Race is certainly a hot topic, a lesson I have learnt only too well. I almost feel I could write about the swallowtail butterfly and some letter to the editor, blog or coffee table discussion would put some racial spin on it. So I have waited nervously for the Obama campaign to freefall into the never-ending pit of racial discourse. It could be his end, after all Obama is part black and with Americans not far evolved from the days of segregation they still believe that a drop of black blood makes a person definitely not white. If you simply do the math, blacks are a minority and Obama would fall on the wrong side of the divide, to hope to win a major election.

The moment did come with the hate speech of the Rev Jeremiah Wright - a close mentor of Obama - but what came about was a perfect articulation of a new generation. A generation that accepts that there is prejudice and that there is a racial divide, but one that accepts that the discussion is largely sensational and not always substantive, that the discourse has moved from innovative and progressive, but is now far too often opportunistic and divisive.

Unproductive people

In Jamaica, it becomes the easiest defence, a very simplistic excuse for anything. Our low wages are because our people are unproductive, and if our employers demand productivity they are slave masters. It also has become the favoured tool of politicians, it worked like magic for PJ Patterson and the PNP administration that benefited from the "black" vote, and clearly with blacks being the vast majority this was an opportunity that they seized in a way Obama never could.

As Time magazine puts it, "Obama was unequivocal in is candour about black anger and white resentment - sentiments that few mainstream politicians acknowledge (although demagogues of both races have consistently exploited them)". He did not play on white guilt; he did not evoke black anger; he did not disown his black friend nor did he attempt to distance his white grandmother. He admitted that this white grandmother had said things that made him "cringe" and that his pastor had "a profoundly distorted view of this country". He did not take a side in the racial debate, but he did reject racist rhetoric.

Obama's extraordinary speech about race on March 18 in Philadelphia was refreshing, masterful and evidently very quotable, yet what Obama did following this success was even more remarkable, he moved on. His following speeches have covered the economy, the war on Iraq and other matters concerning the State. Obama showed the American people that he did not have to run from the race topic, but that he also would not dwell on it beyond its usefulness. This leader has more to offer than just being a poster child for a particular racial (albeit bi-racial), or economic grouping.

Impossibility

Obama struck a chord with me; being bi-racial, a simple black and white world becomes an impossi-bility. Anti-white sentiments strike a chord, immediately I feel an attack against my mother. Likewise anti-black sentiments strike an equally tender chord, with my father being black and by most global definitions (Jamaica being the exception) I also am black. So racial discussions never really sit well with me, often the insincerity of them is infuriating, but on March 18, finally I heard a speech on race that seemed progressive.

Obama has proven himself to be a masterful politician; he did not ally himself with either side of the divide, but took his chances and placed himself firmly on the side of those who are tired of the divide. Let us just hope that it is the majority.