Please check out this provocative Washington Post essay on Barack Obama’s delicate march toward the Democratic nomination for presidency. Amina Luqman may be right: In many ways, Hillary Clinton has been able to be “more black” than Obama. The reasons why say a lot about where we are today in our nation—and the church—when it comes to negotiating the tricky role of race in our society’s social contract.
More than anything else, I think Luqman’s piece has helped me understand why Obama’s candidacy resonates with me so deeply, even if I don’t agree with all of his positions on the issues. Sure, it has something to do with his bold “post-partisan” vision and his desire to build bridges across our polarized culture. But I think what I really “feel” about Obama is this intricate dance he must do between black and white America in order to stay viable as a presidential candidate. As Luqman, who is African American, writes:
We do the same dance in our workplaces, with our supervisors, our neighbors and our college classmates. In that way we know Obama couldn’t be more like us, he couldn’t be more black.
I know I’m constantly posting about Obama, but I believe his campaign, and his story in general, reveals a lot about the state of race relations in this country—and about some of the things we will need to address on our way to true reconciliation.
Brother,
That was a powerful and insightful article…sounds like Ellison’s Invisible man all over again.
robert
Isn’t it ironic that Sen. Clinton is afforded the ability to be “more black” than Sen. Obama? That is, indeed, the delicate tightrope that basically all educated Black professionals face when we encounter the “system” from within. We work hard to get there and then once we do, we still got to play ‘Stepin’ Fetchit, tap dancing for the massa’!
Sadly, it’s a lie when liberals say they want to accept us for the content of our character. What they really want when they say they want a “colorblind society” is to divest the Black race (and by extension the Native American, the Asian and any others who dare speak out) of all the courage and integrity that creates that “character”.
The author definitely hit it on the head when she spoke of the difficulties Obama faces when he would even attempt to address “our” conerns (i.e injustice):
“Yet we know that with each utterance about injustice, each puff of anger or frustration about racism, we lose the very thing we seek: a viable black candidate. The closer Obama comes to us, the further he would be from winning the nomination and the presidency. ”
I feel for Obama and his difficult highwire act — “Only in America” as Don King would say! What a true irony — only in America would a Black man have this opportunity to rise to the top — or is that really an illusion?
I’m reading Obama’s 2nd book now — If I could just get past some of his rather “unorthodox” thinking ( from a Christian perspective) perhaps I would support him just for the battle he fights for all of us alone.
Grace & Peace
Ed C
[...] recent war of words over racial politics reminded me of a blog entry from 2007. Last summer, I blogged about a Washington Post op-ed piece called “Obama’s Tightrope.” The essay, written by [...]
[...] this delicate dance he’s been forced to perform for the sake of getting elected. I’ve blogged about it again and again and again. It’s a dance that all politicians must do, but [...]