Obama’s
race was, ironically, of consummate interest within Krugman’s
“different and better (non-racist) country” (Krugman, 2008).
However, as an analysis of the 2008 presidential election
results indicates (Lopez and Taylor, nd; McAdam, 2009),
voter demographics belie the ideological tone of racial unity
portrayed by the media (Barnes and Shear, nd; Nagourney,
2008). Confronted for the first time in their history with
presidential candidates of different races, for the American
electorate racial identity proved a significant influence on
voting behaviour (Lopez and Taylor, nd). Although minority
groups have been a bulwark of the Democratic Party since
the 1940s, the record turnout amongst the black community
(up by two million on 2004) (ibid.), is more indicative of
racial preference than was suggested by Obama’s high (95%)
proportion of the black vote (ibid.). For a group who are
disproportionately represented amongst the economically
disadvantaged (US Census Bureau, nd), and historically
underrepresented in the electoral process (Lopez and Taylor,
nd), such a high level of participation is difficult to reconcile
with Obama’s mainstream, middle-class image other than on
racial grounds.
Amongst whites, demographic differences were more nuanced
and factors such as class, gender, age and region, in addition
to race, provided a balance of influences on voter behaviour
(ibid.). The support of independent and moderate whites
proved a key factor in a result less decisive when measured
by the ‘popular vote’ (US Electoral College, nd), than the
result of the Electoral College would suggest (ibid.). However,
the 43% of whites who favoured Obama (Lopez and Taylor,
nd) – overrepresented by younger age groups and those who
shared his northern, urban, middle-class and educated profile
remained in the minority (Kohut, 2008). Given the extent,
and timing, of the 2008 global financial crisis, the American
public’s mounting concern regarding Middle Eastern issues,
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