Yes, We Did!

Just as many of us were obsessed with news coverage for weeks leading to the 2008 Presidential elections, we found ourselves enthralled by post-election dissection in the days following Barack Obama’s victory. Many spontaneous celebrations broke out all over the Berkeley campus, just as they did in innumerable sites around America. The sixth floor of Barrows Hall, where the CRG, Gender and Women’s Studies, and African American Studies are located had knots of excited staff and faculty breaking out wine and sparkling cider the morning after Obama’s victory. Charles Henry, chair of African American Studies, organized a last minute lunchtime party with catered food and wine. He confessed that he had not wanted to plan a celebration ahead of time because he might jinx the outcome. On display was his collection of Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama presidential campaign buttons.

The question of what Obama’s victory means about the current and future state of race relations and racism is central to the mission of the CRG. Obama’s election victory of course, marks a major watershed. Shibboleths about the unwillingness of non-Black Americans to overcome internalized racism in the privacy of the voting booth or to admit to pollsters their unwillingness to vote for an African American were disproven. The glass ceiling for African Americans has been shattered and has raised aspirations among young people of color. But does this mean that we are now in a “post-racial” age?

Clearly not. Race remains (in Michael Omi and Howard Winant’s words) a major organizing principle in American institutions and a primary axis of inequality.  Even though individual Black Americans can and have made it to the highest levels of business, politics, and the arts, as a people Blacks suffer systematic disadvantages in accumulated wealth, income, and health status and in access to voting, health insurance, and safe housing.  It is not simply “bad luck” that African Americans bear a disproportionate brunt of the impacts of both natural disasters (Hurricane Katrina) and man-made disasters (the financial meltdown of 2008).  They are among the first to lose their livelihood and homes during economic downturns and the last to receive government assistance.

As we look to the Obama administration to address the current economic crisis, we need to call for special attention to the plight of women and people of color. Studies have shown that women and people of color are laid off at a much higher rate when businesses are reducing their work force: corporate executives have traditionally argued that women are less important than men, because males are the “breadwinners.” Businesses also tend to eliminate jobs from what corporate managers consider “nonessential” categories, such as janitors, junior technicians, factory workers and other blue color positions that tend to include higher numbers of people of color.  A similar trend can be seen in reduction of government services, where AFDC, job retraining, care work, and similar categories that benefit people of color are the first to be cut.

In an economic crisis as serious as the one were are now in, all kinds of institutions and groups–big and small corporations, unions, local governments, and citizen groups– petition Washington DC for relief.  The groups with the most clout (the best lobbyists, the most campaign contributions) tend to get quicker and more effective action, as we saw in the $700 billion bailout of banks and financial institutions and in the rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac earlier this year.

It is to be hoped that the new Obama administration and the Democratic congress will take more interest in people of color and women than has recently been the case.  On the other hand, the giant corporations and financial institutions still have their armies of lobbyists in place, and will put tremendous pressure on the new administration and congress to deal with their needs first.

The dire effects of the 2008 economic collapse provide an unambiguous mandate for the Center for Race and Gender.  As the only university-wide academic center dedicated to issues relating to women and people of color, CRG must make sure that issues impacting our groups are addressed as widely as possible.  During 2008 and 2009, we will endeavor to develop programs, conferences, symposia and other efforts to address the effects of economic disaster on our target groups, and to support undergraduate and graduate research projects that incorporate women and people of color into analyses of this historic time.