RACHEL’S CRITIQUE OF OBAMA’S “RACE SPEECH”

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Rachel of Rachel’s Tavern has put up her post on Obama’ speech to America to start the dialogue on race.

Here is the link to Rachel’s post:  http://www.rachelstavern.com/?p=914

Here is an excerpt:

A Few Critiques of the Speech and Reactions to It 

The comment about Obama’s white grandmother has been pulled apart and parsed by pundits, most of whom don’t have a clue about the dynamics of interracial families.  Later, in discussing this speech Obama described his grandmother as the “typical white person” and the same pundits went crazy. These pundits expect people to be racially consistent and they cringe at the idea of whiteness being discussed in any way that is not exceptional¹.  In the pundits’ minds, people can’t change their racial views over time, and they can’t hold contradictory views.  In reality, that’s exactly how people are when it comes to race.  I highly suspect that Obama’s grandmother is typical of most whites in her generation–they grew up with racial segregation both legalized and informal segregation as the norm and didn’t much question it.  Furthermore, intermarriage was illegal in many states during the much of his grandmother’s lifetime.  Although Obama has never spoken about his white grandparents reaction to his parents marriage and his birth, we know from surveys that during the early 1970s the vast majority of whites opposed interracial marriage and this opposition was still very strong even into the 1990s, when whites were asked about a family member intermarrying.  So it would be the least bit surprising if she had negative views of interracial relationships and black people.  It’s pretty clear that, like many white relatives of interracial couples and biracial people, Obama’s grandmother loved him and cared for him, and she held stereotypical views of black men.  That should not be hard to believe because it is the norm in many mixed race families, and in many people in general.
What bothered me about this part of the speech and the subsequent discussion of the racial dynamics of Obama’s family life is that I got the distinct impression that the underlying message Obama and some of his supporters were trying to convey was, “Hey, don’t forget; I’m/he’s white too” or “I’m/he’s not as black as you think I am/he is.”  To me that was a really sad revelation about the current state of racial politics in this country.

What made this worse was when it devolved into a common stereotype of mixed race people that I have discussed in the past (here and in papers I have presented at conferences).  The myth involves the belief that mixed race people are 1) signs of progress and 2) potential saviors who will somehow liberate us from racism because they understand “both worlds.”  On numerous occasions, people have treated Obama in this way.  They have viewed his mixed race heritage as something that bestows him with supernatural abilities, specifically the ability to transcend race and heal old racial wounds.  Having a mixed race family doesn’t not necessarily give an individual a special understanding of race, and being monoracial doesn’t preclude someone from being able to united diverse groups and develop an understanding of what it is like to be from “another race.”

Here is my response to her post:

 

Ann on April 21st, 2008 4:14 am

In reference to the white grandmother quote, I have often wondered if white people (and other racial/ethnic groups as well) would react positively to Obama IF his grandmother had been a black woman. Somehow, I do not think the reaction would be positive. That many whites react more positively to him (and according to some news reports of comments from white males), many consider him more “palatable” BECAUSE he has a white grandmother.

Because of 450 years of devaluation of blackness, whiteness (with all the hells it has caused) is considered normal in this country, even though there has never been anything “normal” about the inhumane brutish mistreatment non-whites have suffered at the hands of whites in all of America’s history.

His white grandmother would be seen as acceptable to millions of whites, as opposed to his having a black grandmother. Which is why I do not consider America as ready for a BLACK FIRST LADY. Black women are devalued by America, especially politically progressive black women who speak the truth of America’s sordid history (Michelle Obama on how she can now have pride in America).

As for IRs, and so-called “mixed-blood” people.

The illogical, insanity that: “The myth involves the belief that mixed race people are 1) signs of progress and 2) potential saviors who will somehow liberate us from racism because they understand “both worlds”, is something that is wretched in its refusing to face up to the history of this country. Mixed-blood people in America started when the first white man set foot on the North American continent. White men have been climbing on top of non-white women in this country/hemisphere for centuries (Red, brown and black women), and race relations are still shit in this hypocrisy of a country. If it were true that crawling between each others legs would end racism, then racism would have been abolished in people’s hearts and minds centuries ago.

But, institutionalized racism is embedded into America, and ALL suffer because of it.

And, no, mixed-blood people are nothing new; mixed-blood people are not “transcending” bridges between races.

There have been many so-called mono-race people (hell, as if such a race of people still live in America with all of the rape-mixing that has occurred) who have been just as much bridges between both races. Black women and men who worked with whites; black women who had close contact with whites, on an individual level, and in various organizations—-so-called mixed-blood people are not some cosmic racial Godsend to build bridges between races. That is one of the biggest lies given concerning mixed-blood people. A lie created by white males to justify their sexualized gendered racism against non-white women through the centuries. They are not a panacea; they are not “saviors”.

Mixed-blood people are NOT the best of both worlds.

Mixed blood people are NOT the worst of both worlds.

