There's an article in today's LA Times that made me think about some issues in this election that hadn't previously occured to me. Here's a highlight:

Such are the fraught emotions of African Americans, whose up-from-slavery story could culminate Nov. 4 in the election of a black president. Polls show that black voters overwhelmingly support Barack Obama in the presidential race, in many cases for reasons that transcend policy: One popular T-shirt depicts Obama with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. under the banner "A Dream Answered."

But many blacks are also steeling themselves for the heartbreak that will come if a breakthrough does not. Damascus Harris, a school administrator in Chicago, rattled off a litany of past indignities his people have suffered -- from the broken promises that followed slavery to Jim Crow-era voter suppression to racist redlining by banks. They explained, in part, why Harris won't be surprised if Obama loses this election.

"I'm not naive about what our history has been," he said.

That skepticism, born of centuries of experience, is shaping the mood of the black electorate on the eve of this historic election. Even with Obama surging in national polls, the excitement of his black supporters is in many cases tempered by an acute anxiety.

"I've seen lots of moods around rage and progress and all those things," said Andrea Y. Simpson, a political science professor at the University of Richmond who marched with King when she was a girl. "This is the strangest one I've experienced . . . of anticipation, hope, pride -- and fear."

Here's a link to the full article, which is well worth a read:

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-mood19-2008oct19,0,2650411,full.story