Politics
Wanted: A New Narrative for America

America’s stories are reflected by the symbolic use of language in politics. According to Murray Edelman in his seminal book, The Symbolism of Politics, “The employment of language to sanctify action is exactly what makes politics different from other methods of allocating values.” Our American political story, as it pertains to diversity, is binary. The conflict is only between black and white, and all other groups are defined by what side of the line they fall on. America needs an updated narrative that reflects its changing demographics, which is evolving towards greater diversity -both ethnically and culturally.

The limits of America’s binary storyline really hit home for me during the last fours years, from the election to the recent re-election of Barack Obama.  Any discussion about President Obama’s “race” never addressed his layered backstory.  Many stories either revolved around his blackness or lack of blackness.  The one time there was any discussion about his complex cultural and racial upbringing was during his speech on race in response to the Reverend Wright issue.  Moreover, pundits and journalists tied themselves into knots attempting to describe or explain President Obama’s backstory. I believe it was the lack of a shared linguistic architecture.
When a political body believe their only choices are A or B then we have a zero-sum game, so their actions will reflect that fact (more on this in future writings). We need to change the present narrative to one that reflects our complexity, so we can bend the arc of history towards greater equality and justice for all.