Trolling around various locales in wwwLand last night, I was a shocked to discover a few bloggers saying that Barack Obama is the first African American to run a nationwide campaign seeking the presidency of the United States. I won't embarrass any of them by linking. But - and this takes nothing away from the campaign team that put together Obama's winning effort in Iowa - it should not go unsaid that the Senator has had predecessors who deserve a good deal of credit for taking on the Democratic establishment at a time when this was, for an African American, considerably more difficult than now.
In 1972, Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress (in the iconic year of 1968), became the first woman AND the first black to seek the Democratic nomination for President. She knew she would not get the nomination, managed to raise only $300,000, campaigned in 14 states (11 with primaries) and arrived at the Democratic Convention with just 28 delegates committed to her. But when actual voting took place, she counted 152 delegates. None came from Iowa.
In 1984, the Rev. Jesse Jackson became the second black person to seek the Democratic nomination. Jackson won primaries in Virginia, South Carolina, and Louisiana, garnering 3.15 million votes nationwide (a fifth of the total). However, he only received 8 percent of the committed delegates, coming in third behind Walter Mondale (6.8 million) and Gary Hart (6.2 million). Only 20 percent of Jackson's total was from non-blacks, and he won 77 percent of the black vote. He got 1.5 percent of the vote in the Iowa caucuses.
In 1988, Jackson did far better, for a time becoming the front-runner after winning the Democratic caucus in Michigan. He went on to victory in 11 primaries, including five in the South, capturing 6.6 million votes and, eventually gaining 1200 delegates at the Democratic Convention, second to Dukakis (who won 9.7 million votes). That year, 31 percent of Jackson's vote came from non-black voters, and he got 92 percent of the African American vote. In Iowa, he came in fourth, with 11 percent of the vote in a field of 13 Democratic presidential contenders.
It would be more than brazen to pat ourselves on the back because this year an African American might very well go from winning the Iowa caucuses to winning the Democratic nomination and, a little more than a year from now, be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. After all, legal slavery was done away with 142 years ago, and the Civil Rights Act was passed 44 years ago. "Overdue" scarcely covers it. Anymore than it does for the fact that a woman might win the nomination and the presidency this year. It was 88 years ago, after more than 70 years of activism, that women got the right to vote.
On the other hand, however one feels about the specific political views of either of the two candidates who could make an historic if belated breakthrough over the next 12 months, it is heartening that, finally, finally, finally, a majority of Americans don't seem to have qualms about electing a woman or an African American to the highest post in the land.
May I live to see the day when we can add "gay" and "atheist" to that list.
[Addendum]: I should point out that merely because progress has been made in this sphere doesn't mean I believe that racism or misogyny is all washed up in America. There is a difference between attitudinal racism, call it "state-of-mind racism," and the deeply embedded institutionalized racism that still afflicts our society. A lot more people are likely to vote for an African American for president than would support his or her doing what is needed to wholly defeat racism. The same can be said for sexism.