Grace Under Fire

I wasn't going to write on this, because I didn't know how to tackle it. However, I spoke with my mom about it today and our conversation was so productive that I decided to at least approach the issue...

The topic that is on the front pages of all the newspapers, in the lead for every newscast, and saturating the AM airwaves right now is the controversy raised by Barack Obama's pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
Rev. Wright recently spoke out about race, politics, and Jesus. His sermon was provocative, to be sure, but it was certainly inflammatory as well. This is not the first time someone has said what Rev. Wright did. The feelings expressed by Rev. Wright have been felt and expressed by many people before him. The things he said are notable, but clearly would not be as newsworthy if he was not so closely affiliated with Barack Obama.
As I noted a few posts ago, the people in candidates' lives are cause for scrutiny. Candidates know this and I respect all who run for office for being willing to be publicly identified with everyone in their lives. This scrutiny is a good thing. The girl and I spoke on the phone about this tonight and she astutely pointed out that we need to be critical of everyone who is involved with the candidates because the candidates are running for one of the most influential offices in the entire world.
This controversy has stirred up a lot of anger and many people are offended. Various polls I've read have shown that people across the political spectrum now view Obama less favorably since hearing Rev. Wright's comments.
Whether or not that sermon makes you angry, it is serving a purpose that I believe is a very good one. For the duration of Democratic primary elections, both Obama's and Clinton's camps have avoided the issue of race. It was the elephant in the room that no one wanted to acknowledge. Neither seemed as though they wanted to risk their campaign on a topic that is still a big hot-button in our culture. Jokes and allusions to the racial element of the Democratic nomination process have been made by various media outlets, but neither candidate has confronted it head-on. Now it's unavoidable.
Decades after Martin Luther King Jr. led the Civil Rights Movement, race is still a major issue in America. Many don't want to acknowledge the role that race and our views of it play in our lives, but I believe that it's undeniable.
I believe that one of the most damaging things that can be done to any civil rights issue (race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) is to say that it's no longer an issue. Denying the impact that assumptions about race have only serves to perpetuate the biases that we all have. Race relations need to remain part of an open dialog in this country. Racism and prejudice didn't end when this country stopped legislating it. If you don't believe me, read the dozens of message boards online that refer to Rev. Wright, his sermon, and Barack Obama.
I was deeply saddened, although not surprised, to read lots of messages that include declarative statements about people of certain races. Lots and lots of people are asserting sentiments akin to "Black people are such and such" or "White people are such and such" or "see, this shows that Blacks are all alike" etc, etc.
I've long since come to realize that we're all largely products of our environments and as a result, we all form certain prejudices along the way. Many of us hear "liberal" or "conservative" or "Jew" or "Muslim" or "male" or "female" or "gay" or "lesbian" or a hundred other terms and we have an initial emotional reaction to them. The same is true for racial labels, in this case "Black" and "White."
That we have a reaction to these things is not the issue so much as the effect they have on our behavior is. I have prejudices -- what matters is how much weight I lend them in regards to what I say and do. The second I let racial biases or stereotypes affect the way I talk or behave is the second that I've messed up.
All of these biases lay somewhere below our surfaces. Some of us have them buried closer to the exterior than others and all it takes is an incident like this to uncover them. If we say that we don't have any prejudices, I think we are lying to ourselves and seriously hindering the effort to reduce the impact that arbitrary things like race have on our interactions with each other.
As any politician in his position would, Barack responded to questions about Rev. Wright and the peripheral issues that surround him. His speech was elegant and beautiful. It was honest. It was human.
I will not attempt to sum it up for you, but I have posted the transcript and video below. I hope you all enjoy and I would love to hear your thoughts on the speech and/or anything else discussed in this post!

Here is the transcript of Obama's Speech.

Here is the video.

I've also included an article about the speech from the New York Times