Disillusioned: the truth about the Hero and the Individual of the United States

I think that what this course has most done for me is that it has broken down everything unrealistic that I believed about the Civil Rights Movement. For example, Martin Luther King single-handedly started and finished the movement. Dr. King, Rosa Parks, Emmett Till and John F. Kennedy were the only people involved in the Civil Rights Movement as far as I was concerned when I was a child. As I learned more about movements in general, I knew that could not be the entire story, but no one had supplemented my childhood guesses with actual information until I took this class.

The most recent opportunity for disillusionment for me came with reading about Obama's political career. Most of us were in high school when he was first put into office. That election and his presidency raised a lot of hope for myself, my peers, and my adult role models. I have never questioned Obama before. To me, he had always been another sort of sacred figure to be added to the ranks of Dr. King and to begin the trends of good people politics. As Sugrue mentions, Obama became the third figure of a holy trinity—King, Malcolm, and Obama. It has been good for me to read about his political and historical influences and establish a more accurate image. As we discussed today, Obama is both African American and a president. Which is he first? How does having the “African American” card impact his ability to fill his role as president? I think that we are ignoring the fact that carrying this card can make all of Obama's other cards irrelevant, because of our continued race issues. Noelle mentioned in class that Obama, like any politician, has been simply playing his cards. But, in this society, being an African American is not simple. Obama cannot undo centuries of oppression and internalized racial scorn. This makes his job more difficult, but more rewarding. Sugrue quotes Obama: “Nothing is easier than being able to excuse your lack of accomplishment on race or poverty. What is challenging, but ultimately most fulfilling, is recognizing that, although we don't choose the world we're born into, we still have a responsibility to make something of it” (88). Obama, I think, recognizes his critical role in changing wrongful, historical stereotypes of African Americans.

When we create Obama as an image of sainthood, we remove our own responsibility to improve the situation of racial inequality that still exists. If racial inequality still exists, others see that saint as carrying the burden. The disillusionment classes like this cause raises awareness of the fact that there is still a problem. It also makes me feel more responsible for helping to correct the problem. As we discussed towards the end of class today, our racial inequalities are due to a deep-seeded moral corruption surrounding race. Recognizing that Obama cannot be the sole solution means recognizing a general responsibility to acting against American society's moral corruption. Responsibility begs the question of how to fill it. But many people have not even reached the point of acknowledging a disparity, and, frankly, our focus on individualism in this country allows many to blame people for the conditions of their own lives.  The moral corruption of this country cannot be ignored, but I would like to assert that it is rooted in our focus on individualism.  When we focus on the power of the individual, we simultaneously point out the weakness of the individual.  People are ONLY have's and have not's, and their status is contingent on their own decisions.  This is a damaging viewpoint that we must get rid of first, before we can ever accept responsibility for correcting another person's poor living conditions or lower social standing.