A Closed Issue?

Racial segregation, once a formal requirement under the law in the United States, remains a living issue long after that country recognized the inhumane illegality of its institution. But habits are hard to change, and suspicion, so deeply ingrained in the collective mindsets of both black and white are not easily changed. People of good will on both sides of the colour divide might wish the evil of colour separation and discrimination to die a deserved death, but it's not likely to, any time soon.

Human beings feel comfortable in the presence of others like themselves. They find it difficult to get beyond initial impressions; their discernment of physical differences leads to their impression of integral differences of all kinds. Even those who espouse the equality of humankind regardless of superficial differences seem to feel awkward in the company of those whose distinguishing physical features don't reflect their own.

Different cultures have evolved, through long social and civic separation imposed by the prevailing social system of the time. People tend to forget that basic human needs and values are universally shared. They cannot see beyond the cover and so judge the book by what it is they see that sets it apart from what is most familiar to them. People don't tend to want to share space with differences, nor to spend time investing in their understanding.

On a strictly impressionistic level a presumed fair and just level, people can and do agree that there are no real differences between people; we are all human beings with more in common than what it is that keeps us apart. It's that little bit that we don't hold in common that has cemented us into our own separate lifestyles and cultures. We ascribe to others features that we deem unpleasant, but expected because of their perceived apartness and differences.

We are prepared to be diffident about those differences, to accept that we share enough in common to forge a common link, but idealism melts into confusion and withdrawal when reality takes the place of perception, because perception becomes reality. Whites live with whites, blacks with blacks; their personal choices, spaces and comfort levels. Theoretically that great country, the United States of America, for all its faults, would like to be a just place.

Enough of its voting public has demonstrated that it is prepared to live under an administration that has at its head a black man. A black man who has experienced life on each side of the divide, and who sought to extend his capabilities and sensitivities to the betterment of his fellow blacks living in the seamier urban spaces of that country. While at the same time enjoying a familiarity with white culture and politics.

Straddling both worlds as it were, placing himself forward as a credible candidate for the near future of the position of president. What an enormous stride for someone to take, breaking brave new ground in a really astonishing way. What incredible self-assurance and commitment. What an impossible hunger to succeed. He plans to represent the entire community that makes up the population of the U.S.

His exposure, through his early years of personal development, his academic years, his professional years, aligned with his personal character, appears to have prepared him for a large place in his country's political infrastructure. He has been able, through his personality, his avowed dedication to the task at hand, his ability to emote and to quote, to encourage and to greet, to bring enough people from all walks of life and colour to his side.

His ascension, should he be successful in claiming the contested position, will not overnight, solve the problem of the black-white divide in America. It's possible that the divide will never be successfully and finally breached to produce a seamless society of acceptance of the other. But should he succeed, even if blacks and whites continue to choose to live apart in their personal lives, he will have proven that the United States has managed to mature in a manner to earn it plaudits from the international world.

People will always choose to live in their own enclaves. Where they feel more at home in a familiar social milieu, a tradition and culture most familiar to them. It's not restricted to black and white; it has its counterpart through the immigrant experience reflected in North America and increasingly everywhere in the world, through mass migration.

The recent upheavals in Africa where people from countries surrounding South Africa who have lived as recent migrants there - escaping oppression, internecine wars, frail economic prospects - and as decades-long immigrants and are now being hounded out of that country - prove that xenophobia, dislike, distrust of the 'other' happens irrespective of colour.