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A Big First Step in Addressing Race

Barack Obama

Contributed by Brian Krenz on 3/23/08

Barack Obama sees the big picture. He sees the big picture, and then he explains it to everyone—even when that picture is consumed by difficult issues like race. That’s exactly what the Illinois senator did Tuesday morning, when he gave one of the broadest, most eloquent speeches on race ever. The speech was prompted in large part because of the recent reappearance of offensive comments made some years ago by Obama’s former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, into the campaign coverage on YouTube and TV. Rev. Wright overstepped the bounds of reasonable discourse on a few occasions when he said things like, “The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God bless America’? No, no, no. Not God bless America. God damn America.”

Obama responded Tuesday that Wright had used “incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.” And he again spoke of his condemnation of Wright’s comments. But Obama did not focus solely on these remarks—he used the opportunity to expand the discourse to include the significant and under-discussed presence of racial tension in America.

The crowd at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia was small—a departure from what we are accustomed to seeing from the senator. But the speech itself proved to be spectacularly powerful—even surpassing his past orations (Chris Matthews went so far as to call it the best speech on race in the nation’s history). Obama did what few politicians today would dare think of when he addressed, head-on, such a difficult and controversial issue.

Almost out of the gate Obama brought up “this nation’s original sin of slavery”—risky, but in the context of the whole speech, the approach was ultimately perfect. Actually the poetically jarring nature of beginning with the ultimate racial injustice fit perfectly with the jarring nature (and utter massiveness) of the whole speech. And so the speech went, from slavery to the OJ trial and everywhere in-between, while remaining simultaneously inoffensive to all. What really made the speech appealing was that it was not just a defense of African Americans or a cry for greater appreciation of black struggles; it was a profound recognition of the struggles of all races—of all people. Obama did highlight the turmoil in the black community, but he also highlighted whites’ frustration with affirmative action. He covered all sides of an issue that it is nearly impossible to cover all sides of. He even brought up the sometimes insensitive nature of his own grandmother, who he said admitted to “her fear of black men who passed by her on the street.” And with all the controversy, he somehow managed to bring things back to the idea that the United States is a great nation—and that it can be a greater one—“America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope—the audacity to hope—for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.” It was a speech of unity. It was a speech that only a person from a mixed-race background could give.

The importance of his doing this is difficult to overstate. We have, for many years now, tried to pretend that race no longer matters. The Civil Rights movement has come and gone, and many of the racial injustices that plagued this nation for generations have been resolved. Slavery is no more, blacks have the right to vote, segregation is not legal. And in recent years, it almost feels like we, as one collective society, decided that that was enough, that we can ignore the many lingering issues about race in this nation. Sure problems come up—the Jena Six and Don Imus’ rant just in the last year—and they are examined. Apologies are made, reconciliations attempted. But the empowering struggle that reached a climax in the 1960s is nowhere to be found.

This would be fine if the undercurrent of racial tension did not exist. If all the issues of the past had truly been resolved, there would be no need to discuss race and racism. But we all know this is not the case, which brings me back to Obama’s speech. With that one speech, Obama reinvigorated this much needed debate. He took an honest approach to addressing a difficult topic. And he deserves enormous credit for it. What other candidate in recent memory attacked such a tenuous subject so directly? Certainly Sens. Clinton and McCain have never been so forthright.

But this speech was not about Clinton or McCain. It was not about Obama’s campaign or the presidency. It wasn’t even really about Rev. Wright. It was an attempt to once again begin a difficult healing process. It was an appeal to our better nature. It was Obama’s first significant shot at making this nation better. Where we go from here is up to us. But no matter what happens with the election, we must not forget this moment. It is one of those rare times when the divisiveness of politics is put aside and the nation is called upon to make a change. Even if Obama is not the one to continue to lead that change, we must make sure we don’t abandon it. The issues Sen. Obama spoke about are more prominent and are causing a more precarious national disposition than any of us wants to admit. But we need to admit it, so that we can deal with these fiery issues. Obama has given us the discussion. Now we need to finally have it.