We have strayed so far away from the years of the implicit “gentleman’s agreement”, when acknowledging the race of your opponent was the impolite thing to do. Rather than relying on dog whistles to carry Proud Boys and gullible suburbanites to the ballot box, we are now seeing blatant racism that would make even Lee Atwater’s head spin. Now we see Republican Vice-Presidential picks openly lamenting about curry and fried chicken wafting through the White House. Some of us have never seen race at the forefront quite like this before. When else have we seen candidates questioning the merits of his opponents’ race and ethnic presentation?

The prospect of Vice President Kamala Harris being promoted to President Kamala Harris would give America its first Black and Asian woman President. So close to a bingo on a minority bingo card, all wrapped up in one person. This is a complete 180 from the tradition of white, male, upper middle-class presidents of yonder, with the most diversity being two pearl-clutching Catholic presidents, and Barack (emphasis on the Hussein) Obama.

Sure, there were people unhappy with the prospects of a president (slightly) darker than a brown paper bag. When Obama was selected as the Democratic nominee, the historical context of his candidacy sparked hope among many and unimaginable fear among others. This led to a tense 8 years that ended in what some experts describe as a punishment for wokeness in the way of President Donald trump. The four years Trump spent in the White House, and the nine years he has been campaigning for the job, could definitely be characterized as retribution for allowing democracy to produce a Black first family.

But when the birther rhetoric began, there was a noticeable shift in how race was discussed in politics. It now became acceptable to claim a presidential candidate was not born in the United States, and even in the face of proof with a birth certificate, nothing could put the race genie in the bottle.

Are things getting weird now? Or have they always been weird

Well yes… and no... but yes. Let me bring you back to 2008, the MCU released Iron Man, the Snuggie is dominating infomercials, and Late Senator John McCain spent his time admonishing his supports from calling President Obama an “Arab” (derogatory). McCain rebutted this false statement by calling President Obama a “decent family man” because obviously being Arab and a good person was mutually exclusive in 2008.

However, let's put this in context, in 2008 America was approximately seven years into the War on Terror as a result of 9/11 and alleged weapons of mass destruction. With the shock of 9/11 and a never-ending war, islamophobia remained ever simmering as the conflicted dragged on. On 9/11, every Brown person in America became a suspected member of Al Qaeda, distrust reaching Cold-War, Red Scare levels of skepticism for Brown people speaking a language without the "General American" accent. As such, this led to candidate Obama being judged even more harshly for his race, given his proximity to perceived Muslim characteristics such as his skin color and nontraditional name.

Despite how messy this was, this is a far cry from the politics of today. Where we had a candidate willing to dismiss racism, we have candidates fully rubbing elbows with white supremist.

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But what happened to integrity and decency? Will we ever get it back?

What a great question. No, we won’t, because it pretty much never existed. Yes, we heard the story of Senator John McCain defending former President Obama against islamophobia used to warm our hearts and endear us to the opposition. But after that political fairy tale moment, the McCain campaign went on to accuse Obama of playing the “race card” during the election. As if being Black gave Obama an advantage, even though McCain had witnessed for himself people referring to Obama as a terrorist and other slurs. And funnily enough, Obama did not escape 8 years of his presidency racially unscathed, and neither has Vice President Harris.

Race and more specifically, Blackness is almost an earthshattering taboo. In his 2000 Republican Primary against George W. Bush, John McCain was the victim of a smear campaign, alleging he had an illegitimate Black child. This rumor is believed to have cost McCain South Carolina. Demonstrating that the mere thought of a Black family member could cost you the election. Which is a wild thought because a decent amount of president's pre-civil war had many (nonconsensual) illegitimate Black children, however, that is another conversation for a different time. But for what it’s worth, Jimmy McCain, the youngest son of the late John McCain has voiced his support for the Harris-Walz, so not all hope is lost in a future of racial unity across party lines.

It's no secret that the political landscape has changed drastically since 2008.

One of the differences we see today are how Obama and Harris interreact with their ethnic and racial identities. While it was obvious that Obama was a Black man, much more attention has seemingly been given to the fact that Kamala Harris is not immediately identifiable for some (allegedly).

Additionally, where Obama was able to run two “deracialized” campaigns, Harris has not been as lucky. Trying to identify racial identify of Harris and questioning her history in how she identified in previous years has somehow become a topic of conversation. With social media more rampant than in Obama's time and trumpeted by Trump and Maga politicians, Harris has had to vocally and intentionally acknowledge her race. Whereas Obama was able to subtly signal to his unambiguous Blackness.

It's possible another reason we may see this much focus on Harris’ ethnicity and race may be because this would be the first time a presidential nominee does not have at least one white parent. Vice President Harris is the oldest daughter to an Indian Immigrant mother and a Jamaican American father. Contrary to former president Obama who had a Kenyan father and an American born white woman.

Other than being Black, Harris and Obama also share the honorary status of being on the receiving end of “Birther” rhetoric. The Birther conspiracy theory started off as a funny and immature retort trying to undermine former President Obama’s eligibility to be leader of the free world. Coincidently enough, former president Trump was one of the most vocal conspiracist during this time frame. Here he is yet again, at ground zero for yet another controversial stance on an elected official’s race. Honestly, who could possibly be the greatest player of the race card but Donald Trump?

We survived a black president without complete collapse and surly we could again, right?