It's been over a year of this endless election "season" and the one thing both sides can agree on is that we are tired. The constant bickering of personalities, policies, and politics has made it all too easy to forget that there exists life outside our own. What is perhaps more interesting than how the results of this election will affect us is how the outcome will fair in the rest of the world.
Over the course of my junior year of college, I spent 11 months living and traveling throughout Europe. Most of my time abroad was tinged with the first stages of chaos birthed from the primaries. As an American, there is a set of questions you always field from foreigners -- for a while, it was "What do you think of George Bush?" Soon after, it had become "Are you voting for the black man or the woman?" And eventually, "What do you think about Barack Obama?"
With events like his speech that drew 200,000 in Berlin, we have come to see over time that Americans are not the only ones intrigued by a character like him. However, I always struggled to explain the significance of black Americans in the grand scheme of things, especially to my friends in my home country of Italy, a bizarrely racist country from top to bottom. Through our discussions and the constant influx of election news they received, it became clear that Obama was a novelty to them. They didn't really know what to do with a Kenyan-American that one day could potentially be ruling the free world. As the primaries dragged on, it was obvious that, for all the jokes about him being a messiah, Obama really is teaching Europe what it means to be black.
The role of the black community in American culture is our single most prevalent identity crisis. It has spanned centuries, ever evolving but always a struggle. What I hadn't realized until I lived in Europe was how little the rest of the world understands of the increasingly difficult to define role of black Americans. Cities like London and Paris now have substantial black communities, nearly all stemming from the African colonies England and France occupied for years. Ultimately, Africans moved to Europe on their own accord. By that point, they spoke the same language and had been immersed in centuries of similar culture from the ruling monarchies. While they may have been subordinate, they certainly weren't slaves.
In Italy, the strongest black presence is North Africans, many of whom make a living selling fake Fendis in metro stations and parks. Italians amass most of their information about black culture from American rap music videos, which through the course of mistranslations and cultural barriers gives about as accurate an understanding of the black struggle as Vanilla Ice had of black music. One of the questions I got most frequently would be about the N word, a mystifying concept lost on them entirely. "Why can they say it and you can't?" they would ask, typically followed by a "Look at my bitches! N***a N***a N***a!" they had picked up from watching MTV. It was one of the biggest cultural walls I stumbled upon, especially as Obama began to take the center of the international stage and race, suddenly, was on everybody's lips. How could I even begin to explain this? The entire picture was missing to them.
As the primaries progressed, the front pages of Italian newspapers were littered with coverage of his campaign. The endless drama of the elections was perfect fodder for a country whose own political atmosphere exists more like a circus than a parliament, whose own prime minister is more Penn and Teller than Tony Blair. For the Italians, it seemed, Barack Obama was an intriguing figure, well-read, well-spoken, and well-dressed. Miuccia Prada claimed she designed her men's Fall collection with him as inspiration. While the subtleties of his significance may have been lost on them, the undeniable candor of his message was uplifting for a country awash in political dissolution.
Given the elementary level of race relations in a western country like Italy, imagine what an Obama presidency could do for the preconceived notions of countries like Slovenia, Poland, Russia. Having a public figure like Barack Obama at the forefront of the American spotlight has the potential to integrate the concept of intellectual, powerful black leaders not as a novelty, but as a reality--one that doesn't involve rap videos, baggy jeans and groupie hos. If he succeeds in winning this election on Tuesday, he will not only reinvent the American international image, but he will give many other countries the much needed opportunity to reevaluate their own societal norms and perhaps, one day, be able to say Yes We Can.
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4 comments:
After studying abroad in London last year I came across similar racism. It was almost hard to believe, seeing as I was living in one of the greatest cosmopolitan centers of the world. While a decent majority of the negative experiences occurred when I passed through immigration on Sunday nights after a weekend of travel on the continent, I was surprised at how frequently I was surrounded by such racist sentiments in actual London. While I did not have a language barrier to contend with there was a significant cultural barrier I was in no way prepared to contend with.
During my stay in London the US primaries took hold of all London papers, all the British students I became friends with praised Obama yet in all other instances involving basically anyone who was not white they would make racist generalizations.
In the university flat I lived in there was extreme racial and religious tensions between students, the university even had to become involved with situation by moving students and developing strict flat rules. I was completely taken a back by the situation I was thrown into mid-year, and essentially spent no time outside of my individual room when I was in the because the tension was absolutely ridiculous. I still am awed by how absurd the whole situation was.
Not that I endorse Barack Obama in any way, but in the upsetting event he is elected I can only hope he will bring some sense to a highly racialized Europe.
Sadly I think much of the racist problem stems from poor immigration policies and that is not to say the US has a better solution to immigration. The UK is struggling with immigration policies much like France, Italy and the rest of Western Europe. The UK maintains an open immigration policy with Common Wealth countries, but sadly skin color plays a dominant role in the process. Essentially if you are a white Canadian or Australian your chance of remaining beyond the automatic Common Wealth Nation two year visa than if you are a black Nigerian and even more so if you are of Muslim descent.
I could not agree more with your insight into what an Obama Presidency would say to the world. Our country is in an economic crisis, and we need a President who can garner support from European and other foreign nations. Surely Senator McCain has relations with foreign officials, but his cries of 100 more years of war in Iraq do not resonate well with many countries. This post also made me recall a recent CNN interview I read. Unfortunately I could not find the link, but the CNN correspondent was discussing the current campaign with a man from rural China. When the Chinese man became aware of Obama’s skin color he was bewildered stating he thought blacks in American were only in occupations such as janitors. He concluded the interview stating that he would have much admiration for the United States if they elected an African American. This election will completely alter the way countries view our government and while some may feel this is unimportant, at a time like this I couldn’t disagree more. Lastly, I am studying abroad next year in Italy and will be interning with an Italian political party and found your experiences with Italians and race very interesting. I hope if Obama wins he will be able to remove such stereotypes of African Americans abroad.
I myself lived in Italy for a year, in a really small town in Tuscany. I remember watching Italian television when they announced Barack Obama was planning to run for president. I could not have been happier.
Yet I had the same experience watching the primaries progress in Italy, and no one was shy about bringing up the fact that he was black, and not in a politically correct way I was used to from the States. It was interesting to see how coverage and speech changed, and I wonder how they preceive him now.
You hit the nail right on the head, great post. :)
lol:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/07/berlusconi/index.html
Enjoy.
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