Obama's New Direct Answer to "Black Enough"
Sat Aug 11, 2007 at 12:47:01 PM PDT
Obama's appearance on Friday at the National Association of Black Journalists sparked one of the most interesting question and answer sessions in a long time, with Obama addressing tensions between the black and hispanic communities, arguing for a broader engagement with Africa, and answering questions about his chances as an African-American candidate. Obama gave his most detailed and thoughtful treatment of the problem of race in America in a long time.
I posted my own unedited transcription of the most interesting sections of the Q and A session on My.BarackObama.com here, and you can also listen to a full audio recording of the event here. This diary is cross-posted at MyDD(where I'm a regular poster).
Calling for a broader engagement with Africa:
On Darfur, he cited instituting a no-fly zone as the bare minimum we can do, along with supporting the UN peacekeeping troops who will be there on the ground, "in preventing increased bloodshed as we try to initiate broader peace-talks between the rebel groups and the government in Khartoum." But he pivoted to knock the ball out of the park by making a much broader point about America's role in Africa:
Last point I would make, we've got problems like this all throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. And we can't wait until the genocide's taking place before we engage Africa. We've got to have an Africa policy that is active, that is involved, that is engaged, that is dealing with the health care infrastructure, that is dealing with the educational infrastructure, that is expanding trade opportunities for African nations and that is holding African nations accountable for rule of law, anti-corruption measures and so forth. Because if we're not a partner with Africa and we just wait until all heck breaks loose, then we're never going to have enough troops.
And keep in mind, as tragic as what happened in Darfur is, we've had millions of people die in the Congo in the last six years. And if you asked the average American, they wouldn't know a thing about it. And that is a consequence of us not being consistently engaged and we've got to understand it's not just a charity or a humanitarian issue, it is also a security issue, because if you've got chaos and anarchy in Africa, terrorists will find a way to exploit that chaos and anarchy, that's where they're going to be based, that's where they're going to recruit and we're going to have increased problems in years to come.
Obama further explored what he imagines he could accomplish for American politics that no other candidate in the field can. I'll address this answer for my first front-page post on MyDD as a candidate blogger on Wednesday, but for the moment I'd like to turn to two questions asked towards the end of the forum: about Obama's chances as an African-American candidate and for the potential to change the racial dynamic in the United States if he became president.
First, a question was asked about what kind of national conversation about race Obama would like to start as president and what impact his election might have on race in America. Obama responded by saying first of all that his election would change the way America looks at itself, focusing on the imagery of his own children playing on the lawn of the White House:
As President, obviously the day I'm inaugurated, the racial dynamics in this country will change to some degree. You've got Michelle as first lady and Malia and Sasha running around on the South Lawn.
That changes how America looks at itself. It changes how white children think about black children, and it changes how black children think about black children.
But then he went on to describe the kind of conversation he would like to see about race in America: a meaningful conversation about the ways we can reduce the effects of racial profiling and address the needs of under-served minority communities, as well as fight inequality in the criminal justice system and the job market.
And I think that there is then an opportunity to have a broader conversation. But I'm more interested in us talking about action instead of us talking about talk. I'm sympathetic to efforts to have a racial conversation in this country, but I find that generally there's a lot of breast-beating and hand-wringing and then not much follow-through.
And so the kind of conversation that I'm interested in having about race is very concrete. Do we have a criminal justice system that is color-blind. If we do not, how do we fix it? And that is a conversation that as president I would like to initiate.
If we know that the rates of drug use are comparable between African-Americans and whites, and yet the arrest record, the conviction, the prison terms --- all that is skewed in one direction --- that's something we should do something about. That violates the essential tenants of what this country was founded on.
I want to have a very specific conversation about the achievement gap, because I know every child can learn, but if we're not investing in early childhood education, if we go to areas of South Carolina that they call the "Corridor of Shame," because school buildings were built right after the civil war and our children are still trying to learning these buildings, that's a concrete conversation we should have.
Finally, Obama was asked a very personal question about where it derives his belief that America is ready for a black president. As a CNN correspondent describes it, a hush fell over the room:
The room fell eerily silent. The barrage of camera shutters tapered off quickly. The cavernous ballroom was standing room only, a stark contrast to Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York, who spoke to a half-filled room.