They are just human beings who put their pants, dresses, boxer/briefs, shirts, neckties on just like the rest of the world. They kill, steal, lie, cheat, help, hinder, shit, piss, love—and hate—-just like any other human being. They are not to be held up above anyone else; nor are they to be held down as less than anyone else.

In short, they are PEOPLE.

Nothing more; nothing less.

People who acknowledge the humanity of ALL people, are the best of both worlds;

People who treat ALL humans with dignity, with respect, are the best of both worlds;

Men who treat ALL women with consideration, deference, and respect, ARE the best of both worlds.

People have been working to make this the best country in the world, many of those people being what would racially be called “Black”, who have worked much to build bridges across the racial chasm created by white supremacy.

That many black people carry the blood of rapists in their veins (courtesy of the fine, upstanding-black-woman-respecting- white men) has not stopped black Americans from giving their very best to this country.

That black people are tied to whites genetically due to white male hatred of black women, has not stopped black Americans from still loving this country and not giving up on it.

So, no, so-called mixed people are not the salvation of America, anymore than black people are the destruction of America (as white-run America just loves so much to try and portray with racist stereotypical media—news, television, and film).

The past will remain with America until she has the guts to acknowledge her hatred against the race of people who have given her so much: Black people.

But, she will never do that, for her vicious hatred against black people is so deeply entrenched with the worship of WHITE DEATH, which has nearly destroyed this country.

“Do you think they would have been mad if he described her as the “exceptional white person” rather than the “typical white person”?”

MAYBE. But, doubtful.

I would consider her as “exceptional” IF she showed love towards both the African/Kenyan father, as much as she showed towards the mixed grandchild (Obama).

To show hate/animosity towards the black parent, but love towards the mixed grandchild is to me—-schizophrenic. You have a grandchild who is a product of your daughter and your son-n-law. To “split” your mind, and love only the grandchild, while continuing to harbor contempt for the non-white parent is incomprehensible, but, from what I have read of your posts on your relationship Rachel, how some family members responded to your relationship, and other IRs you have posted on, this dichotomy prevails.

I would consider the grandmother “exceptional” IF she showed respect towards the black parent as well as love towards the mixed grandchild.

Her loving the child (after she/he arrives) makes her the “typical white person”: the child has white blood, is not the black/non-white parent; the child is a part of the white son/daughter; therefore, the child would be loved because that child is the GRANDCHILD.

To spurn a grandchild is the ultimate dead-on-the-inside behaviour.

To harbor racist hatreds against black people, but, to love ONE black person, is behaviour that many black people (especially those who hail from the American South) are very familiar with.

That there are whites who can love one black person and hate the whole group/race of black people is not some revelation or surprise to many black people.

This has played itself out millions of times in American history:

-Ben Tillman, racist white politician of the South, who railed against black-white IRs, but had TWO FAMILIES: white family/white wife in the front house, black family/black concubine in a little house in the back—-all the while he fanned the flames of race hatred and race mob lynching against black people.

Many whites give lip sevice to equality towards black people. Balck people are an abstract in the minds of many whites. . . .

. . . .until white son or daughter brings a black fiancee home to “Meet The Parents”.

Then the real thoughts come to the surface.

It is real easy for whites to state on surveys/polls that they can have no fear of IRs, especially IRs that involve a black son-n-law or God forbid, a black daughter-n-law.

It is real easy to speak platitudes about the “brotherhood of man”, blah, blah,blah.

Until it hits TOO close to home.

Then all the poisons that lurk in the mud, finally hatch out.

Ann on April 21st, 2008 4:28 am

“In reference to the white grandmother quote, I have often wondered if white people (and other racial/ethnic groups as well) would react positively to Obama IF his grandmother had been a black woman.”

I do want to add that Obama DOES have a black grandmother—-a black Kenyan grandmother, but, you hear next to nothing of her. (Not to mention practically nothing of Obama’s Asian sister, either.):

“Inside his grandmother’s cinderblock home, framed photos of Obama’s 2006 visit and an earlier one in 1987 lined the walls, alongside a signed election poster from his Senate race. Sarah Hussein Obama, wearing a brightly patterned dress and sandals decorated with shells and beads, sat in a wooden chair in the immaculate living room, waiting for news of her grandson.”

http://kathmanduk2.wordpress.com/2008/01/08/obama-family-in-kenya-watches-us-vote/

But, of course millions of whites would in no way indentify with Sarah Hussein Obama the way they would with Obama’s white “American” grandmother, or his white American mother.

 

Yes, Obama was constrained by race and politics from speaking the hard, harsh facts of the legacy of white supremacy.

But, hey, at least some people out there in America are talking about the race issue. Well. . . .some.

Most are still too cowardly to even say the word race let alone talk about it.

More to come, later.

ANOTHER ‘CRITIQUE’ ON OBAMA’S RACE SPEECH:  http://blogs.indystar.com/intouch/archives/010746.html

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