Obama win allows some to finally feel 'American'

After the Sept. 11 terror attacks, I borrowed a flag that my great uncle had received for his service in the Korean War. I let it wave outside my house. At that moment, I had never felt so wholly American.

But after a while, anti-Muslim sentiments began to grow, the "we are all one" feelings started to deteriorate and the country lapsed back into its normal divisions. Disenchanted, I took my uncle's flag down.

I thought about this recently when I met an older African-American man who told me, almost in passing, that the election of Barack Obama as president made him reconsider his hyphen. He said that although he had been identifying himself as African-American for years, he now was going to drop the hyphen and get rid of the qualifier. From now on, he would simply describe himself as "American."

He said he never believed so many white people would vote for a black man for president. Exit polls showed that Obama won 44 percent of the white vote, more than Democrats John Kerry, Al Gore or Bill Clinton received in their presidential bids. So Obama, who also received an overwhelming percentage of the black vote, as well as large chunks of the Hispanic and Asian votes, won with a true rainbow coalition.

During the last several months, as I've moderated the "Exploring Race" forum (at chicagotribune.com/race), hardly a week has passed when I haven't heard from readers (mostly whites but some blacks) who believe that race relations would move leaps and bounds if hyphenated Americans dropped their hyphens. It's not that easy, but I understand why some feel the qualifiers create divisions.

I believe they are an expression of what makes this country great: the richness of its diverse cultures. But, for some, the hyphen is also an expression of that feeling of not being fully a part of a whole, of having a foot in both worlds and sometimes not fitting neatly into either.

Last week on the forum, I asked whether it was time for hyphenated Americans to give up their hyphens. I was particularly moved by a few readers who don't understand why some people of color52;African-Americans in particular52;after all these years still don't feel wholly American.

It's not that difficult to love this country and still feel that way. That feeling goes beyond the country's history of slavery.

On Saturday, for example, The Associated Press reported that the presidential election had spurred some hate crimes, proving that not everybody shared those warm and fuzzy feelings about race after Nov. 4.

This is our America. It's the imperfect union Obama spoke about during his Philadelphia speech on race in March.

Race here is complex for so many reasons. Complex because of the wounds52;too many of them self-inflicted52;facing some within the black community. Complex because although many whites had no problem electing a man of color as president, there were others who voted for Obama who wouldn't want to live next door to him or sit next to him in a pew.

The hyphen is not a measure of a person's patriotism or commitment to the country. Neither is whether a person waves a flag or pins it to her lapel.

We are most wholly American when we52;of all races52;try really hard to see and appreciate one another as varied and individual human beings. That was true after Sept. 11. And it's true after Nov. 4.

dtrice@tribune.com.