America on Road to Redemption

By Teresa Hakaraia

With Barrack Obama surging ahead in the race for the democratic vote, many people around the world will be telling themselves, that perhaps America is on the road to redemption.

Many might start to believe that America's history of prejudice against those of African decent is just that: history.

History tells us that the black civil rights movement started in Scottsboro in 1931 where nine innocent black boys, all under the age of 18, were arrested for raping two white prostitutes.

Even after scientific evidence proved this allegation to be a gross injustice, and one of the woman recanted her testimony, the boys were found guilty in three separate trials.

Those boys spent nearly 12 years in jail for a crime committed by their white jurors. History teaches us that in America, a white woman's voice was louder than the screams of nine black boys.

And now a black man, Barrack Obama is running, not for his life, but for his country in the race to win the Democratic vote. Beside him, at the starting blocks, stood a white woman. Many of those that stood beside both candidates before the gun signaled the race believed in the white woman.

They projected her voice above her black counterpart. And this made sense to the world. Upon a totem pole, a white woman has always stood higher than a black man.

However, now that the race has begun and as the finish line comes into full view, Barrack Obama appears to be running in front of Hillary Clinton. And standing on the sidelines, the American people can be seen frantically changing the color of their support.

Off are the female pantsuits and on are the suits of male sophistication. Most of these supporters change in full view and they seem proud to do so. These supporters are not black or white. They seem to be united in that they are red, white and blue.

And the world looks on in puzzlement. Can it really be so? Has America progressed that much in just 80 years? Is America willing to take the word of a black man over a white woman?

Nothing is ever that black and white. Instead we should be asking; what is the real motivation behind the change of color? Change of attitude? Change of race?

And the answer, my foreign friends, is this: pride.

Americans have always had the rest of the world's admiration. I know this because I am not American and I admired them.

In some sort of otherworldly sense, I feel them around me all the time. Their culture surrounds me in every part of my life. I have been brought up watching them on TV.

I have learned about them in history lessons. I have watched their most popular franchises pop up on every corner around my neighborhood.

It is almost like an addiction. I hate it, but I have to have them near me. It is www.america.com against the rest of the world.

And we have always lost. We are not part of the dot.com world. We are nothing on their Richter scales. They didn't even know we existed.

And life was peachy for them and we were jealous. But things started to change for Americans about eight years ago. Into power, crept a hideous man that they could not get rid of.

Their world started to crumble and their smallness started to creep in. When George Bush was elected, they started noticing that the rest of the world existed.

We had always called Americans stupid. But now we had serious reason to. And we were proud to let them know it. All our voices were united and so they heard us.

We laughed out loud together when Bush was voted in again and so they heard us. We yelled at them to get out of Iraq and so they tried to shut us out. But we were just too noisy.

The essence of American uniqueness is American pride. And that pride has evaporated in the Iraqi man-made dust storms. They cannot even spell their country's name with a capital ``A'' anymore.

The reason behind this, is not only because they are governed by a man that is illiterate and wouldn't know the difference, but also because their uniqueness and their pride has diminished.

And so it has become paramount for all Americans to regain their uniqueness and their pride. They want that capital ``A'' back. They want our admiration.

At first, they thought Hillary could do it. But she is boring. The world has seen her before. And even though Bush has had the world in hysterics, her husband Bill had the same effect the previous four years.

They need someone fresh. Someone different. Someone that would shock the rest of the world into submission once again.

And that man is Barrack Obama.

If Barrack Obama, a black man, receives the democratic vote, it would show the world that they have progressed. It would show the world that that part of their tainted history was made visible again.

We would be left in shock. We would be left in awe. We would be left in silence. We would be small again.

America would have its admiration back. And once again, they would forget us.

History is forever being rewritten. And ours is theirs to own.

Teresa Hakaraia is freelance writer, poet and tutor. She can be reached at hk@cashmere.school.nz