| I wrote on the eve of the US Presidential elections that we could be about to witness a seismic political change that most of us thought we would never live to see! Now we know that what we never dared to believe could happen, has happened and this in the same week as experiencing the heart stopping thrill of seeing Lewis Hamilton overcome the odds and achieve a first for Black people everywhere, in a sport that has, like golf, resisted Black participation for as long as it possibly could.
Now, in Barack Obama, we have the seen the election a Black President of the United States, and event that will surely induce a world-wide surge of Black self-confidence.
The questions I now pose are - given the US history of the oppression of African Americans, and the recent phenomenon of a surge of anti-immigrant sentiment in a nation of immigrants – how far are we from a British Barack, whether from African, Asian or Caribbean Diaspora communities? What is it about our national structures that militate against the emergence of Black talent, and what should we do, as members of the Diaspora communities, to seize the initiative and make the change that we can believe in?
Your comments are welcome... |
8th November 2008