(I began this column on election night in the U.S.; events in Kosovo resulted in publishing another column before this one and deferring its submission until now.)

Tonight, Americans elected Barack Obama as the next President of the United States. Obama, superbly qualified to be one of the best Presidents ever to lead America, happens to be Black. That his race did not disqualify him was a proud moment for America and all its peoples. On election night, as I thought about how far America has come, I also thought about my friends in Kosova, and about their often expressed admiration for America.

 

I grew up in Alabama, in the American South in the 1950s and 1960s, Blacks were not admitted to the state university. They were forced into inferior separate primary and secondary schools. They had to drink from separate water fountains and sit in the back of the bus. The Ku Klux Klan elected governors and I was threatened for criticizing the Klan. America has come a long way since then.

I am a passionate friend of Kosova. In many ways, Kosova’ s struggle against oppression resembles the struggle of Black Americans to move from the world of the Ku Klux Klan to the election of Barack Obama. Like American Blacks, Kosovar Albanians were too long required to sit in the back of the bus and denied access to jobs and education. And now Kosova is free.

Kosovo imitates America in this metaphor, and in so many ways. Kosova is impatient. As my friend Tim Sandusky says, “it seems like Kosova experiences a century of change every five years.”  Kosova is “NewBorn,” with its declaration of independence a little less than a year ago. It has now has a chance to accelerate a process that took American more than a century. That process is replacing ethnic separatism and suspicion with tolerance and respect.

If Kosova wants to be like America, it must embrace a future—maybe a distant future—in which Sladjan Ilic can be elected president of Kosova and a future in which Kosovo Serbs will enthusiastically rally for Hashim Thaçi or Ramush Haradinaj.

Being like America means that everyone has a chance. It means that, if you are in charge, you pick the best, regardless of clan, hometown, or ethnicity. Excluding anyone because of her gender or because of his ethnicity deprives the whole society of his or her talents.

This dream of merit and tolerance—a dream which defines the United States of America today, cannot be realized overnight. It took 150 years or so in America. The embrace of talent does not have to be fully realized now. But it can begin now. It can start with Kosovar Albanian hospitality being extended to Kosovo Serbs as guests in Kosovar Albanian homes. It could be advanced by the organization of sports leagues in which Kosovar Albanians and Kosovo Serbs play on the same teams. It could be dramatized by Kosovar Albanians inviting Cedomir Jovanovic to give a speech in Prishtina or Peja. It can start with Kosovar Albanians accepting literature and art, including my musical, You Took Away My Flag, which feature romance between an Albanian woman and a Kosovo Serb man or between an Albanian man and a Kosovo Serb woman. It involves Kosovo theater directors’ accepting the possibility of a Kosovo Serb co-director or actor giving reality to their dramatic works.

There are important historical differences, of course, between Kosova the imitator and America the model. In America, the Blacks were never the dominant ethnic group; the whites were. So for American whites to elect a Black president is to lift up the traditionally oppressed minority group. In Kosovo, the Serbs, though always a minority, were the dominant group. Kosovar Albanians long were the victims of Serbian racism, elevated into the centerpiece of state policy under Slobodan Milosevic. They have a concrete basis for their fear against a return of Serb domination.

But Kosovar Albanians have the dominant position today; Kosovo’s Serb communities are too small and contain too few people to represent threats. Belgrade and Moscow do not want to see independent Kosova work; they are doing everything they can to frustrate ethnic harmony and integration of Kosovo Serbs into the newborn state. But Belgrade and Moscow should not determine Kosova’s future. The democratic government in Prishtina, and its opposition, should. That future should be one, like America’s, in which every young baby born in Kosovo, male or female, Serb or Albanian, Roma or Turk, should look forward to a life in which his or her fortunes are determined by character and talent, not by payback for past sins of their fathers and mothers.

Kosovo Serbs need to reach out to Kosovar Albanians as well, but those tempted to do so are systematically intimidated by extremists orchestrated by Belgrade. Kosova’s future cannot be crafted by a 5-percent minority; it will be crafted by its 95% majority. Kosovar Albanians should not wait for the Kosovo Serbs to go first; they should honor their value system by taking the initiative.

 

Mr. Perritt is Professor of Law at the Chicago-Kent College of Law. You can find more about his work in Kosovo at operationkosovo.kentlaw.edu.