The Whole Race Conversation Vol I
March 18th 2008 15:23
Sorry it’s been a while....
After a long and turbulent period of politics that concerned everything except for the issues our country needs to discuss I think the dust has settled enough for me to lay down my analysis....
After a long and turbulent period of politics that concerned everything except for the issues our country needs to discuss I think the dust has settled enough for me to lay down my analysis....
To put everything into prospective three major events happened to bring this conversation into the spotlight. The first shot was fired was from Geraldine Feraro the former head of Hillary Clintons financial comittee.
Feraro is on record saying that Barack Obama is only where he is at in this political race because of his race.
The second shot was fired by way of youtube video where Barack Obama’s former pastor Jeremiah Wright who was also spiritual leader of his campign spouted the words "God Damn America" on a 30 second sound bite. Finally Barack Obama appeared in front of the American people to bring all of these issues and ultimately this conversation to the forfront. It is my goal to break down my analysis of each of these issues in a fair non partisan, non racial or gender based way as to bring forth the conversation of race as it pertains to our country.
On the first issue concering Feraro I think it is important to note the history of this woman as it pertains to the democratic party.
Feraro is a history maker as the first female to be selected as a Vice Presidential canidate. As a running mate for Walter Mondale her canidacy was a maverick move by the democratic party and a first in our countries history. She still stands as the only female to represent either of the major parties on a national ticket. As a history maker I have a great deal of respect for her and everything she brought to the next generation of female leaders by way of Hillary Clintons campaign.
With that said I took the context of her comments to diminish the strides Barack Obama achieved to end up where he is right now in this election.
As I mentioned in my last blog Hillary Clinton had a path clearly laid out for her long before Barack Obama even considered running for his Illinois Senate seat. In fact her path was being unraveled in the year 2000 while the Clintons were still packing up the White House for the move.
The fact that this race is still being contested, coupled with the fact that Hillary Clinton is the one who now has to prove she can hang in the race has left her campaign scratching their heads over and over again. Geraldine Feraros solution to this equation is the X factor of race.
Barack Obama is the first canidate of color to be seriously considered for national office and he is doing so by taking on one of the most well known names in the political spectrum.
A name the likes of Kennedy, Bush, Clinton or Reagan comes with instant national brand recognition and normally leads to a cruise through primaries and ultimately vicotry in the electorate. To combat this Obama has put together a coalition of new, young, female, male, rich, poor, black, white, brown, republican, democratic and independent voters.
Unlike other "black canidates" in the past like Jesse Jackson that have been mired in civil rights issues or like Alan Keyes who have been to far to the right to receive a black vote based on his lack of understanding on the ground level in the black community. Obama had to fight for every black vote he is receiving from the middle.
Coming into this political race questions of his "blackness" were raised but as he proved himself a winner he began receiving solid support among the African American community. With this support questions began to be raised as to whether he was too black. Even with these questions a rise in the number of white voters in his campaign began to be scrutinized.
In her comments Feraro was referring toObama’s mass appeal and equated the building blocks to that of whitte remorse. White remorse for slavery, white remorse for segragation and white remorse for racist people who will never vote for a black man because of the color of his skin.
I refuse to believe that a canidate that has ran a a political race about Americans rising above party lines, racial divisions and dirty plotics is only resignanting to his supporters based on the color of his skin. To utter these words is diminsihing to what Obamna’s followers are looking for in changing the tone.
The old party line the likes of Feraro that have dealt with sexism, racism, infighting and dirty politics are always going to have a hard time believing that voters can see beyond race or sex by scrutinzing every voter pattern and demographics. Maybe I’m wrong and there is room for this group to see the light but decade after decade of watching the same old canidate use the hook and crook, elect the same white male and throw another jab in their faces hardens scars from the past and clouds their belief for a canidate that pomises hope in change and will deliver it once in office.
The Reverend Jeremiah Wright...
I understand the pain it brings to American’s hearts to hear a man of God make satements such as "God Damn America" and that 9-11 was something that the citizens of New York or Washington DC brought on themselves as Americans. These30 second bytes blazed their ways across youtube and brought this debate full circle. Based on these video clips alone I posted a response from Barack Obama where he rejected and denounced these comments stating that he never personally heard these statements nor was he in the church during these video tapings.
Breaking down this argument with only these two factors is understandably a hard thing to swallow at face value. Some Americans may tie Barack Obama into the extreme element. Some Americans may want to believe that he is of the belief that leaders of the past have brought the pain our country has felt through terrorism on us or that he has a secret agaenda to unite the electorate and push the black muslim agenda once in office to deconstruct the nation of Israel and give Muslims back their rightful land.
Others like myself see a man that was welcomed to faith by a his Pastor who survived the civil rights era, served our militray and still carries deep scars. A man who instilled Christian values to Barack and his family and helped him shape his belief structure. Growing up in the south I attended black churches and heard ,first hand, things that may prove inflammatory if broken down into a sound bite. Things like a damnation of our leaders for not helping out with the AIDS crisis more, things like the drug epidemic in our inner cities while corporations are receiving money breaks to become richer, things like blacks suffering while our nation is fighting over oil, delving into our history of slavery and how the cycle of oppresion along with the mindset of racism on both sides have continued into a downward spiral for black people.
By no means am I agreeing with these statements or condoning them. I am also not agreeing with a man who could Damn a country that has brought so much good around world. One has to agree our country has had it’s dark periods that need to be accounted for along with the it’s greatness. Are the dark periods a reason for hate and damnation of the country as a whole?
I am of the mind to think no....I love this country and what it can become on a grand scale. I love the fact that we have brought down tyranny and freed oppressed people. I am proud that our country has created a system of laws based on equality and the fact that all men are born equal and have the same opportunities. I am also proud of our electoral proscess and tthe fact hat every man or womans voice can be heard.
My hope is that in the future things like funding will not be an issue for canidates and that the American people will drop party lines to allow the voices of third and fourth parties to be hard. My hope is also to see an election that isn’t broken down into blue states and red states and for demographics of gender, race, religion and party lines to become a thing of the past. All the problems in this election can dissolve if the focus is put on issues and to what kind of decision making abilities these canidates will bring to office. For too long the focus of campaigns have been on irrelevant dirt sheets that will not pertain to the job a person will do in office.
I agree issues like associations with someone who is perceived to be damning America need to be addressed but is should not be a focus of a campaign. Maybe with these racial roadblocks in the open we can finally move forward with the issues and can look forward to the conversations of November, our countries future and how our country can move past dirt sheet politics.
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