In
the shadow of 9/11, the Bush administration developed domestic
security and foreign policy that crystallized every racist and
paranoid sentiment of White America. This doesn't mean that every
white American is racist or paranoid. It means that the paranoid and
racist beliefs inherited by White Americans, whether they subscribe
to those beliefs or not, was at the forefront of policies and
programs such as the no-fly list and the INS Special Registration ofAliens. The Bush Doctrine was the mea culpa since it had the
international community and human rights organizations crying foul.
The
election of President Obama signaled the expectation that such
inherently oppressive policies would be chucked. This had less to do
with Obama's party affiliation than his pedigree which is a
reflection of the 1960s instead of the 1860s. In the 1860s, Americans
fought over whether a person was fit to be enslaved by the virtue of
skin color. In the 1960s Americans witnessed the Civil Rights Era,
the British Invasion, the dawn of the hippies and a radical shift in
American social norms. African-Americans moved from being an after-thought to being in the forefront of the American psyche in politics
and media. 1961 is the year Barack Hussein Obama was born to a white
mother and a Kenyan father. He was raised by his single mother and
later by his maternal grandmother. Obama has publicly discussed his
struggle in establishing his identity and core values to align with
his bi-racial lineage.
In
the 1960s, his bi-racial lineage was an anomaly. Today a bi-racial or mixed lineage is the norm for a majority of Americans. There is
still a White America but it is blending with a America whose
citizens don't trace their roots back to the Puritans. The
probability of meeting a blonde, blue-eyed American today is as much,
if not lower in some areas, as of meeting an American who isn't.
However, the probability of seeing a blonde, blue-eyed terrorist is
as low as seeing Duchess Kate take the subway in rush hour.
The
Obama administration followed the previous administration's precedent
by reauthorizing NSA surveillance. By extending its scope to
encompass all telephonic and web activities of all Americans
including press organizations, the Obama administration established a
new precedent of pitting the government against the people. The
unspoken acknowledgment is that America is not comprised of only
blonde, blue-eyed people. There are darker colored Americans of
varying lineages. The underlying message is that since blonde,
blue-eyed terrorists are rare and darker colored Americans aren't,
the government can expect an attack by its citizens. Therefore,
instead of protecting the rights of and serving all Americans, the
government must arm itself against them by searching for and finding
fault with them.
Americans
will start to minimize their perceived faults. If the government is
looking for terrorists, then Americans will diminish any
characteristic or censor any idea that smacks of terrorism. The
question is what activity smacks of terrorism? Is it praying in a
mosque, is it wearing a turban, is it questioning why we quietly
support Saudi Arabia while refuting the legitimacy of the Iranian
government, is it stating, “I don't like how America is doing as a
country”? Many Americans will think they are safe from scrutiny or
prosecution because of their skin color, their creed and their
heritage. Many others will subscribe to ideas that are not their own
but belong to a “pre-approved” set. That is an unfortunate path
to follow. The tragedy is that our elected officials are the ones to
direct us to it. The irony is that the first bi-racial President did
nothing to stop them.
