I’m catching up on Obama news that I missed when mostly offline last week and one thing that’s bugging me is the whole “this is the only place this could happen”, “the only place where a member of a minority can become president”. Ahhhh NO. At the very least remember Nelson Mandela who won the first South African election after the end of segregation. One could argue that in a lot of instances women are a “minority” which has also been very badly treated and yet quite a few countries have had women presidents for a while now. Don’t get me wrong: momentous occasion, hell of an accomplishment, etc. But, as always, Americans seem to be forgetting what’s happened elsewhere, thought it was worth a mention.
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But… Blacks in South Africa are the majority. Not that this takes anything away from Mandela’s actions, but it’s not the same situation (I’m sure you’re right and there are other examples, though!). “Minority” doesn’t mean “oppressed”, and in South Africa, it was the majority which was.