WRIGHT AND RACE

I left the Geraldine Ferraro commments and aftermath sitting on the table because I was bone weary from eating the racial discourse being offered in the the Democratic Presidential primary. Then Pastor Jeremaiah Wright's sermons came to light last week and put race squarely in the face of American's of every ethnicity, religion and political affiliation. I still am beaten up on race in this country, but as this blog also deals, seemingly less these days, with sports and culture, I felt the need to say something about Barack Obama's speech on Wright and race.

Senator Obama's speech was not politician giving a speech; it was a man with a unique view of the racial divide offering reasons for that divide and calling for his countrymen to not "retreat into our individual corners..." but to have an honest discussion about racial anger and resentment amongst the electorate of America. I have never heard a politician of any stripe discuss this issue with such forthrightness.

To be sure Pastor Wright's comments were above and beyond reason at some point. But he is a man that did not arrive at those views by happenstance. Whether some people can deal with those truths are another matter, but if this country is to move forward there must be an understanding why a man of Wright's stature would speak so bitterly, with so much mistrust of his own country. And why many people he ministers to might feel similarly. But the genius of Mr. Obama's speech was his acknowledgement of white resentment toward being tagged as racists for their fears of city crime, or feeling as if they are losing out on something as a result of set-aside's and programs for African-Americans due to a racism they do not feel or participate in.

Now already pundits insult these "uneducated" blue collar whites, who they feel will not be affected by Obama's speech because it was geared toward the educated, the intellectual, the wine drinker. And already there are pundits who say the speech did not answer the question of how Obama could sit in the rows of pews in his church home and not walk away after hearing such comments. Already there are people who would not vote for Obama anyway and have a reason to cover the real reason why they would not or could not vote for him. And already are pundits and I am sure citizens who miss the point of Obama's speech entirely. The point of the speech is not whether it was politically expedient; which it was not. The point of the speech was not to castigate America for it's sins against black Americans, which are historically factual. The point was not simply to explain legitimate resentment of white Americans. The point of the speech was to call Americans to be truthful about those feelings; to understand why those feelings exist; to call Americans to come together and be more than we are separately.

To be sure, questioning the Senator about his association with Wright is valid and necessary. It is a sign of respect for the legiticmacy of Obama's candidacy that the media and pundits are digging into the bone gristle of Obama's message and vision. Obama did not throw away his pastor, his spiritual mentor, despite the calls of many to do just that. And that says something about Obama's character. His ability to lead in the face of adversity. His abilitiy to take discussions to a new level. Whether we like it or not America is one country made up of many parts. For this nation to work as effectively as possible Americans must recognize this truth. Obama's speech was a call to arms against a problem that continues to be a scourge on this country's soul. But who will listen?

The point of Obama's political speech was that it made politics and the gain of politics secondary to social concern. Race in America specifically, but in actuality, the world, has been a political tool used for gain or solid evil. Yesterday in Philadelphia, Obama might have fallen on a sword politically, but raised necessary questions socially. At some point Americans will have to leave behind a desire to hide from the past. At some point America, which has become the one-stop-shop for mindless entertainment and other forms of escapism, will have to address, as adults, the nuances present in Obama's speech. Or else. The 'or else' is the reckoning that will take place on the spirit of the country for ignoring problem areas in its character. Black, white, brown, yellow and red have a stake in self-assessment and constant communication. If not, the 'or else' leads us to harder questions.

If Mr. Jackson from Martin Luther King Blvd., and Ms. Nakumura from Seattle and Mr. O'Connor, immigrant from Ireland and Bill Joe from rural Alamaba or Ms. Hernandez from Southern California or any of the varying combinations inherent only in United States, do not feel enriched by their presence in each other's lives what is there to do in America? It seems the alternative is to become a territory of racial nation states; black people take the north; white Americans take the south; white immigrants control the midwest; Hispanics and Native Americans take the Southwest; Asians rule the northwest and so on and so forth. Wouldn't the better alternative be to get to the bottom of our divisions and find a way to come together? Yes, but that supposes that people are ready to be adults and deal with reality instead of running from it. Unfortunately, in today's American culture that is asking a lot.