Obama as Reparations

22 T I K K U N W W W. T I K K U N . O R G J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 0 8 W ould the election or even the nomination of Barack Obama for presidentoftheUnitedStatesrepresentaformofracialreparations?After all, affirmative action is considered by some a form of reparations and Geraldine Ferraro has suggested Obama is an affirmative action candidate . Nearly everyone agrees that the unprecedented success of his campaign marks a turning point in American race relations. The question is—turning towardswhat? Explanations for Obama’s success have often emphasized his calmness, coolness and lack of anger. MSNBC’s Chris Matthews said, “no history of slavery … all the bad stuff in our history ain’t there with this guy.” Conservative writer Shelby SteelecontendsObamais“abargainerwhomakesaveryspecificdealwithwhites: ‘I will not use America’s horrible history of white racism against you, if you will promisenottousemyraceagainstme.’”Inexchangethebargainergrantsakindof innocenceormoralabsolutionforWhitegoodwillandgenerosity.RushLimbaugh calls him a “magic Negro.” Like many popular culture roles played by Sidney Poitier , Morgan Freeman, Will Smith, Don Cheadle and others, he is there to assuage Whiteguilt.Obamahimselfacknowledgesthatsomeseehiscandidacyas“anexercise in affirmative action” based on “the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racialreconciliationonthecheap.” This apparent reaffirmation of White innocence has led some to question Obama’s“Blackness.”AuthorDebraDickersonhascontended,“Black,inourpoliticalandsocialreality ,meansthosedescendedfromWestAfricanslaves.”ByDickerson ’s logic even those descended from West Indian slaves don’t count. Daily News columnistStanleyCrouchjoinsDickersoninclaimingObamahasnot“livedthelife ofablackAmerican.”Ironically,itwasObama’s2004IllinoisSenateraceopponent, Alan Keyes, who first charged that Obama was not Black enough: ironic because conservativesareconstantlyattackingvictimologyandidentitypolitics. None of those charging Obama with a deficit of Blackness were to be found defending him for his association with the “too Black” Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The association with Rev. Wright was jarring precisely because it challenged the views of those who saw Obama as someone who if not detached from America’s racial past was certainlynotbitterorangryaboutit .Thecognitivedissonancecreatedbythepublicperception of Obama embracing as a family member someone with the views of Rev. Wright forced Obamatoconfrontraceheadon. Obama’sMarch18speechonracewasbothhonestandnuanced.Hedidwhatonewould expect a politician to do in disagreeing with Wright’s most controversial remarks. However, hethenwentbeyondtheconventionalinrefusingtodisownWright.ObamasaidtheChicagominister “helpedintroducemetomyChristianfaith,amanwhospoketomeaboutourobligationstoloveoneanother ,tocareforthesickandliftupthepoor.”Headded,“Icannomore disown him [Wright] than I can disown the black community.” In short, Obama tried to speaktowhatforhimwerethepositivenotionsofBlackness—thegoodstuff. Obama as Reparations by Charles P. Henry An unidentified man is led to a police car in the Watts section of Los Angeles August 13, 1965, after his arrest during a second riotous night. AP PHOTO politics_2.qxd:Politics 6/11/08 12:35 PM Page 22 YetWright’sstatementsalsoforcedObamatorecallthehistorybehindBlackanger. Speaking in Philadelphia about a Constitution that embraced slavery he said: “words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States.” He remembered the protests and struggles in the streets and courts. And he linked a history of legalized discrimination to “the wealth and income gap betweenblackandwhite ,andtheconcentratedpocketsofpovertythatpersistinsomany oftoday’surbanandruralcommunities.” EvenashedefendedWrightandBlackangeringeneral,Obamasoughttoreachout toWhitevoters.HearguedthatthosepersonsofWright’sandFerraro’sgenerationmay have good cause to be bitter and angry. Despite their service to this country they have faced obstacles and limitations imposed on them by others. We can understand them withoutagreeingwiththem. Obama’sspeechisremarkablepreciselybecauseitattemptsthekindofnuanceand understandingsorareinAmericanracialdiscourse.TheUnitedStatesgovernmenthasnever convenedanythingresemblingatruthandreconciliationcommissiontorememberandseek remedyforthewrongscommittedfromthetimeofslaverythroughJimCrowtothepresent. There have been, however, numerous “study” commissions, and one of the most influential studies of American race relations, Gunnar Myrdal’s An American Dilemma (1944), was fundedbytheCarnegieFoundation. Priortotheurbandisordersofthemid-to-late1960s,socialscientistsdidnotseeminterestedinapplyingthenewscienceofsurveyresearchtoBlackpopulations .Thustheangerand bitterness reflected in the violence in Watts, a Los Angeles neighborhood, just days after the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, caught both social scientists and the general public by surprise. What followed was a host of “riot studies” including that of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Kerner Commission) appointed by President LyndonJohnsonin1967.TheKernerCommissionconcluded,after600pages,“thenationis rapidly moving toward two increasingly separate Americas.” Yet the sociologist KennethClarkinhistestimonybeforethecommissionwaspessimisticabouttheoutcome .“Ireadthatreport…ofthe1919riotinChicago,anditisasifIwerereadingthe reportoftheinvestigatingcommitteeoftheHarlemriotof’35,thereportoftheinvestigatingcommitteeontheHarlemriotof ’43,thereportoftheMcConeCommissionon theWattsriot.”Clarkprovedprophetic. Late in his second term, President Bill Clinton sought to take on the challenge of separateAmericasbyappointingapresidentialadvisoryboardonrace.Chairedbythe distinguishedhistorianJohnHopeFranklin,theboardwastoassistthepresidentina yearlong“greatandunprecedentedconversationaboutrace.”Fromthebeginningthe boardwasplaguedbydisagreementswiththeWhiteHouse,complaintsfromconservatives that their views were not welcome and charges from other minority groups that the proceedings were too focused on African American concerns. Although Franklin wanted to take up the issue of reparations, Clinton...