At about 11 p.m. Eastern time on November 4, with the announcement that Barack Hussein Obama, the 47-year-old son of a black Kenyan man and a white American woman, had been elected the 44th president of the United States of America, the edifice of impossibility was reduced to ruins and the door of potential was unlocked.

It was at this historic juncture that the bankrupt philosophies of intolerance and exclusion were, more broadly than was previously thought possible, rebuked in favour of solidarity, equality, inclusivity, and social and economic justice.
 

His ambition was intertwined with what many understood to be an abundance of thorny barriers shrouded by a fog of improbability: the Democratic Party nomination against an opponent, Hillary Clinton, who was perceived as unassailable; the viability of a national campaign given the sometimes difficult narrative of U.S. history and the accompanying spectre of race and lack of pedigree, much less a decisive victory — all combined to suggest that victory would be elusive if not impossible.

Theoretically, with a first name that is common in Arabic, a second name that is typically used in Islam, a last name that is similar to that of the most wanted U.S. fugitive, being raised predominantly by a single parent, being African-American, of working class upbringing, of mixed race, and schooled briefly in a Muslim country, president-elect Obama’s campaign ought to have been a political catastrophe. Instead, he was able to turn what was at the outset mistakenly understood by many to be layer after layer of political liabilities, particularly in the post 9/11 era, into a foundation of indispensable assets.

The remarkable events of November 4 were the triumph of African-Americans against centuries of injustice. It is also a victory in which we all can share. This is not because President Obama will repair all of the world’s woes during his tenure. Discrimination and intolerance will not magically fade away as historical elements of a bygone era. Equity will not be ardently utilized by nations as the new social building block. It is more emotional than that.

Within the context of world history, the improbable act of the electing an 
African-American to the highest political office in the world’s most influential nation is a collective victory for all those who have been marginalized and have struggled against historical and systemic oppression: women, working people, newcomers, aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities, gays and lesbians, and in particular, racialized peoples, who have been dealing with the remorseless aftermath of colonialism for centuries. This victory has made many of us a little less jaundiced.

The alteration in the political landscape means more than simply a change of government in the United States. It encompasses a fresh sense of hope centered on possibilities for newcomers and racialized people in the U.S. and across the world. Children from historically oppressed groups in Canada, for instance, will never know a world where they cannot lead or be a meaningful part of the decision making process because of what they look like. The collective global euphoria of this aspect of president-elect Obama’s accomplishment should not be underestimated.

Forty years ago, euphoria also gripped the world as Martin Luther King Jr. counselled equality and challenged our legacy of exclusion. The invaluable changes in the world, in the forty years since the era of King, frame the central themes of social justice and the progress that we have made as a union and a society. However, 40 years is far too long.

As the largest and most progressive private-sector union in the country, UFCW Canada continues to be compelled to act. Demographically, Canada has changed so appreciably that many regions are scarcely recognizable to someone from 1968. These changes, of course, continue to occur. The distinction to be drawn is that the present transformation is occurring much more rapidly than before. By 2017, for instance, more than one in five Canadians will be a racialized person. This statistic does not take into account the escalating numbers of temporary foreign workers entering Canada annually, estimated to be over 200,000 workers in 2007.

The presidency of Barack Hussein Obama has crystallized the fact that the equity we seek internally with regard to organizational representation of our membership, and externally by acting with community partners as the fervent voice for social and economic justice in the community, will not wait another 40 years.

Through progressive innovations like the Community Action Network (CAN), adopted by UFCW Canada Locals 175 & 633, Local 1118, Local 1400, and Local 832, and culturally-sensitive and representative servicing, UFCW Canada is in a healthier position to identify the diverse members, stewards, representatives, and leaders that will fuel our growth in the months and years to come. These sisters and brothers are our foundation of indispensable assets.

It is rapidly becoming evident that our members, and of particular importance, our potential members, are no longer content with the status quo. They are keenly aware that the gauge of equity has now set the sky as its limit. Their enthusiasm articulates a renewed optimism for themselves, the next generation, and our great union.

UFCW Canada and its local unions share that enthusiasm and look forward to the future.

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