I should start by stating the I am a Barack Obama supporter. I find him to be a fresh voice in politics. Since he is some 15 years younger than Clinton, there’s no doubt that he doesn’t have the same kind of government experience, but I’m not sure we need a good legislator in the executive branch. Instead, we need someone with the vision to help guide those legislators in doing what is right for all Americans.
I watched the coverage of his speech last evening in the hotel room. I’m glad he gave it, and I thought he did a good job of trying to at least uncover the tangled threads that are race and religion in America. But as I listened to one commentator who seemed to have difficulty understanding why blacks in America might be angry, the images of the victims of Hurricane Katrina suddenly arose in my mind. Yes, I know, all the victims were not black. But, many were. And, for at least a few weeks, American was confronted with the problems not just of race but of poverty. Unfortunately, as with most stories, this one passed out of the news cycle. But not before I heard the same racist comments from several different people I encountered about the money that the victims were given to at least try to restart their lives. According to them, these poor blacks simply wasted the money and should not have been given it in the first place. Perhaps that commentator should revisit some of the images of that devastating disaster and the anger of blacks might be a bit easier to understand. I was also reminded of the teacher I worked with in a small southern school division. We taught in a school that had, during segregation days, been the black school. On my second or third day at the school, she took the time to tell me how badly it had smelled when they first moved in because of the race of its former occupants. I was stunned into silence, and I couldn’t help but wonder how she managed to deal with her multi-racial classroom.
I am convinced that racism is alive and well in America. I had lunch with a friend on Sunday and we agreed that, while the comment about “damning” American probably went too far, the notion that America is still run by rich white people didn’t seem too far away from the truth. But, as Obama pointed out, his goal is to try to get past that and find ways of bridging the gap between the races in America. Wright is looking backward; Obama is looking forward. And, I want to look forward with him.
The real problem with what Jeremiah Wright said is that it provides fodder for racists like Rush Limbaugh. He and his ilk play on the fear of white people. And, that’s really what this is about, isn’t it? Fear that being white isn’t special any more. It’s the same fear that leads heterosexuals to try to define marriage as between a man and a woman. It’s the same fear the leads fundamentalist ministers to preach about the superiority of men. It’s the fear of people who are different from us.
