The "Race" Debaters

The “Race” Debaters

The topic of Race has come to be the discussion of the hour during the 2008 Democratic Primary for the Party’s Presidential nominee. Early on in this Primary, all parties involved (including the other candidates who have since dropped out, leaving only Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton) took great care in either ignoring or downplaying the significance of Race in this Presidential Primary. It has been uttered more than once that Race “should” not matter when deciding whom one should vote for.
As Barack Obama’s ship began to pick up steam and sailed to victory in State after State, racially tinged cannon balls began to be fired across his ship’s bow in a seeming attempt to slow down this once sail boat sized vessel turned luxury liner now plowing “full steam ahead” towards the Democratic nomination. There’s former President Bill Clinton intimating that South Carolina’s Primary was won by Barack Obama simply because Blacks turned out to vote for him as they had for Jesse Jackson in his earlier bid for the Presidency(1984 & 1988). Then we hear from the Governor of Pennsylvania letting the media know that there are some White voters out here that will not vote for a Black candidate. Geraldine Ferraro however, seemed to fire the shot that dwarfed all those before by referencing that Barack Obama’s Race was a great advantage for him in this Primary season.
There were those who probably labeled Ms. Ferraro a “racist”. There were definitely those who labeled her comments as racist. If we are to look in-depth at her comments, we will find (as with many other comments with racial overtones) that there are “layers” to her comments and that it would be unfair, oversimplified and just plain wrong to simply label them as “racist”.
There was a gentleman who works with me, who in discussing with me this Democratic Primary, divulged to me that while he is a registered Republican, he would like to “see the Black guy win”. There is definitely a percentage of White Americans (How large of a Percentage? I do not know) who are fascinated by the phenomenon of a Black man possibly becoming President of the United States. The fact that this co-worker did not know the platform on which Mr. Obama ran, leads me to believe that he (as well as others) are just intrigued by the prospect of a Black President and how it could represent some sort of “ we told you racism no longer exist, because a Black man was voted President” watershed moment.
However Ms. Ferraro, If simply being a Black man gave you an advantage over White men or women of any color (as you said), Why didn’t we have Presidents Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton(2004) or Alan Keyes(1996/2000 & 2008) ? If White men are at some sort of disadvantage, why has every President to this point been a White man? If being a Black man was such a distinct advantage, why do national print media publications and on air News outlets say that Barack Obama has to “win over” White voters to win this election? Aren’t said voters already on his side because he’s a Black man? There are too many cases of racial discrimination, racial profiling and other negative stereotypes connected to the image of the Black male in the country to “simply” say that him just being a Black man is some “great advantage”. Yes there are those who are going to vote for the phenomenal specter of “The first Black President”, but those are far outnumbered by those who are not only NOT going to vote for him simply because he is Black, but are looking at him through the same racially tinted glasses they have viewed other Black men through and are waiting to see him “prove” that he is NOT like “them”.
One of the main reasons for Mr. Obama’s ascension in this Primary is his ability to connect with the people to which he speaks. His oratory skill set is on par (or better) with any other Presidential candidate in U.S. History. When he proclaims “Yes We Can”, he has a large number of those hearing him believing that “We Can”. To try and reduce his meteoric rise to a simple “he’s lucky to be who he is” reference and not exclaim his uncanny ability to connect with people and to give a voice to their aspirations, likes, dislikes and dreams, is like saying that Michael Angelo was a product of his time and proclaiming his paintings to be “just o.k.”.
Race once again was catapulted to the forefront of this Primary when racially charged excerpts from sermons spoken by Barack Obama’s former Pastor began to surface on the News and internet. Mr. Obama Expressed his points of disagreement on certain race related topics that his former Pastor (Rev. Jeremiah Wright) spoke about. For some however, this public condemnation of certain things said by Rev. Wright by Mr. Obama was not enough. They began to question how he could have been so closely associated with this man in the first place. It’s amazing how Mrs. Clinton’s camp could release insensitive, untrue remarks about Obama’s “so called” connection to Islam. A Governor friend of the Clintons could make a “racially divisive” statement of how some whites would not vote for a Black candidate. Then there are the words of Ms. Ferraro and other associates. But who is questioning the very fact that Mrs. Clinton has ties to “such People”? She distanced herself from them and condemned their comments and that seemed to be satisfactory to most voters. But it was (and is) not that simple for Barack Obama. As this firestorm intensifies, Mr. Obama finds it necessary to address the issue of Race in a speech.
In a speech that was all at once Direct, Inspiring, Condemning, Passionate, Personal and Unifying, Mr. Obama challenged America to talk about and deal with an issue which for far too long we have not wanted to address, RACE. This gives America a great opportunity to address an issue that only seems to surface when an incident of negativity is discussed. Although I am concerned with the circumstances and environment in which this topic of Race arose (to the point of this needed speech) I am definitely glad that it did. It is “Time Out” for Americans to be ambivalent to the issue of Race.

This Article Is Part Of The Perspectives Series

By Jonathan Richardson

Author Of The Thought Provoking Book: The Complicated Life Of The African-American Man(What’s on his mind)