From Kunta Kinte to Barack Obama

Martin Luther King’s dream, now a reality:

by Ananth PALAKIDNAR

Alex Haley, the famous black American journalist’s twelve-year search for his family’s origins had highlighted the pathetic story of the American slavery, in his record-breaking book.

He traced his ancestry back to Africa, back to Kunta Kinte, the sixteen-year-old youth from his homeland and brought in torment and anguish to the slave markets in America.

Roots, the book by Alex Haley on his ancestry back to Africa attracted millions of readers worldwide and later his story also became an international television sensation. in the mid seventies.

Slaves to America were brought from Africa that some people called the Dark Continent in the eighteenth century. So the story of Kunta Kinte the character in Alex Haley’s Roots unfolded the agony and the misery the slaves underwent in the hands of whites in America.

The Africans who were brought to the United States of America in large numbers from Africa were in chains and they were made to stand in the markets for sale in America virtually like animals.

Therefore the blood and the sweat shed by the African slaves had laid the foundation in building the present day America.

However despite the abolition of slavery, the blacks struggled for decades for equality ,opportunities and recognition in the US.

Several of them who took the lead role in fighting for their rights had to pay a heavy price. The American Civil Rights Movement headed by Dr. Martin Luther King highlighted the long struggle the blacks had carried out for gaining equal rights. Dr. King who was a great admirer of Mahathma Gandhi and believed in non-violence in leading his Civil Rights Movement had dreamt that one day the blacks and the whites will live equally and enjoy the same rights and privileges in the USA. But the `black American Gandhian’ did not live long to see his dream becoming a reality. He was also assassinated like Gandhi by the chauvinists opposed to him. However it’s nearly four decades after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, his dream has now become a reality with Barack Obama with his roots in Africa becoming the first Afro-American President of the United States of America on January 20, 2009.

Born to a black father who had his origins in Kenya with Islamic background and to a white mother, Barack Obama also had his ups and downs as a teenager in his personal life. However he was well guided during his turbulent days by his maternal grandparents. His grandma Madelyn Dunham passed away very recently when Obama’s victory was ensured in November last year.

So, Barack Obama will swear in as the first Afro-American President of the USA on January 20, in the backdrop of the lifestyles of present day generation of the slaves who had been brought centuries ago from Africa to America changed drastically with their magnificent performances in every sphere in the country.

Barack Obama’s victory as the President of the United States of America also highlights the world, now transforming more into a global family with racial, religious and all sorts of petty differences began to fade away significantly.

Unlike his predecessors Barack Obama’s responsibilities as President of the United States of America are expected to be more challenging both in his country as well as internationally. Terrorism remains a big threat to the entire world.

At the end of the presidency of Obama’s predecessor George W.Bush, whole world, the USA in particular experienced the effects of economic recession.

Therefore as the new President of the USA, Obama is expected to face a tough task and it’s not going to be a `cake walk’ for him.

However some of the important decisions including appointing his contender for presidency and the former first lady Hillary Clinton as the Secretary of State of his government has indicated that Obama could be a good leader with greater understanding and flexibility towards the issues he is expected to come across.

But it is too early to make predictions on how best he will handle the issues in the Middle-East with recent escalation of Israel’s attacks in Gaza. During the period of George Bush America hardly made any breakthrough with regard to its Afghanistan and Iraq issues.

Whatever the issues may be,the United States of America and the world at large will be focused towards Washington on January 20, when the nation creates history with Barack Obama, becoming the first black American President with his much awaited inaugural address.

It was four decades ago in 1963 at the end of a mass demonstration for jobs and freedom for blacks, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr made a speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on the USA he dreamt of. He spoke of his desire for a future where blacks and whites among others would co-exist harmoniously as equals.

In his famous Lincoln Memorial Washington speech Dr. Martin Luther King Jr said: “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.”

“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character”.

Therefore with Barack Obama’s entry into White House, King’s dream has become a reality and it could be very well said that his soul will now rest in peace.