Obama at the Crossroads of Race Relations and Politics
October 6, 2008
Author Ronald Takaki opens up on Obama’s place in multicultural America
BERKELEY, Calif. - “Barack Obama makes me feel young again,” laughed Ethnic Studies historian Ronald Takaki. “He reminds me of the ’60s.”
The retired UC Berkeley professor recently released a series of YouTube videos with his perspectives on the 2008 presidential election in the context of the December release of an updated edition of A Different Mirror, his 1993 book on the history of multicultural America. “This book speaks to the America that Obama is bringing his hopes and his dreams to,” Takaki said in a recent interview at his Berkeley home. “This is what is energizing his campaign. We originally came from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the North American continent itself. We are all American; we have all been American from the very beginning since the founding of Jamestown and up to the 21st century. I think my book, the updated revised edition, speaks to this America that is approaching and that is already here.”
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In a series of provocative video discussions, Ronald Takaki will discuss important issues regarding the 2008 presidential election from a multicultural perspective.
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Fifteen years after the publication of A Different Mirror, Takaki continues to “challenge the master narrative of American history” with new sections that address issues from the post-9/11 experience of Afghan Americans to the dilemma of Mexican immigration. This “new America” also faces the challenge, as Takaki puts it, “to vote for a candidate for the presidency of the United States based on the content of his character and his ideas and not the complexion of his skin.”
“In this 2008 election, we take this same, old challenge of how we define ourselves as Americans and make this the moment for us, as minorities, who have funny names and who don’t look American, to say, ‘Hey, we are American too, and Barack Obama personifies our audacious hope,’” Takaki said.
With the YouTube videos, Takaki is reaching out to a younger audience about the importance of Obama’s role in the election.
“I had to ‘get with it,’” admitted Takaki, who will turn 70 next year. “I am not part of that culture of electronic information, but I think it is an amazing opportunity for me to reach millions of young people.”
Takaki also urgently calls upon the Asian American community to vote.
“[Barack] is opening up doors of equality for us as Asian Americans,” he said. “We are still stigmatized as ‘strangers from a different shore.’ He could make it possible for us to become Americans from a different shore, and that’s the reason why we should vote for Barack-for reasons of identity.”
Obama and Takaki share similar backgrounds: Both grew up in Hawai‘i and earned a reputation riding a wave or two in their prime. Today, Ronald “Ten Code” Takaki and Barack “Ripcurl” Obama are crossing paths again as they work to shape the decisions Americans make at the crossroads of race and politics.
“Whether working-class white or African American, Asian American, Latino or Native American, we all share common interests,” Takaki said. “We want social security to survive; we want the economic crisis to be resolved; and we all want national healthcare. These are all interests that will bring us together. I think that this is the moment where we can set aside the master narrative of American history. Barack and his followers know that we have the future in our hands because America is rushing towards this immense diversity. Diversity is America’s manifest destiny, and there is nothing that McCain and company can do about that.”
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