Make no mistake, Barack Obama is a skilled politician. On Tuesday in Philadelphia he put those skills to momentous use, turning a sound-bite-driven, racially-charged controversy into a remarkably lucid exploration of the racial challenges America still faces. You need not be an Obama supporter to benefit from them.
Obama’s 37-minute speech was a political necessity. Offensive, incendiary comments made from the pulpit by his former pastor and religious mentor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, had become an issue that threatened to hurt his presidential candidacy. Snippets of Wright’s misguided rants, with sharply racial overtones, were being played again and again on cable television and talk radio, and viewed over and over on the Internet. The unsubtle implication was that Obama sympathized with Wright’s extreme views, despite his clear condemnation of them.
Obama’s response Tuesday went far deeper than a typical political speech, undertaking an honest exploration of one of America’s historically divisive issues. He drew upon his unique perspective as the son of a black father and a white mother who was raised mostly by white relatives, spent some of his youth in Indonesia, and was mentored as a young adult in a black Baptist church. More than most people, Obama understands the roots of our racial divisions. As a viable presidential candidate, he used his platform to start a new national conversation on race, one that aims to foster mutual understanding.
He noted that the effects of the many injustices against black Americans through our history still linger, fueling anger in black communities. He also noted the anger felt by many white Americans who, due to no wrongdoing on their part, saw their opportunities limited by affirmative action policies. His point, that there are understandable reasons that racial resentments persist, represents an opening to be seized in communities across the nation. If only it will be.
Yes, this was a campaign speech, carefully crafted by the man who delivered it to boost his candidacy. But for those open-minded enough to look beyond that fact, it was also a potentially historic gift — a new framework for discussing race in this country, a challenge to look below the surface of skin color and appreciate each other’s humanity.
Below that surface, there is so much more that unites us than the external forces that divide us.
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