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Thoughts on Making History and Making the Future

By Charlie Baran

This has been quite a couple of weeks. The outcome of this year's presidential election adds weight to the feeling that these are among the most exciting times to have ever lived. And I hope we can all take a deep breath and soak it in. A Black President. The "impossibility" of this has for so long been held up as a testament to the racial division in America and the continued locking out (and locking down) of Black folks in this country. That this has come to pass is no small achievement for our country and our world.

But Wednesday didn't feel too much different from Monday, in real terms. I couldn't help but dwell on the fact that the realities faced everyday by Black people in this country, or people in this country at large, would not be free of those divisions we've known for so long simply as a result of this national decision. There is something to be said for the immense impact the electing of this President is sure to have on the aspirations of people in this country. I have no doubt that a young person's feeling of "I can do anything...I can be President," may manifest again and again in their life as, "I can take care of my family," "I can run this business," "I can stand up in the face of terrible odds." I look forward to what this means for the spirits of young people like me who are coming into the ownership of our lives and our times. Heightened spirits lead to heightened aspirations, which may evolve as a deeper determination to take on and resolve the trials of our lives and the world we live them in.

I think we would be a thoughtless and crude society to not stop and acknowledge this moment. And I think my colleagues would be mistaken to undercut the real excitement in the air. But I think the most naive thing progressive folks could do, would be to think for a second that success in our mission, or in the overall mission of human justice and equality, will take one ounce less of our energy, our spirit, and our conviction now. In fact, I posit that it will take even more of those intangibles than we have previously been able to muster.

The Black AIDS Institute sees the issue of ending the AIDS epidemic in Black America as fundamentally a question of mobilizing Black communities to change their reality. The Institute is guided by the strong belief that until Black people collectively take ownership over the epidemic and dispense with the notion that it is not their problem, Black folks will continue to become infected with HIV and die from AIDS at outrageous rates. And that belief is couched within an acknowledgement that the resource engine of American public health is not working for Black people in the way it needs to be. We can expect—or at least hope—that the new administration will facilitate a slightly more favorable context for our work (i.e., increased funding, a national AIDS strategy, elevated profile of the issues). But it would be a mistake to believe that the new President will automatically follow our lead and devote all the resources needed to end the AIDS epidemic in Black America. Phill Wilson has been know to say things to the effect of, "The government is not coming to save Black people. It never has. So it is on our community to mobilize and take up this fight ourselves."

Well, if I may: President-Elect Obama is probably not coming to save Black people. So it is on the community to mobilize and continue to take up this fight. There will no doubt be many folks, Black and white, believing he will. Or that his presidency will reduce the burden of social change which has always been borne by the community. Or that things are different now and the big problems will eventually work themselves out. We will need to not only fight the battles we've been fighting, but will need to resist this sort of apathy of optimism.

I am living this experience from an interesting perspective. I work everyday with and for Black folks, almost exclusively. But I’m not Black myself. It is exciting and I feel immensely privileged to be able to witness the response of Black Americans to this moment in history so closely. I can’t help but reflect on my own lived experience, and interpret the recent events through that lens. I don't pretend that our experiences are comparable—because they're not—but I want to share some personal reflections.

I grew up in a small neighborhood bordered by a trailer park, a railroad, an old quarry, and a cemetery. The neighborhood was probably 90% white, and 60% lived at or near the poverty line. After more than 200 years of white presidents, a lot of these folks were still not getting what they might reasonably expect from their government. It was just not part of the deal that they all got a significant "slice of the American pie" (i.e., steady, good-paying jobs, nice homes to live in, solid health insurance, and a strong voice in the decisions of their community leaders). But my former neighbors are generally some "hard core patriotic, love my country, George-Bush-is-lookin’-out-for-me, white folks. Many believe their government always has their best interests at heart, no matter what that government actually does. And they are virtually immobilized by that belief. Because they have been taught that they are priority number one, they are less prepared to raise their voices and demand economic and social justice. Because their faith remains that Uncle Sam is really on their side, it is not obvious to them that they need to look out for themselves, and for the community they live in. As a result this community is not getting the services or attention it so desperately needs.

I share this observation to illustrate my biggest fear about this election. I fear that this election will leave people, Black people in particular, feeling like their needs are being looked after; like there is nothing more they can do or should hope for. I fear that Black communities will be further immobilized by our society’s token nod to progress. And frankly, I don’t think that immobilization is simply about how Black people respond, but how the larger society responds to Black people. However, this fear is nothing short of renewed motivation for my colleagues and me.

I think we should celebrate this amazing election. It was not just an amazing achievement for Senator Obama, it was an amazing achievement for Americans of all political stripes. But, I hope we don’t forget the real reasons why we are celebrating. I have hope that we will resist this apathy of optimism; a hope that we will not be afraid to call out the inevitable shortcomings of this administration. I hope we are ever mindful that, as Phill Wilson says, "Nobody is coming to save Black people." Nobody is coming to save any of us. Perhaps it will be all the clearer now that we can't blame George Bush and just wait until something better comes along. This is the best we've got, and it's on us to make our world even better.