From Lincoln to Obama

The fact that a black man with a name like 'Obama' can be considered to be a serious contender for the presidency of the United States is enough to revive my belief in a pending victory of logical humanism over the irrational evil of bigotry.

This is quite a remarkable achievement for a nation who defaulted on a basic promise to its black citizenry for two centuries. The most remarkable thing about it is that the last president to hail from Mr. Obama’s home state, Illinois, is the one who went to war to free America’s salves about a century and a half ago. Abraham Lincoln sought to correct an evil wrong and give the black citizens of this nation not only their freedom but also their dignity. Yet, a conditional freedom they got and not much dignity for yet another century.

Now, if Barak Obama even comes close to winning the presidency of this country, it would be a wonderful irony: That it is a black man from Illinois who would be destined to run the anchor leg of a long relay marathon against prejudice and injustice – One that his fellow Illinoisan started some 150 years earlier.