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Presumed nominee for the Democratic Party for the President of the United States of América, Barack Obama has a lot of walls to tear down should he be elected to the oval office. One of those walls is built of real brick and mortar and has caused angst between both political parties. It visibly symbolizes political stances on a wedge issue called immigration that until recently was placed on the bottom of the deck, not as an ace-in-the-hole for some card shark, but as an issue that no one had the courage to touch.
Other walls are ostensibly illusionary, psychological and emotional, existing only in the minds of a populace whose survival skills are being tested in a declining economy. Those walls irrespective of their structural constitution should be replaced with bridges both metaphorical and real.
If elected president, Barack Obama would have to slash down economic barriers created by the Bush Administration; barriers that have polarized wealthy and poor Americans whose consequences feed the old adage that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Supply side economics continues relentlessly on a recession path as millions of dollars continue to be poured into a war with no end in sight. The decline in the GNP and economic stagnation, outsourcing of jobs to other countries, loss of home ownership and financial chaos has resulted in bad credit scores. An upsurge on the price of América’s “addiction to oil” has led to increased prices of gasoline and created payless jobs as those who siphon gas out of cars in parking lots enter the marketplace. These are the real issues that common folk want answers to.
Let’s not forget the erosion of our personal boundaries as eavesdropping, warrantless surveillance and the corrosion of our privacy have become common practice. Government officials have been transformed into computer geeks. Oh yeah! What about the war crimes against humanity in places like Iraq and Guantanamo Bay where torture was inflicted upon innocent souls?
Obama must contend with racial barriers, sometimes rhetorically hidden by a slogan that says we should be judged by “the content of our characters;” not the color of our skins. Racism seems to be alive and well as it thrives in the collective denial of the American consciousness.
As a Black President, Obama will have to straddle both sides of a racial equation that is on the brink of explosion. Fathoming the white side of Barack Obama is difficult. The biological characteristics that he has been blessed with are not removable. Racial discord has found new outlets as rumbling in ghettoes and barrios has increased gang affiliation while youth continue to symbolically hang onto illusions of territorial control in down trodden hoods.
The War in Iraq, albeit based on the struggle over oil prices, is also fueled by religiousism as spiritual iconoclasts quibble about truth. This also places Obama in a precarious position. Right wing pundits have poked fun at his name, associating him with terrorist groups. His recent annulment from a church and a reputed mentor whose words dug deep into América’s racial consciousness and whose oratory struck fury from the pulpit, reminded Americans nothing is left untouched during political contests.
Educational barriers depriving people of color access to equal education is a major obstacle that will haunt America in the future as the tanning of America continues. Droves of immigrant children are deprived of in-state tuition in states that suffer from imigraphobia. Chicanos continue to suffer from a culture of educational depravity as school districts continue to teach to irrelevant tests while youth of color are pushed out of schools prematurely.
The brick and mortar wall that is under construction dividing this country from our neighbors to the South ignites the olfactory smell of historical thievery, economic exploitation and unresolved bitterness that will only swelter in the minds and hearts of Brown people whose stories continue to be omitted from América’s history.
Immigrants continue to be scapegoats. The attitude towards those who have built the infrastructure of America has crept out of its grave with the fervor of a rattlesnake. Private firms vie for contracts to build detention centers that resemble concentration camps. Immigrant children have been abandoned by law; they are accused of being criminals and an old “bandido” image is being drawn up as “wanted dead or alive” posters hang in saloons in border towns.
The Brown Giant has awakened. Its presence and support are in demand by both political parties that sorely need its vote to emerge victorious. We should get crews to tear down walls and construct bridges; bridges that provide avenues for constructive communication and the building of a better humanity.
Dr. Ramón Del Castillo is an Independent Journalist.
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