It's gut check time for white Americans
Obama's in trouble because Wright brings out our biases
April 30, 2008Recommend (123)
BY MARK BROWN Sun-Times Columnist
It's not usually my style to beat a dead horse, but today I can't help myself. Barack Obama and his presidential campaign are at a crossroads, brought there in large part by his old pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
But he's not at the crossroads alone.
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Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown(Who is a white male by the way!)
We're all pretty much right there with him, standing in various corners of the intersection, facing in different directions. Where we go from here in the next few weeks and months could determine our course as a nation for a long time forward.
A lot of whites freaked out by Wright
You can see the situation developing, and it doesn't look pretty from where I sit. Obama is likely going to lose the Indiana presidential primary, giving another huge lift to Hillary Clinton.
And then what?
Is the Democratic party going to take away the nomination that was almost in Obama's grasp, that remains almost in his grasp, mainly because a lot of white people are freaked out by Wright and what they have convinced themselves it means about Obama? That seems to be a growing possibility, which to my mind would be an even bigger disaster for Democrats than John McCain handing Obama his lunch in November.
So at the risk of repeating myself, let me repeat myself:
Barack Obama is not Jeremiah Wright.
We've never heard Obama say any of the things that got Wright in trouble because Obama doesn't believe those things.
No amount of slicing and dicing of old videotapes will make Obama seem scary because he isn't scary.
Being a member of Wright's church doesn't make him a disciple.
There's no secret black agenda that Obama is waiting to promote if he becomes president.
Those who have convinced themselves otherwise are betraying something about themselves.
After Tuesday's column, many people wanted to let me know I missed the point about Obama's association with Wright.
Actually, I think I hit the nail, if not squarely on the head, close enough that my point struck painfully close to home.
The Wright affair has such resonance in this campaign because Wright has shown himself to be the kind of black person that white people don't like. He brings out our prejudices. Yes, I said "our" prejudices.
Part of it is Wright's ignorance and part of it is his arrogance and part of it is that he talks louder than white people would prefer and part of it is that he uses the sing-song cadence they associate with other black ministers they have grown to hate over the years such as Jesse Jackson.
Obama is none of those things (OK, maybe a little arrogant at times), so Wright has been brought to the forefront as a substitute punching bag.
I've seen this happen so many times in politics where black candidates are involved that I've lost track. An opponent has trouble attacking the black candidate, so they find somebody connected to the candidate and attack them. I can't say why this is more prevalent with black politicians unless it's that the black experience has produced more fringe players who can be used for this purpose. Plus, there's always Farrakhan.
Then the opponent starts in with the disavowal game. Will you now disavow this black person who is of some stature in the black community to prove to us that you really aren't one of "those" black people?
And now that Obama has provided the disavowal, left with no choice by Wright's latest display, the reaction is "too little, too late."
Those who have read my columns and seen my picture over the years know me to be a self-professed white liberal.
I know racism when I see it
But as I've also mentioned in the past, I have tasted the poison that is racism, having been fed a steady diet of bigotry as a kid growing up, while also being raised not to have those prejudices. I know firsthand that when you get that prejudice in your system, it doesn't just go away on its own. It's stored away.
In short, I think I know racism when I see it, and the Rev. Wright affair has it in full bloom.
This is a gut check time for white America, and don't give me the "double standard" baloney. If we could ever clean up the white racism, the thing that some of you consider black racism would take care of itself.
If somebody tells me they're against Barack Obama because he's on the wrong side of the issues -- that he doesn't have the right approach to the war in Iraq or that he can't be trusted on taxes and government spending -- I can understand.
But if they tell me they're against Obama because he went to Wright's church, I can see that for what it is.
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