Politics beyond race!

When I came to the U.S.A. in 1988, I was struck by the ethnic differences among the American nation. Every ethnic group is organized in its own organization, i.e., people of the Polish background have their own organization such as the American Polish Home. Or Black Americans are organized in their organizations, etc. I guess this necessitated from the need of helping each other or not accepting other group as their own. Of course, going back to the slavery, one could see the reason why the people of different colors did not trust or hated each other. I was not aware of this fact until I came and see in this country.
It was different in Germany. Germany has also many different ethnic groups such as Kurds, Turks, Greeks, Croatians, Bosnians, Italians, and Albanians etc. Even though people of the various ethnic groups have had their own associations and churches, they were also organized in organizations beyond the ethnic interest. These organizations were German political parties and professional interest organizations, e.g., unions. At a certain point all these ethnic group have had common interest to voice. These common interests were economic and social problems. For example, one of the hottest problems was job market. Such a problem exceeded the ethnic barriers and brought people together in politically different parties, such as Social Democrats, Conservatives, Green Party, and Communist.
Tonight I listened to a report about the gubernatorial elections in Massachusetts in 2006. The new governor of Massachusetts now is an African American. I listened to speech excerpts. It was quite remarkable that he did not stress the racial issues but almost only economic and social issues. Having a woman opponent and being elected as a black governor in Massachusetts is an enormous victory. I then thought about the differences between him and other black leaders such as Al Sharpton. He tried many times to be elected but did not succeed. Looking at the differences, I thought myself that somehow the new black leaders have entered a new and successful era like in Germany.