I thought you should have access to this. I know this is being widely passed around but I thought, given our earlier conversations about the "silenced dialogue" and the "culture of power" by Delpit as well as Eric, Laura, and Jill's strategy study demo that raised the question about how you feel about discussing race, I thought it was too timely that Obama gave this major address on race and racial politics. There has been much worthwhile commentary generated by this speech and it's worth watching or reading it, regardless of your political views. My feeling is that this isn't "the same old, same old" but that he stakes out some different territory with this speech. What are your feelings about it?
Here are a few different formats (sorry that I don't know how to make these hotlinks - one of you will have to teach me someday):
The written speech -
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/us/politics/18text-obama.html?em&ex=1206158400&en=8b748f91c621f76e&ei=5087%0A
A short clip from near the end of the speech -
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3510&id=12333-8636010-OCZxNj&t=547
The full link to the video:
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3511&id=12333-8636010-OCZxNj&t=546
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7 comments:
This was an incredible speech. Erudite, passionate, honest, direct, shocking. Obama can't disown his former pastor because he's "family", and he can't disown his white grandmother because she's family. He can only disavow their views and the racial stereotyping, which he indeed says have legitimate reasons to have come into existence. Addressing white privilege, the current and constant economic state of blacks as a direct legacy of slavery, connecting us all to each other in our different kinds of oppression, he really makes it clear how much we are all in it together. I wonder if everyone listening got that message. What does it take to get out of your own skin, or your own head, and embrace this call for a more perfect union, for more empathy with each other? I don't think everyone will get it... But I dare to hope.
I, too, liked the speech. (I voted for Obama in the primary and hope to vote for him again in the general election.) Much of it is like his book, Dreams from my Father, which he wrote long before the presidential race.
Here is an nteresting analysis of the speech and what it needed to accomplish from a website I read a lot, Politico.com. They offer thoughtful reporting from many different points of view.
Bill Richardson's speech endorsing Obama also brings up the issue of race, citing the injustices done to Hispanic-Americans.
One more thing on the speech - this is a most thoughtful analysis from an unlikely source - Peggy Noonan, a conservative journalist and Wall Street Journal columnist who was a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan. I think what really got her was Obama quoting Faulkner.
Hi Anita;
Thanks for the links. I had time to read Peggy Noonan's column. I was glad to read what she had to say and I think that she is right that the speech was aimed directly at satisfying white middle class Republican-leaning voters. I think he succeeded at satisfying them too. Have you come across an analysis written by a black liberal columnist?
I don't like the idea of busing but neither do I like that schools that serve predominantly minority communities are generally not as well equipped as the schools that serve predominantly white communities. Busing drew a line and said, "We are all equal, so provide schools that serve our children equally. Or Else!"
I found Barack Obama’s speech to be an eloquent account of the role race has played and continues to play in American society. As pointed out by Mr. Obama, the issue of race in United States has never been fully worked through. Because of our tendency to dismiss racism as an inevitable consequence of a multiracial society, the specter of racism remains a prominent part of our daily lives, taking the form of achievement, income, and wealth gaps. Mr. Obama is referring to the lingering presence of racism in our society when he quotes William Faulkner: “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” Racism is a pestilence that continues to plague our nation.
An insightful article about Barack Obama’s speech appeared in the March 23rd edition of the New York Times. Entitled What Politicians Say When They Talk About Race, the article analyzes Mr. Obama’s speech within the context of American politics over the past sixty years.
Dear Paul, Thanks for your comment. The speech was very favorably received in the African American community. aHere is a post from black NPR/PBS commentator Tavis Smiley, interviewing black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. Thinking about your comment - and I agree with you that bussing was and is needed -Gates says that he believes the roots of racism are economic - and it seems to me the roots of our unequal educational system are economic also - see Jonathan Kozol's Shame of a Nation.
All the best, Anita
On Anita's comment about economics. Can't help but think about Bacon's Rebellion - something I used to teach my AP History kids about. I particularly liked Howard Zinn's interpretation (any relation to our Jack Zinn?) Read THAT and your understanding of race in America will never be the same again.
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