Future Perspectives - Race relations: Progress is Growing

Posted: Tuesday, May 06, 2008

When asked to sit for a portrait for this story about the future of race relations, State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond asked to be photographed with his special tree, which sits near the Sandy Creek Nature Center.

Thurmond, the youngest of nine children, grew up in a house that once stood nearby this tree, where he would go to meditate.

Thurmond grew up the son of a sharecropper. In 1986, he became the first black elected to the Georgia General Assembly from Clarke County since Reconstruction. He was elected Labor Commissioner in 1998.

To him, the tree represents what's possible over the course of a lifetime. His own experience has left him hopeful that this country will make great strides in race relations over the next two decades.

Here's a portion of our talk with him.

Beth Jones: Do you predict Americans in 20 years will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character?

Michael Thurmond: Clearly progress will continue to be made. Race and ethnicity will be less of a factor, although it will continue to present both challenges and opportunities. America is becoming more and more diverse. That will continue. At the same time, America will continue to grapple with diversification in the workplace.

If Barack Obama wins the presidential election, will it alter the political landscape two decades from now?

I think electing an African-American as president, governor or to the U.S. Senate represents progress for the minority candidate. If either (Hillary Clinton or Obama) are elected, it will. It will say the majority of voters in this country are able to look beyond race and class and gender.

Even my election. That speaks more to the progress that's been made in Georgia by voters than about me. It says voters were able to look beyond my color and consider my qualifications.

Will we have closed the gap in academic achievement between minority students and their white classmates?

I'm not sure there is an achievement gap based on race, but it is a socio-economic challenge. Poor children often don't do as well in school. It's not just race. I always cringe when I hear that.

Will there continue to be a need for affirmative action programs?

Yes, but I think it will be an evolving type of remedy. Class will begin to play a larger role. It won't be whether that person is black or white or red or brown. I think the key to maintaining affirmative action will be that we begin to look at class and not just race. There are poor white kids in Georgia. I meet their parents and they're struggling and poor.

Look at Michael Thurmond. (Affirmative action) works. I got a law degree. It helped me get in (to the University of South Carolina School of Law) but affirmative action did not help me get out. You've got to pass the Georgia bar exam. It gives you an opportunity, but you still have to put in the work to take advantage of it. First you have to have the opportunity.

Will African-Americans continue to fill prisons at a rate disproportionate to their share of the population?

That goes back to education and economics, whether we graduate more young men and women from high school. Clearly, if we provide more young black men with marketable skills, there will be fewer black men in prison. One of the trends you'll see more of will be less punishment and incarceration and more engagement of people who find themselves on the wrong side of the law.

What will be the biggest challenge our country faces with race relations two decades from now?

Our inability to honestly face and address issues of race and class and gender. It's class too. It's how poor blacks are treated, not just by whites but by middle-class African-Americans.

First, we don't acknowledge race and racism exists. It's not abnormal to possess bias. We all do it, including African-Americans. You can't address a problem until you recognize it exists.

In the future do you see our country being able, as Obama put it recently, to be able to "move beyond some of our old racial wounds"?

Progress will continue to be made. I do not believe issues of race and racism will be totally eradicated.

Are you optimistic about the future for minorities in this country?

Of course. You're talking to a guy who grew up on a sharecropper farm. Father couldn't read or write. I come from four generations of sharecroppers. How could I not be optimistic? In one generation, we went from sharecropper to state constitutional officer. I have great faith. There's tens of thousands of Michael Thurmonds. I'm not that unique. There were people who believed in me of all ethnicities and creeds. I believe Georgia is full of people like that, and we'll continue to see progress.

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