The Price of Racism & The Lost Opportunity

I must admit that I have been dispirited by the articles appearing in the NY Times in which the President's blackness is in question (most recently, "The Price of a Black President," by Dr. Frederick Harris, a Columbia University professor,  NY Times 10/28).  As a white man,  I do not presume to identify my opinion with any direct experiences with the sinful history of the African American in the United States; I cannot, however, refrain from defending a President who has already suffered too many attacks against his character by whites that he doesn't need to start counting his black detractors as well.

First, I must disagree with the argument that the President has been weak on representing black interests and is responsible for causing too many members of the educated black elite to distance themselves from more direct engagement in civil rights issue in order to align more closely with him.  To make such an assertion at this stage in the campaign is at best bad timing and at worst a complete disregard for the perilous position in which the President finds himself.  Stated simply, Barack Obama was not elected to be the president of a black activist organization, a position at which I have no doubt he would succeed.  As one who represents all Americans and who garnered a good deal of support from white voters, his mission was to make America a better place for all.  I am not saying that this vision was even remotely possible or that it was not in some ways incredulous:  but it remains his job description.

Second, doubts about the President's advocacy of policies that directly improve the lives of people of color is one of semantics, i.e. the policies aren't lacking, they have been promulgated in terms of ALL Americans.    But Dr. Harris seems to be stuck on semantics.  After rattling off the dismal statistics for African Americans (dismal educational statistics an interesting omission), he admits that the President cannot be blamed for any of these facts.  He rightly acknowledges "Republican obstruction" as the culprit.  Dr. Harris wants the black voice without regard for actions.  To that end he quotes from Frederick Douglas that "power concedes nothing without a demand."  Frederick Douglas, however,  was saying this as one seeking to break into the power structure.  This is hardly apropos for the President whose difficulty is not is not how to take but how to use power that he has gained.  If he is to be chastised by black activists and the black elite, then the President is truly in a no win situation-- fighting for causes that improve the lives of citizens from the middle class down (including and perhaps particularly people of color) which, being so anathema to Republicans, he can barely get passed while fending off people of his own race who want him to be more evocative of the plight of blacks in America.   Furthermore to compare Barack Obama with civil rights leaders who answer strictly to their limited black constituency is unfair.  How far does any reasonable person think the President would have gotten if he had used rhetoric and policy to promote his agenda in racial terms.  It is surprising that he got anything accomplished at all.  For example, a populace that in advance of the 2007 election responded to polls that that health care was their most pressing concern, now seem to wonder why so much energy was expended on a matter that was simply not that significant.  And for a black man (not a white man like LBJ advised by a black man like MLK) to have passed into law the very first piece of social legislation since the 1960s alone should confirm Obama as a successful president.  And even then, the Republicans immediately denigrated the Affordable Healthcare Act as Obamacare:  can anyone imagine that they would have been this insulting to a white Democratic President?  They could not even afford him the dignity of the office of President.

Racism is the single most determining factor in this election.  The incredible coagulation of former enemies and strange bedfellows has emerged like some giant teratoma to defeat one black man.  Think of the new Mormevangelicatholic monopoly on spirituality, morality, and decency.  And theirs is a win-win situation.  One has only to stand silently around while white men converse anywhere in suburbia to hear things like, "Anybody but HIM!"  They no longer need to use the N word anyone.  Why do the racists know how dangerous a force Obama can be, but certain intellectuals like Frederick Harris whittle his importance down to the "symbolic exceptionalism of his Presidency."  The groundswell of condemnation for the President among whites can now be couched as simple political dissent.  We know the birth certificate thing, the Muslim thing, his too amiable relationship with an activist preacher.  These have never disappeared; they have simply been mixed with newer insults-- apologies to Muslims, questionable patriotism, underminer of Christian virtues, the movie 2016, and the like.  Consider this:   Barack Obama is well ahead in the polls before the so-called Denver debacle; overnight, the race becomes a dead heat.  To one misdirected NY Times writer Frank Bruni ("Obama's Squandered Advantages," NY Times, 10/28) who dismisses racism and blames the President's apathy, his cool detachment, or whatever you want to call it, it was this debate that cost him.  My question is how a two hour debate can make such an incredible and lasting difference and not simply a temporary bump in the numbers.  The reason is clear:  a majority of white voters 1) had no concern for the stark divergences in the policies and ideologies that separate the two candidates and their respective parties if those who supported the President pre-Denver could jump ship so easily; and 2) they were already intending to jump on the Romney wagon anyway, waiting only for Mitt to demonstrate that his whiteness could cancel out his Mormonism, his only black mark, pun intended.   And the white prevailed.  Was it any wonder that the running mate was someone whiter than Mitt?  Is it coincidence that 90 percent of the Romney Ryan signs are placed on a stark white background.  Even Romney's chief advisor is aptly named Mr. White.

Romney showed his hand early (he has since changed decks several hundred times) when at the RNC and immediately thereafter he made a specious claim that he and so many of his white friends had put so much faith in Barack Obama that it is so gut-wrenchingly difficult now to admit that the dream was not fulfilled.  To make so blatant a lie trivializes the importance of Obama's election for African Americans some of whom may tragically have thought that such a milestone meant the beginning of the end to racism in America.  Is there not racist motivations in trivializing a singular moment in black history?  What Romney did was to slam the lid down on any residue of doubt or any remaining guilt in the national conscience about racial discrimination in politics and upheld the long-standing conviction that if given an opportunity to be President a black man or woman simply could not do the job.  The "black experiment" failed.  The white are ready to get along with their lives.  Racism may now establish itself in the national DNA:  it is coded, prodigiously replicated, and pronounced the new normal.

From a purely self-serving position, I confess that the Barack Obama's first term has re-opened my eyes to how racist a culture America really is.  All whites should feel a sense of shame at how a great portion of the white race has bullied and abused this president, when we all had the chance to embrace this moment, and urge our  white elected officials to work with the new President to accomplish so much.  To ask this, however, is to deny reality.  Pigs with wings cannot fly; one black President does not make America racism-free.  I had forgotten where I came from, the public schools I attended, and the wasteland there to engage thoughts more favorable and comfortable. It still holds true that the unexamined life is not worth living:  the prophet Daniel could well say to me, "You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting."

It is clear to me that our President is exhibiting signs and symptoms of battle fatigue.  There are times when I wouldn't be surprised if he were thinking to himself about just walking away.  FDR and LBJ gained entire Congressional and popular support for almost all of their grand social policies; Obama has been publicly demonized over the only one he has been able to get through Congressional obfuscation and obstructionism.

Worst of all is the possible legacy if the President does not (and maybe if he does) win a second term-- a confirmation that an African American's only means of betterment is in separatism.  For me as a white man, I can only hope to be allowed in the back door-- African America's contribution to American culture is incredible, earned through obstacles, unknown by most whites.  As the rapper Lupe Fiasco has recently written, They gave us scraps, some of it old.  We cooked it up, and called it soul."  For such creatively not to be advanced and integrated into American society is tragic.  The African American has never had his story adequately told in public school system.  Presently the good that comes from black culture is seized upon by white capitalists so that we end up, for example, with professional level college basketball and football teams comprised mostly of black students whose athleticism is exploited without them ever experiencing the opportunity to learn.  Maybe Dr. Harris should be cleaning out his own house in the Ivy League Schools (and universities in general) rather than trying to redecorate the President's.