The Ranger Online

Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: Opinion

Selina O. Affram [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: AccuNet/AP Multimedia Archive Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who is a candidate for president, talks about his life and politics during an interview at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Ill., July 23, 2004.

Media Credit: AccuNet/AP Multimedia Archive Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, right, meets with Liberian traditional tribal women at the Presidential Mansion in Monrovia, Liberia, Jan. 17, 2006.

Since the start of our nation, our founding fathers and the presidents of the United States have been predominantly white Protestant males, with few exceptions.

We are now living in the 21st century, where there have been so many changes in the way Americans view societal issues.

There are women in government who hold high positions within influential organizations such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

There are women leaders in other nations across the world.

In Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was the first woman president in Africa.

In Ireland, there have been two women presidents: Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese.

Minorities have been given more opportunities to achieve success in life through career endeavors with less discrimination.

This leads to the year 2008, in which there is a white woman and a black man running in the Democratic presidential race.

Are we ready for a black president? Are we ready for a female president?

There are strong black leaders within our society who have made influential imprints in our lives such as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Barbara Jordan, Shirley Chisholm and Jesse Louis Jackson Sr., just to name a few.

So why not embrace a black man with strong credentials, passion and a will to work for the American people as the next person to take the seat in the White House as our commander-in-chief?

Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate for 2008, is a U.S. senator from Illinois.

During his years in the Senate, he created programs to help families, such as the state Earned Income Credit, expansion of early childhood education and enlisted support of law enforcement to survey interrogations and confessions in capital cases.

He also worked on committees with the goal of enacting change and creating more opportunities in the lives of U.S. citizens.

He is an educated individual who received his education from Columbia University and Harvard Law School where he became the first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review.

In 1972, Shirley Chisholm was the first Democratic African-American woman to run for president of the United States.

She was also the first African-American woman elected to Congress.

Chisholm said she ran for president "in spite of hopeless odds to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status."

Jackson was an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister.

In 1984 and 1988 he served as a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. In his quest for the presidency he was the second African-American nominee and took third place behind Sen. Gary Hart and former Vice President Walter Mondale. In his second nomination, Jackson obtained 6.9 million votes and won seven primaries and four caucuses, but because of family issues his campaign ended unsuccessfully.

Barbara Jordan made Texas history as the first African-American congresswomen to be elected from the South. She was also the first African-American Texas state senator.

In the midst of change, many Americans still hang on to tradition.

The need for someone being qualified, well-educated and prepared for the job of president is more important than race.

The leaders of today and tomorrow should be judged on their success and achievement rather than the color of their skin.

Is America ready for a black president? The future will tell.

It is in the hands of the voters to take a stance and be active in making a decision that could change lives.

Open your heart and mind and accept change as a positive force in your life.

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