Obama’s Humanity and (Moving Beyond?) Race Politics
Firstly, I’d like to refer everyone to this excellent diavlog. If you have an hour, its one of the best discussions of race I’ve seen or heard. Although both speakers are African Americans and talking about race in America, many of their ideas are also applicable to Britain and Europe.
I’m going to focus on a couple of things. Firstly, why the media’s reaction and interpretation of Obama’s reference to his grandmother is profoundly wrong and secondly whether if Obama can’t transcend post-racial politics, what does it have to say about the nature and future of what I’d loosely term ‘minority politics and activism’.
Reverend Wright’s Political Views
It seems a lot of ‘white’ people are offended that Obama equates his grandmother to Rev. Wright, who is portrayed as a Farrakhan type racist and anti-semite. This shows a complete lack of understanding of african-american grievances and as both McWhorter and Loury agree on, Obama was not equating the two reactions, but demonstrating that to have flaws is human and that you shouldn’t end your relationship with someone you admire and respect, simply because they said things you disagreed with.
This isn’t to say that we should associate ourselves with people no matter how large their flaws. I’m currently reading the brilliant ‘Two Lives’ by Vikram Seth. One of the most complex and fascinating parts of the story of his great aunt who lost her mother and sister in the holocaust, is how she deals with those former friends who tacitly supported the Nazi’s and didn’t provide solace to her family.
Overall, if Jeremiah Wright was running for President, it would be legitimate to claim that his views weren’t part of the mainstream of American politics and were unlikely to be successful. However, nothing Barack Obama has said or done suggests that he is angry or embittered. The fact that he didn’t disown Rev. Wright, as a more cynical politician would have done, points towards his humanity and decency.
It also illustrates how a little contact and interaction between people of different communities can help you get a more nuanced understanding of seemingly irrational views.
Race and Class Politics in Britain and America
Although it may feel like settling for second best, I think McWhorter’s argument that if Obama can’t transcend race politics, than it may be time to abandon the use of race in expressing legitimate grievances. I should point out that although McWhorter was very disappointed with ‘white’ reaction to Obama’s speech, he’s expressed this line of argumentation before when arguing for poverty rather than race based affirmative action in American Universities, in an Edgepiece which is well worth reading.
In fact Obama pointed towards this route in his speech in which he identified white middle and working class families as also having the ‘immigrant’ experience. This may seem a bit excessive, but when income inequality is rising, class boundaries are becoming more solidified and jobs aren’t as secure as they once were, rightly or wrongly, white people may well become resentful of minorities being given preferences over them.
Finally I’d recommend this excellent article on Chapati Mystery, which also brings in religion in order to understand race in America.
Hypereducated and underthoughtful white people–whom, you might have noticed, tend to show up on your television a lot–are generally ignorant of American religion. Many have spent their upper-middle class, devotion-free existences shuttling from suburban McMansion to private prep school to great university to posh media post. They tend to think their experience is shared, if only by aspiration, by everyone else.
When I listened to Jeremiah Wright’s speech, I wondered why Obama distanced himself from his Pastor. I think he should have been honest and either supported his Pastor or been specific about what it was that he disagreed with.
Shariq,
Excellent article and very interesting links. I am not at all convinced that Obama has seen his campaign fail over this issue. Rather, the fact that he rose to the challenge and now owns the debate on race, unlike Clinton or McCain, may, in fact be to his advantage. If there is any justice, it ought to be a positive rather than a negative, I think. His speech was probably the best on any subject that I have heard since the sixties. That is how good it was.
I’ve left a message on Chapati Mystery, be interesting to see if anyone agrees with me.
Thanks Douglas. I started drafting this when it seemed like Obama had taken a big hit in the polls. Right now he seems to have recovered, although republican pundits now have their anti-obama talking points which they are going to stick to till november.
Naturally I agree with your comment on Chapati Mystery. The main arguments against this have been
a) Rev. Wright is an anti-semitic racist who has no value as a human and deserves to be condemned and/or
b) Why did Obama equate his white grandmother to Rev. Wright. There is no ‘moral equivalence’ between the two .
Obama’s humanity? The guy is on record as explicitly supporting US imperialism which has included giving his explicit support to Israel (”our strongest ally”)in an attempt to woo the pro-Israel lobby — to whom he has to go all out to prove himself.
So, how much can his supposedly inspirational and rousing views on Race politics in the US matter when he’s giving his full vocal backing to a racist apartheid state abroad? Most disgustingly this was his response to Israel’s inhuman starvation siege against Gaza:
Funny kind of humanitarian, trying to justify a barbaric form of collective punishment against an already brutalized people. I understand he has to take this pro-Aparthied stance if he stands any chance of being elected, but let’s not pretend the guy’s brimming with compassion and humanity. People should stop falling for this brand of messianic politics: it’s invariably a smokescreen behind which the usual dirty business of realpolitik goes on as usual.
What did Wright say that makes him anti-semitic or a racist?
I’m not sure to be honest. I think its just a right wing talking point. Even in the famous ‘chicken coming home to roost’ speech, he was actually referring to something someone said on Fox.
People have also criticized Wright for saying that the government deliberately spread Aids. This is fair game, but when people of his generation feel they are helpless they are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories.
Its a stretch to say that Obama in any way believes those things or believes in ‘god damn america’ given the opportunities he’s been given.
Re Wright and Aids. If anyone did this to me, or anyone I knew:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Study_of_Untreated_Syphilis_in_the_Negro_Male
I think I’d be pretty twitchy.
I would disagree with the viewpoints of these pundits. The issue is not whether Obama has these extremist views (I don’t believe he does). But his actions in condoning the remarks of Rev. Wright by refusing to denounce him is the real issue. If McCain had a white racist close friend who made similar remarks about blacks, would we tolerate McCain’s continued friendship/association with the guy?
McCain is happy to be endorsed by Rev Hagee, who has things like this to say:
See here:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/02/29/hagee/
It might not constitute friendship but it most certainly does constitute a cozy relationship.
‘Tis McCain that is getting the free ride methinks….
This might be of interest. I’d be surprised if many people here, listening to the whole of what Wright had to say, would find it even controversial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvMbeVQj6Lw
where’s PP’s coverage of the exciting events happening today..as the Olympic torch sails through london with its police protection? ( bunch of pussies..)
the chapati mystery article was far too black and white for me. where are the shades of grey??
i’m tired of hearing about obama and clinton, i wish they’d just get on with it now.
Anas – Btw, are you still a fan of George Galloway?
http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=1277
No, I’ve gone off him.
Your still a fan of Chomsky, Anas?
Sorry that should be: Are you still a fan of chomsky?
Yeah of course I am — Chomsky’s still one of my top three heroes of modern times along with Norman Finkelstein and Reverend Spook. You can’t compare Galloway to Chomsky, not by any stretch of the imagination.
Got that right.
how soon things get back to normal, anas, eh?
hehe, i do enjoy johann hari when he’s having a go at someone i dislike. he can be splendidly splenetic.
i may dislike chomsky, but at least he deserves a measure of respect for the consistency and integrity of his views, albeit i can’t think of a single one of them i actually agree with.
b’shalom
bananabrain
Yeah, bb, but Galloway’s a bit of an easy target these days. It’s not like Hari’s challenging himself attacking him.
How about Martin Luther King Anas?
yeah, I’m still a fan of his, Sunny.