Here we are in the final run-up to the US election. And what a marathon
it’s been. We’ve had the primaries, the conventions, How To Vote guides
on YouTube, high profile advertising in racing video games and an
infomercial; now it’s all down to the voting next week.

Barack Obama’s strong lead in the polls over the Republican candidate
John McCain continues to grow. This healthy lead remains despite press
speculation that American voters will falter at the polling booths and
decide that a first black president is just a step too far. The
Republican leader John McCain, however, thinks this is unlikely. As he
said in a recent Larry King interview, “Look, there is racism in
America. We all know that…but I am totally convinced that 99 and
forty-four-one-hundredths percent of Americans are going to make the
decision based on who is best to lead this country”. Let’s hope they
don’t have to do the math on that one….

Regardless of the outcome of next week’s election, it’s fair to say that
that in the US, much as in the UK, overt, traditional forms of racism
are becoming increasingly taboo, to the point that we are now looking at
a popular black Senator. It’s taken time though - 1870 saw the first
black congressman to be seated in the House of Representatives. Even
more surprising, perhaps, is that the UK was more than 20 years behind
the US in electing its first ethnic minority MP, Dadabhai Naoroji, in
1892. Even today, with only 15 of our 605 MPs being from a minority
background, we still find ourselves playing catch-up. Perhaps some may
argue that this is simply due to numbers - the US after all has a higher
proportion of people from ethnic minority backgrounds. But given that
over here in the UK we still struggle to vote for black dancers in
Strictly Come Dancing and black singers in I’d Do Anything, I’m not
going to hold my breath. Perhaps the 2008 US elections will be another
opportunity for the US to lead the UK in breaking new ground.