What I heard from Togolese about what Obama's election meant to them.

A poster of Barack sold in Togolese markets
Originally uploaded by parisdelhi

The morning following the election of Barack Obama, I heard two themes in the reactions of Togolese:

1) This election is a lesson in meritocratic democracy and social equality.

2) This election represents the official removal of the glass ceiling that many assumed would always differentiate the place of blacks and the place of whites in the world.

The election certainly proved everything that I had said to Togolese about my experience of America and about what I believed that America was. It was very nice to walk around an American in Africa for that reason and for the reason that my country had just accomplished the feat of making an expression of love and humanity be heard unmuffled. I was proud. I was disappointed, however, that many assumed that I would vote for John McCain but I understand that assumption.

While giving a class in a Togolese middle school on the US election process and on the 2008 campaign, I asked the students who they would vote for. They responded that they would vote for Obama. I asked them why and they caught themselves and we laughed as they scurried to find policy reasons for voting Obama. When asked who I would vote for, I joked with the students that "of course I would vote for John McCain given my race." They understood that I was making the point that race or ethnicity should not determine who one votes for and we had another good laugh.