By Jenigh Garrett

Despite the election of President-elect Barack Obama, the role of race and the country’s willingness to elect African Americans continues to have a dominant role in the electoral success of African-American candidates.  Ironically, the most recent example centers on the successor to Obama’s now vacant Illinois Senate seat.

Roland Burris

Late last week the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid discussed whether several prominent black elected officials could win an election following an appointment to President-Elect Obama’s vacated U.S. Senate seat. Senator Reid was reportedly concerned that none of the prospective African-American appointees under consideration–who represented Chicago area districts–were electable to the U.S. Senate.  According to the news report, Reid expressed concerns that appointing Illinois State Senator Emil Jones, Congressman Jesse Jackson, or Congressman Danny Davis would make Obama’s Senate seat vulnerable to Republican control in 2010 because the Chicago-area representatives were not electable statewide.

A closer look at the challenge of securing African-American representation in the Senate exposes the historical roots of this phenomenon. Since 1881 only three African Americans have served this country as Senators: Senator Edward Brook, Senator Carol Moseley Braun, and most recently, President-elect Barack Obama. The lack of diversity in the Senate extends to other minority groups as well. With only two Latino and two Asian American members currently serving the United States Senate, even if the appointment of Roland Burris, an African American, is ultimately accepted by the 111th Senate, it does little to overcome the body’s embarrassing and abysmal diversity track record.

Public discussion of whether African Americans are unelectable to a U.S. Senate seat or other prominent statewide positions provides a unique opportunity for America to critically examine racial progress. Even after the historic election of President-Elect Barack Obama, race continues to guide whether African Americans have the opportunity to fully participate in America’s democracy.

The discussion between Senator Reid and Governor Blagojevich brings particular attention to the issue of race when political party control of a legislative body is burgeoning or threatened. But electability determinations are not limited to political party leaders. During party primaries voters may make electability determinations about candidates because of their race. Determinations based on race weaken our democracy, and the United States Senate continues to reflect how much work America has to do when it comes to race and politics.

Just as Obama and others, like Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, have been able to prove the naysayers wrong, more African Americans should be given the chance to compete before they are branded unelectable.  It is only when voters are able to choose representatives at every level of government without concern about the large number of votes cast along racial lines that we will be closer to becoming a more perfect union.

Jenigh Garrett is Assistant Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.