Inclusion Paradox Sighting: One Year Anniversary of Obama’s Election — A Tale to Counter a Polarized Environment
Today, on the one-year anniversary of President Barack Obama’s election, the blogs, print media, and cable TV will explore ad infinitum the myriad implications of that watershed historical event. While the political ramifications on all sides of the ideological spectrum are fascinating, in this blog and in The Inclusion Paradox my interest is in exploring the cultural implications of his historic election.
And so my reflection on today’s one-year marking is on one of the eight cultural implications of the Obama Era I write about in the book: inclusion is a transformative force.
While politics by nature is contentious, and when done constructively, the debate is healthy, it’s easy for the honest disagreements to devolve into demonization of the other. In these moments of judgmentalism it’s good to have a vision of what inclusion can look like when, despite our many differences, we find a way to connect with one another. Here’s a story told by candidate Obama as part of his definitive speech on race in the U.S. that captures that spirit.
A Story of Why
by Senator Barack Obama
an excerpt from “A More Perfect Union” speech
Constitution Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
March 18, 2008
There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.
And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that’s when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.
She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.
She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.
Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother’s problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn’t. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.
Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they’re supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who’s been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he’s there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war.
He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, “I am here because of Ashley.” ■
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