By Afra Hussain
<[email protected]>

As this coming February marks Black History Month, many Americans are reminded of a past where civil rights did not exist.

“The black history (previous generations) talk about was about older people like Martin Luther King and Harriet Tubman,” sophomore Aaron Singer said. He said black history never really interested him until the recent election of Barack Obama. Now he said things are different. “It’s cooler, and I think it will get promoted more,” Singer, who is African-American, said.

While the election of an African American president was an important milestone in American history, racial barriers still exist and the civil rights movement pushes on.

Singer said he always considered himself a skeptic when it came to government and political leaders. However during this past election he was one of the many African-American supporters of Obama.

“A lot of white people think that I liked Obama because he is black. It’s just like saying a white guy likes a white candidate because he is white,” Singer said. In the beginning of the election, Singer said he favored Sen. Hillary Clinton, but as he became more informed about Obama and his policies, he found himself supporting him instead of Clinton.

Initially, Singer said he thought the country would never elect Obama because people were not ready for an African-American president. But when Obama was elected as president in November, he said he felt elated. Singer said the election broke the perception that African-Americans had about themselves and about their country.

U.S history teacher, Will Ellery said, “I think (the election) means a tremendous amount. I think it means a lot. Much of Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech about judging a man by his character came to fruition because of Obama’s election as president.”

However, according to Ellery, the civil rights movement cannot be forgotten. “I think there is still a focus (on civil rights), but the shift is now from equal rights and education to more opportunity,” he said. Ellery said that there are few African-American CEOs and few African-American football coaches, even though there are many African-American football players. “The movement shifted to new arenas, but they are more subtle and more toward the top end,” Ellery said.

Referring to Obama, Singer said, “He’s sort of like a spike in a wall. I think he got through racism because he is exceptionally smart and an exceptional speaker,” He said that he does not think that there another African-American man like Obama for a long time. Ellery said he thought Obama was elected because his color was not the focus of his campaign unlike other polarizing African-American presidential candidates such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.

Singer said he also sees a difference in the type of racism that exists today compared to racism of his parents’ generation. “I think that it is less outside hate and more inside perspective,” he said. Singer noted that there are no longer any major Klu Klux Klan operations today, but stereotypes of African-Americans still exist. Singer himself said he has experienced such stereotypes in middle school where he was one of the few African-Americans in his honors math class. He said the teacher acted differently toward him during the first month by staring at him as if questioning the validity of him being in an upper-level math class.

Ellery said he thinks that the election results could subtly affect the stereotypes. “Obama’s leadership might inspire larger society to look at black leaders as viable options whereas before without a leader like him they might not have considered the option,” he said.

According to Ellery, the past couple of years, during the presidencies of Bush and Clinton, there have been major improvements in equaling the opportunity for minority leaders with the appointment of people like Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and Roger Gregory.

He also said Obama will most likely continue to use minority leaders as candidates for high positions in the government. But Ellery said Congress does control most of the government, with the president giving direction.

Singer also acknowledged that there is still a lot of work to be done in the civil rights spectrum. In terms of Black History Month he said, “I talked to some white people and they said, “At least you get a month. We don’t get anything.” And that kind of mindset will prevent anything from happening.”