Barack strikes back
Barack Obama delivered one of the best political/philosophical speeches in history today when he adressed the race issue in the USA (and probably universally so in the world)
Obama
explicitly acknowledged the grievances that can lead to racial
resentment and anger, for blacks and whites alike, while insisting on
the need to overcome such divisions:
"We do not need to
recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do
need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in
the African-American community today can be directly traced to
inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under
the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow...For the men and
women of Reverend Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and
doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness
of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of
white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the
barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is
exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to
make up for a politician's own failings.And occasionally it
finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the
pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in
some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism
that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday
morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it
distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from
squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the
African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring
about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to
simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots,
only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between
the races.In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community.
Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they
have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is
the immigrant experience - as far as they're concerned, no one's handed
them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all
their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or
their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about
their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of
stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as
a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they
are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear
that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job
or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they
themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about
crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds
over time.Like the anger within the black community, these
resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have
helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger
over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition.
Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral
ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire
careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate
discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political
correctness or reverse racism.Just as black anger often proved
counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention
from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate
culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices,
and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special
interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet,
to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as
misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in
legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the
path to understanding..."
