Anger and Eloquence: Barack Obama
and Race in America
On March 18, Democratic Presidential
Candidate Barack Obama delivered one of the most important speeches of his
career, possibly just behind the speech he delivered at the 2004
Democratic National Convention that caused a nation of cynics to sit up
and say, “Who’s that guy?”
And in many ways, this speech, delivered at
the Constitution Center in Philadelphia, helped to answer that question.
Barack Obama, in case you hadn’t noticed, is black. It’s an obvious
statement, and yet it’s a significant part of his identity that he had
never truly addressed as part of his campaign, before that Philadelphia
speech. Many Americans (most of them white, it should be added) were
probably just fine with that. They didn’t believe that it was important
for Sen. Obama to speak at length about the color of his skin, secure in
their sincere belief that a black person is just like a white person, only
with a little more pigment.
But Barack Obama did an admirable job of
challenging those beliefs on March 18, effectively tying the opportunity
gap between blacks and whites in America to our history of legalized
discrimination and using his own life story as “the son of a black man
from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas” to connect the color of a
person’s skin to life experiences that ultimately shape a person’s
beliefs, values, and outlook, disproving the notion that underneath,
we’re all the same.
It was an outstanding speech and, to my
mind, Obama’s finest moment in what has become the longest Presidential
primary season in America’s history. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a speech
that Sen. Obama gave willingly; rather, he was forced to address the
issues of race and racism after his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah
Wright, became a hot topic of discussion when excerpts from several of his
sermons were uploaded to YouTube and became instant fixtures during the
24-hour news cycle that preceded Obama’s eloquent and thoughtful
response.
And so, while speaking to America about the
reality of our current racial divide, Sen. Obama took the time to
“condemn” selected comments of his former pastor, calling them
“appalling.” Whether or not Barack Obama was truly appalled or simply
in disagreement with Rev. Wright, I do not know; what is clear to me is
that Obama had no other choice but to denounce these passages with the
strongest possible language if his campaign were to continue. Forgive me
if I sound a tad cynical, but I’ve lived through a few political seasons
and I’ve picked up a few things along the way.
But what I didn’t expect, and what
surprised me, was that Obama maintained that while some of Wright’s
comments might be offensive to himself and others, the anger that fueled
the sermons was both real, and—given the history of the black experience
in America—somewhat justified.
The truth is, we white people usually
don’t like it when black people express anger. We tend to prefer black
people like Sen. Obama, who talk endlessly about “hope” and
“unity” and “change,” never once letting it slip that throughout
the history of this “land of the free,” black people have been
enslaved, discriminated against, and segregated into inferior schools and
neighborhoods without adequate resources or police protection. Even for
those who don’t believe that the history of one generation will
dramatically affect the lives of the next, the more recent events in New
Orleans and Jena, Louisiana are articles of evidence to show us that a
true meritocracy in America is still a goal, not yet a reality.
The way I see it, black people in America
have every right to be angry. Their ancestors were brought to this country
against their will and ever since they have been discriminated against,
often violently, and denied equal access. Any societal gains they have
been afforded were achieved through civil disobedience which was initially
met with billy clubs and prison sentences. And despite the protestations
of well-meaning white people, the fight is not yet over. If I were black
in this country, I know I’d be angry.
I know this because a) I’m gay in this
country, and b) I’m angry. I live in a heterosexist society that rewards
straight people with unearned privileges at my expense. The history of the
GLBT community is filled with blatant injustice, outright hatred, and too
many violent deaths to count or comprehend. Today, laws exist that
separate straight people from gay people, forcing the latter into the role
of second-class citizen. I have faith that these laws will soon be
repealed (“soon” being a relative term, but I hope for it within my
lifetime) through the hard work and dedication of activists and courageous
allies—but I know from looking at other civil rights movements in
America that changing the laws do not change all hearts and minds, and I
know that gay people will face similar obstacles for the next hundred
years or more, just for being born the way they are. And it pisses me off.
One can only imagine how angry I’d be if I had the institutions of
slavery and Jim Crow to reflect on.
So, for what it’s worth: kudos to Sen.
Barack Obama, for holding up a mirror to our idealistic but flawed society
and inviting us to take a look at ourselves, in all our shame and all our
glory. While his speech has received almost universal praise from the
pundits and prognosticators in the national media, the reaction of the
electorate was predictably mixed. It would seem that some of us didn’t
like what we saw in the mirror. But sadly, the truth isn’t always
pretty.
Eric C. Peterson is a diversity educator
and practitioner based in Washington, DC, and a frequent visitor to
Rehoboth Beach. He can be reached at red7eric@aol.com.
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