Sun 10 Feb 2008
A generation ago, most African-American political candidates pursued elected office as an extension of civil rights activism. Today, a new crop has emerged: post-civil rights, change-chanting candidates who defy conventional racial and political categories.
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is leading the way. As the son of a Kenyan father and a white mother from Kansas opens new territory in race and politics, his success signals a transformation for the black civil rights establishment that came before him.
Other young African-American politicians, less well-known than Obama, are on the same path. From Tennessee to Massachusetts to New Jersey, they have won elections on race-neutral campaigns that emphasized bridging political and ideological divides rather than the social justice activism of the past generation.