James R. Dickenson – Guest Commentator*
Senator Obama’s speech on race in the United States could well be a historic milestone in American politics, ranking with those of Abraham Lincoln–the country cannot remain "half slave, half free"–Lyndon Johnson in urging the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights bills in the 1960s, and John F. Kennedy’s 1960 speech on Catholicism and his presidential candidacy.
Obama properly started with a fact that many Americans don’t realize–that racism is an American "original sin", in his words, which was embedded in some of the compromises that made ratification of the Constitution possible–the "three-fifths" provision that blacks counted only as three-fifths of a human being, which kept them from full human status in the eyes of many whites, but enabled the slave-holding states to at least partially count them toward Congressional representation and the distribution of federal monies to the states. Slavery was so deeply entwined in the economies of the 13 states by the time of the founding that politically it had to be accommodated (this country has been built on cheap labor). That and the implication that slaves were chattel and not human are the reasons racism has been such an intransigent problem in our history.
He obviously is right in insisting that the problem can be mitigated and solved only by the efforts of all Americans–whites, blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asians, everyone–working together in the "long march" toward solving our common problems of economic and educational opportunity, justice, and equality. The first step in this is the realization that racism must be directly addressed, reduced, and ultimately eliminated.
Obama offers his own multiracial and multi-culture background, a white mother from Kansas and black father from Kenya with relatives in several Asian nations, as proof that the dream that "out of many we are truly one" can be realized. One reason for his political success to date is that that diversity has given him a speaking style and demeanor that is reassuring and persuasive to whites, unlike that of many Afro-American political and religious leaders. They embody the hardship, humiliations, and bitterness of coming out of slavery and a Jim Crow Reconstruction, as does Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It’s hard to imagine that there is anyone better in this nation to offer leadership of working together to begin solving our deepest and most difficult problem than Barack Obama.
He is also correct in emphasizing that achieving racial equality is not a zero sum game, in which gains by one group come at the expense of others. This, tragically, is how much of our immigrant assimilation process has worked out–Irish fearing Italian, Polish, and other Eastern Europeans’ competition for jobs, schools, and neighborhoods, all of them fearing and resenting Jews, blacks, Hispanics, and Asians, and so on.
His speech can be historic if his candidacy leads to the dialogue that is necessary to solving racism. Afro-American commentators have noted that black people have a pretty good idea of what whites are thinking and saying but whites don’t have that knowledge of blacks. Rev. Wright’s often incendiary comments come as a profound shock to whites but are a common element of the black subculture; Obama refers to them as the sort of remarks blacks share "in the barbershop and over the kitchen table." These comments reflect the anger and frustration blacks feel about racism and injustice but which largely are muted around whites who as a result believe more progress has been made than blacks do and have experienced shock at Rev. Wright’s anger.
In the past few days black religious and educational leaders have pointed out that Wright’s remarks are common in "black liberation theology" a field of religion that most whites had never heard of until a week ago. In this school’s reading of the Bible when Rev. Wright says, "Not God bless America, God damn America!" it’s not Wright cursing out America, it’s black liberation theology’s reading of the original Hebrew which states that God (or Yahweh) damns or condemns societies and individuals for cruelties and injustices. Both whites and blacks who know Rev. Wright say that despite his occasionally inflammatory rhetoric he does not preach hate, he preaches "hope" and his church offers many support programs for his congregation and neighborhood.
Despite the progress of the past half century we desperately need more dialogue between the races and cultures. Obama is wise to note not only the grievances of blacks but legitimate white fears and frustrations, particularly of more recent immigrants, as well–the zero sum game assumption that their hard-won gains are taken from them by affirmative action, forced busing, and other civil rights initiatives. He also correctly urges blacks and other minorities to embrace the principles of self-help and the assumption that our society can change and improve, that it is not static. And, in using Biblical terms such as being "our brothers’ (and sisters’) keeper" he attempts to unite the religious and secular.
To a considerable extent Obama was forced into this speech by the revelation of Rev. Wright’s rhetoric and the attacks on his campaign. But, if Obama with his impressive oratorical gifts can start the nation on a serious dialogue that recognizes the complexity of our multicultural and multiracial society and face up to the injustices and work that lies ahead his presidential candidacy will prove to be truly historic.
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* James R.(Dick) Dickenson – author, career journalist, former political editor of The Washington Post, student of history – is a friend and correspondent who contributes to Ruminations from time to time. As a self-declared New Deal Democrat, Dick brings to these pages a perspective often missing from my own views on American history and politics. As promised, I have added my reflections on this speech here. gjr