Previously, as the CNN correspondent pointed out, Obama has answered this question with a joke about trying to catch a cab:
But that was hardly his answer Friday afternoon.
Instead - for the first time in more detail that I've ever seen - Obama took the opportunity to get at what he considers the heart of the matter, actually demanding that black journalists themselves are to blame for missing the point. Skin color, his record in public service, the issues - none of this suggests he's not `black enough' and yet questions over his blackness persist, he put to the crowd of black journalists.
It's "puzzling," he said. Why is this?
But the question was rhetorical. Professor Obama then stepped onto the stage, answering his own question, and suggesting that perhaps the real issue is a basic mistrust in black America of a black candidate.
"What it really does is really lay bare, I think, that we're still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong," he said, adding it's the same sort of suspicion many blacks face when they attend a predominately white Ivy League institution.
And that's when he issued this provocative challenge: Instead of asking Obama if he's black enough, black journalists should dig deeper, and ask why there exists this mistrust in black America of a black man like Obama running for office?
Bottom line: Obama nailed it. The question of his blackness has always been a ridiculous one. And maybe now he won't have to answer it again.
Here is my own transcript of Obama's answer to the question:
I interact with people in very unlikely places --- small farm towns in Iowa or old mill towns in New Hampshire --- and my strong impression is that people will vote for me if they believe that I can help them live out their dreams and achieve their hopes. If I lose this election, I don't believe it'll be because of race. It'll be because the country makes a determination that either Barack's not projecting the kind of vision we want for the country or we don't think he can deliver on the promises he's making.
Does that mean that there are going to be people who don't vote for me because I'm African-American? Absolutely. But I think that is a relatively small percentage of the country, and I think that most of them probably wouldn't vote for me because of my political philosophy anyway. So those aren't votes that I think John Edwards would get, and those aren't votes that Hillary Clinton would get.
But look, this is part of the risk that I'm taking. But it pales in comparison to the risk that folks on the Edmund Petus bridge were taking, it pales in comparison to the risks that abolitionists were taking, their achievements were far more unlikely. And yet they said to themselves that if we act, if we are willing to take risks, then change may come about.
And I'm always humbled by their sacrifice. The worse that happens to me is folks call me some names in the newspapers and I lose, and that's a relatively modest risk.
The one thing that I think has been interesting in the dynamic of the campaign so far is it has said so far more about attitudes within the African-American community than in the larger community. And so, since this is the NABJ, I do want to address that directly. I made a joke at the beginning about this whole question of: Is he black enough? This is a puzzling question. And the fact that it's been perpetrated through our press I think is interesting. We should ask ourselves why that is.
It's not because of my physical appearance, presumably. It's not because of my track record. Because there's nobody in this race who has a stronger track record on the issues that directly pertain to the African-American community.
If there's somebody else out there who has actually passed racial profiling legislation, or actually taken political hits because he voted against crime legislation that created unequal treatment among black and white youth, if there's somebody else out there who has reformed the death penalty or organized in public housing projects, or devoted their entire lives to civil rights, then I could understand why people would ask the question.
So it's not my track record, it's not that I can't give a pretty good speech, from what I heard, I can preach once in a while.
So what it really does lay bare is... I think .... in part, we're still locked in this notion that somehow if you appeal to white folks, then there must be something wrong. And we're still kind of working that through. There is some of that is he keeping it real because he went to Harvard issue, which a lot of you in the audience had to deal with and you'd think that we'd be over that by now.
And part of it has to do with fear --- which is you know what, we don't want to get too excited about the prospects here because we feel like we'll be let down in the end. My attitude is: Let's try. Let's see. Why defeat ourselves ahead of time? Why say we can't do something? Let's take a chance and see if we can.
Now, if there are people here who end up deciding Barack Obama is not the right candidate because he's inexperienced, or I don't like his health care plan, or what have you --- those are perfectly legitimate, because I expect to earn the African-American community's support like I have to earn everybody's support. And I respect that. But it certainly shouldn't be because we're confused about our racial identities. I think that time has passed. It's time to move forward.
The Associated Press also wrote up an article on Obama's remarks, missing completely however the significance of his comments on race and focusing on his defense of his foreign policy.
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