The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.
-- presidential candidate Barack Obama, "A More Perfect Union," delivered in Philadelphia on March 18, 2008 On Sunday, before Barack Obama gave his A More Perfect Union speech, I wrote about what was likely to be addressed regarding Rev Wright's non-productive recorded comments that raised a political ruckus last week, so click over to read my thoughts on that topic.
Obama addressed the impact of what was said -- and how it was said -- in a way that was thoughtful, personal and direct. This was really two speeches though -- one was his response to the political storm over Wright, and the other was distinctively different and spoke to me -- a brave cracking open the door on the larger questions about our country's complex, pathological issues with race.
I knew I wouldn't see the speech live (I was on a panel at Take Back America in DC). I decided that I would avoid reading blogs about the speech, or watch the talking heads do the punditry after the fact. While in the airport waiting on a flight back home to NC, I sat and read the transcript. I didn't watch the video -- I wanted to absorb the message devoid of delivery and presentation. I am writing this still not having read any MSM coverage or blogosphere reaction to the speech.
When I read it I wept. The tears were of sheer relief, particularly because of the above quote.
More below the fold. |
| People who know me well are quite aware that I'm not one prone to great waves of emotion; I'm Ms. Even Keel to most. The emotion was because there I sat, reading elements of wisdom about our desperate need for engagement on the topic of race that I have written about on this blog for years. At times I have almost pleaded with readers to feel safe to open up to discuss the difficult issues of difference -- putting up posts with a dearth of comments because few were willing to put themselves out there.
Sometimes I feel like a tiny, insignificant voice attempting to bridge a Grand Canyon-sized divide. I can't imagine what it felt like for Barack Obama to write and deliver this speech, knowing the audience that would be receiving the message.
Because of that, in Obama's speech I was reading the words of a man who gets it, regardless of the fact that he is a candidate for President of the United States of America that resonate with me on this issue. That he is thisclose to becoming president of this country -- and to risk it all by cracking open this door on a painful area of this country -- is something I thought I would never see. He is giving voice to a healthier view on race relations that needs to be embraced from a stage where it's hard to argue that it is not an issue worth tackling.
Barack Obama is doing incredibly heavy lifting on this issue, and it's certainly was not his initial desire. He personally wanted to steer away the conversations about race and division in this primary cycle, but because of the toxic, misguided words of others, he was left no choice but to take on the mantle.
And yet, he was not afraid to challenge people of all colors in denial that the conversations kept out of polite company need to come out of the closet. All of us need to work through the fear that words will be misunderstood or poorly received. Trust must be built, thicker skin must be developed, and emotional effort must be expended to solve these problems.
Wishing the divide it away doesn't make it happen. For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.
We can do that.
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change. Thank you, thank you, Barack Obama. It had to be said. I am so, so tired of watching our society flounder in silence as the disease of racism sickens us. If this speech does not result in moving us forward on this topic, we are truly lost as a society. "Post-racial" goals will never be reached if one side sees little progress and the other side thinks the problem doesn't exist except in the most egregious cases.
The denial manifests itself in veiled terms that are couched in language that allows alleged plausible deniability in terms of being "racist," defensive reactions of seeing purposeful racism in every action, rating sheer ignorance and implicit bias as equivalent to hanging someone from a noose.
All that said, he knows he is not perfect and neither should anyone else; should Barack Obama be elected he is sure to disappoint many. No candidate can harbor all of the hopes and dreams of so many and be able to deliver in the political system we have in place, full of bottom feeding consultants, backstabbing operatives, and professional DC climbers who will step on anyone and everyone to maintain power and access to power. No one can change all of this disease-ridden infrastructure upon walking into the White House. There are a lot of constituencies nipping at his heels.
Though I am not biracial, but a product of two black parents, I deeply felt what he said here about his grandmother: I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love. You don't have to be white to have internalized the fear of wondering if those young black men walking toward you on the street pose a threat. That doesn't however, mean that an otherwise non-threatening black man in a suit with a briefcase walking toward you should also ratchet up fear. But for some people it does. And you don't have to be a man. I've had to deal with "hailing a cab while black" and "shopping while black" on many occasions. I've been spared the "voting while black" or "driving while black problem" so far. What occurs far more often is that white people I speak with on the phone (vendors, business associates), who do not know me assume I am white and thus are visibly startled when meeting me.
This is the kind of stuff that wears on people of color on a day-to-day basis, but I'd rather put my energies into talking this stuff out than taking my ball and going home, or as Obama referred to, retreating to our corners. I wish others would do the same. But honestly, I've experienced just as much bias from blacks because of the "acting white" syndrome and reverse colorism - that there is some sort of standard light-skinned blacks must meet to prove themselves to be "black enough," an issue Obama raised in the speech.
I'm reminded of how far we have to go by the comments of CNN Headline News' bleater Glenn Beck, who reflects the implicit bias of far more people who just don't articulate it this clumsily. Beck responded by saying "he's very white in many ways," adding, "Gee, can I even say that? Can I even say that without somebody else starting a campaign saying, 'What does he mean, "He's very white?" ' He is. He's very white."
After the interview, Beck attempted to clarify his comments to executive producer and head writer of The Glenn Beck Program, Steve Burguiere, who is known on-air as "Stu." Beck claimed that Obama "is colorless," adding that "as a white guy ... [y]ou don't notice that he is black. So he might as well be white, you know what I mean?" In addition, Beck said: "I guarantee you, there will be blogs today that will have me being a racist because I say that." It's the absurdity of claiming to be colorblind, when in fact the statement is racist because it attributes Obama's positive characteristics to the default value of whiteness, as opposed to blackness. I won't blow this off by saying Beck is a bigot here (he may earn that label because of other statements), so much as ignorant of white privilege and how it manifests itself in what was meant to be a compliment. That there is no self-reflection on why Beck believes "colorlessness" has more to do with diction, dress, cultural neutrality is fascinating as much as it is disturbing.
This perception that has allowed many whites to vote for Obama in spite of the under-discussed racial tensions in this country is what was breached by his association with a fiery pastor that evokes the angry black man. Perhaps a hidden angry black man.
It's all a big mess, isn't it? But I guess we can take some solace in the fact that while not all may agree with all aspects of Obama's speech, people want to see it -- the YouTube of it has had over one million views in 19 hours -- what people will rise to the challenge on the issue of an honest and open discussion about race will be telling.
Are people willing to risk stepping on that third rail, or are they going to work to turn that charge off to make it safe for one another? |
