Posted by
Andrews on Thursday, March 20, 2008 2:41:51 PM
I know
I said I was taking a break from my blog, but I realized that there was one thing I wanted to clarify, and, as it was weighing on my mind, I decided to write one last bit before signing off for the weekend.
Earlier,
I wrote that from the Obama campaign we learned, essentially, that white America thinks about race a lot less than many assume, and that black America is much more angry than one would assume. I want to clarify that statement a bit.
I actually do not think most of black America is as angry as Wright and the other militant ministers mentioned in many articles. That sentiment seems to be limited to a small, but vocal, group. For the most part, in my experience, black America, like white America, may think of race form time to time, but largely live their lives without thoughts of race. At least they don't see everything through the lens of race every waking moment, the way some would suggest.
And that is one of my biggest problems with Obama's speech. It suggests that black America is uniformly angry and militant, which excuses Wright's militancy. It makes a convenient excuse for Obama's association with the man, but it is just wrong. The number of blacks who have spoken up to criticize Wright shows that there are many black Americans who do not subscribe to the man's vile doctrines, making a lie of Obama's defense.
In other words, Obama may have found a defense which sounds good, but which has the weakness of being a lie.
---------------------------------------------
ADDENDUM:
In my original post, I wrote "much of black America", and that was not strictly accurate. I think much of black America may accept the words of the militants, thought they themselves don't necessarily agree. The same way that Americans accept the media's description of a bad economy, while saying their own finances are fine, I think many blacks accept the description of an incurably racist America while they themselves experience only isolated instances of racism on the part of a few individuals. In other words, we have a small, hard core group of militants, a large mass who accept the militants' descriptions, even though experience says otherwise, and then another large group who neither share the militants' beliefs nor endorse their statements.
So, when I wrote "much of black America" I actually allowed myself to be misled by the assent of a group which does not necessarily share the beliefs they quietly accept. I would have been better off saying "Much of black America accepts a depiction of American racism painted by a few militant leaders, dwelling on past...". But I don't like so dramatically rewriting posts after they have been read by others, so I will content myself with this update.
---------------------------------------------
And having clarified my earlier statements, I will now start my blogging vacation. See you on Monday.