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Turning the page on race

James Forsyth

Sunday, 27th January 2008

South Carolina has some of the most contentious race relations in the whole United States, the battle flag of the Confederacy still flies on the grounds of the State Capitol. Considering that and how much of an issue race became in the last week of the campaign, it is significant—and perhaps historic—that Obama won a majority among non-black voters under 30. To win an absolute majority,52 percent, in a race that featured a politician with a 100 percent name recognition and a native son is truly impressive and if in this state and following this campaign an African-American candidate could do this it suggests that appeals to racial sentiment will be increasingly ineffective.

This is deeply heartening when you remember that there are people who voted in this primary who had been denied the right to vote because of the colour of their skin previously. On the eve of South Carolina primary I met a 75 year old African-American veteran, Thomas McClarry, who told me that when he was a senior in college, he “went down and tried to register to vote. We had to read and copy a chunk of the Constitution. They failed me because I didn’t dot an i.”

Mr McClarry can reflect on the fact that increasingly non-blacks are prepared to vote for a candidate who would have been barred from voting in South Carolina less than half a century ago. To a large extent, America has overcome.