I find the discussion on ways to ensure a minority President a little unnecessary. Not because i believe in the infallibility of meritocracy, as many of those who do not understand the concept of majority privilege do (just look at the comments on ST’s articles on the Elected Presidency and you will know what i mean: in fact, if you’re a minority, you would be spooked), but for a different reason.
The reason why we even talk about having a minority President in the first place is presumably to ensure racial equality. But what is the point of having a minority President when so many racial issues remain unresolved, so many stereotypes exist, and so many people try to condone racism in all sorts of creative ways?
Bear in mind the Elected Presidency is a position that does not really wield too much influence, so having a minority there would not change too many things; in fact, the converse could very well happen. The image of a minority President may give the impression that all is well on the racial front, and people may rest on their laurels. Denial of discrimination and racism would perhaps then be more frequent.
There is not much sense speaking about how to ensure a minority President, when there are influential people who suggest fencing off foreign workers (without getting rebuked by a single parliamentarian, not even the opposition), when some still believe members of a particular race are lazy or stupid, when people are being slandered simply because of the God they worship, when others refuse to acknowledge genuine misgivings, and when people are judged by how they look rather than what they do.
Let us not put the cart before the horse.
Source: Walid J. Abdullah
