Divisions To Heal Go Beyond The Colours Of Our Skin

Sydney Morning Herald

Monday January 19, 2009

The inauguration of Barack Obama as the next president of the United States will be for black Americans, and also for many white Americans, the amazing fulfilment of Martin Luther King jnr's dream that people will be judged not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.

In a world that is so divided on racial lines, Obama's inauguration carries the eternal hope that whatever unites us will ultimately defeat the relentless forces of hatred, enmity and suspicion that divide us. This is a hope that is the bedrock of our democratic governance, and without such a belief in the intrinsic worth of our common humanity, civilisation is doomed to a destiny devoid of peace.

So while Obama's inauguration will mark a defining moment for race relations in America, it will be inevitably clouded by the horrific state of affairs in Gaza. Despite this concurrence, however, the fact remains that there is a common link between the two. The historic injustices felt by generations of black Americans have proven to be exactly of the same order as those felt by the Islamic world towards the colonising forces of the Judaeo-Christian West.

At his inauguration, Obama needs to therefore make perfectly clear that the forces of democracy must not only extend to uniting the world's races, but they must also extend to uniting the world's three great monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

This is a task that constitutes what is perhaps the most monumental challenge to face the Obama administration. It will ultimately help bring to an end the Bush Administration's "war on terror", and it will bear further testimony to these immortal words of the American Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal."

Reverend Dr Vincent Zankin Rivett (ACT)

The article "Great black hope" (January 17-18), interesting as it was, may have overlooked a vital point.

Not only is Barack Obama a great hope politically, but if he lives up to his name he will be a great "blessing". His name, given to him by either his father or his paternal grandmother, means "blessing" or "blessed" in many East African languages and is used regularly in almost every Christian service as well as the Arabic language.

The people of his father's village and throughout the world are praying that he will indeed prove to be a blessing, not only to the US but to the rest of the world.

Kevin F. Engel Caringbah

I enjoyed reading Postcard from Washington (January 17-18). I could feel the excitement of Lola and her friends and I could hear the voice of the president-elect, Barack Obama. But the temperature below freezing, and no curtains - or the curtains not drawn? Anne Davies says this is common. I hope that as president Obama will act local and think global and educate his fellow Americans on energy conservation.

Robin Walsh Killara

With all the brouhaha over the upcoming inauguration of the first black president and Obama himself trumpeting he is the son of a black man, the most ignored person in the world would seem to be his white mother, presumably the white sheep of the family.

John Harding Eastwood

Dawning of a new age? What nonsense. The only appreciable difference between Obama and Bush is that Obama is more sophisticated and eloquent.

In all other respects it will be business as usual.

George Fishman Vaucluse

© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald

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