Forum in Norfolk highlights role of race in politics

NORFOLK

Is America ready to elect a black person as president?

We won't know until Nov. 4, but that didn't stop almost 100 people from gathering Saturday at St. Patrick Catholic School to ponder the role of race in politics and the nation's willingness to choose a black commander in chief.

The forum, sponsored by the Hampton Roads Committee of 200+ Men Inc., drew a predominantly black crowd and was led by a diverse six-member panel. Each panelist seemed to agree that U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, could be elected president.

Forty years after the U.S. civil rights movement, American society has reached a point where it can look beyond a candidate's skin color, said Thomas J. Shields, director of the Center for Leadership in Education at University of Richmond.

With that shift in attitude and Obama's status as a serious presidential contender, he said, Americans now are trying to develop a clear message of who he is, what he stands for and what that means for the future.

"Any past norms or beliefs we've had, with Obama in the race, we have to throw those out," Shields said.

For many voters, Obama's race won't be a factor, said panelist Suzy Kelly, a local businesswoman who recently lost a bid for Chesapeake City Council. She dismissed race as a criterion in her choice for president, and she implored the audience to do the same. A candidate's stance on policies and issues, she said, should be the overriding factors in a voter's choice.

"I don't see Barack Obama as a black candidate. I see him as a very liberal candidate," she said, noting she would gladly vote for black Republicans, such as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma.

Panelist Beatriz Amberman, of the Virginia Latino Advisory Board, noted that some voters who disagree with Obama's policies worry that a vote against him could be interpreted by the media as racially motivated.

Amberman wondered how many blacks would vote against Obama and how that action would be viewed.

Norfolk State University political science Professor Rudolph Wilson responded, saying 8 to 12 percent of black voters in recent years have supported the Republican nominee. He said he expects 3 percent of black voters this year to support U.S. Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee. Their votes won't be against Obama's race, Wilson said, as much as they will be against his ideas.

If Obama wins in November, he owes much of that success to black politicians and activists who have gone before him, said another panelist, Raymond H. Boone, editor and publisher of the Richmond Free Press.

Boone noted the Rev. Al Sharpton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, among others, have paved the way for Obama to reach the highest office.

One of the nation's founding statements - "that all men are created equal" - proves that voters in the United States should be willing to elect a black person as president, Boone said.

"If America isn't ready," Boone said, "this is a contradiction."

Shawn Day, (757) 222-5131, shawn.day@pilotonline.com