Barack Obama, by all accounts, is a man devoid of any prejudice towards white people as a group and Jews in particular. Yet, in the final debate between him and Hillary Clinton, MSNBC moderator Tim Russert thought it was vital to ask whether Obama rejected support from Louis Farrakhan, the well-known, but no longer influential, black leader of The Nation of Islam.
Obama gave a masterful reply, but it's foolish to think the sub-text behind the question, is Obama "white" on the inside regardless of his skin color, will go away. The call for Obama to "denounce" or "reject" Farrakhan, a man who long ago expressed anti-Semitic sentiments which he claims he now rejects, but has also been a vociferous critic of self-destructive attitudes and behavior within the black underclass, will surely be followed by further demands to denounce Jeremiah Wright, a black Chicago pastor who Obama has long been close to. No doubt Al Sharpton will also have to be pilloried. Eventually Obama may have to repudiate Barry Bonds and OJ.
It is very difficult for a black to become an honorary white person, like Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, or Colin Powell in American society, and Obama cannot become President without achieving such a status.
Whites, especially those aspiring to high office, never have to pass a remotely equivalent reverse test. True, today they can, as George Allen learned in Virginia after his infamous "macaca" statement, have their political careers abruptly end if they exhibit overt racist sentiments. But they are not routinely asked to denounce not only the racist expressions but the "support" (something in the Farrakhan case which merely amounted to a hope Obama would win) of prejudiced people, and never the person himself.
Will John McCain have to refuse to appear on the resurrected Imus show or denounce any support Imus, a long-time McCain fan, is likely to express? Although Rush Limbaugh and other nationally prominent right-wing talk show hosts have been highly critical of McCain, will he be asked to eschew any support they might eventually give him because of their own prejudicial comments over the years?
Interestingly, in the days following the Obama-Farrakhan story, McCain has explicitly rejected the need to repudiate John Hagee, an evangelical television minister who has expressed anti-Catholic prejudices along with other inflammatory views by simply saying that he doesn't have to agree with all the beliefs of supporters in order to accept their endorsement. Obama cannot get away with that reasonable stance even though he never sought Farrakhan's endorsement while McCain actively courted Hagee and appeared with him on stage.
Besides the issue of sub-text in Russert's query and the double-standard black political candidates have to face it's worth considering an additional issue: is there a difference between prejudices held by whites towards blacks and what is commonly called reverse racism.
Looking at public opinion polls conducted over many decades there is no question that prejudice towards blacks has precipitously declined in the United States. Still, in 1999 an ABC television poll revealed that 32 percent of whites admitted to at least some racist feelings. Forty percent of blacks said they had at least some of the same feelings about whites. A Zogby poll in 2007 indicated about a third of the American people harbor such feelings, but there was no racial breakdown of the results.
To say there is some level of prejudice held by a significant proportion of whites and blacks (and, of course, all other groups) is not to say that these feelings are deep or, more importantly, desire to actively discriminate or do harm is common. In fact, while an Anti-Defamation League survey in the early 1990s found black anti-Semitism of any magnitude substantially higher than among whites, only 12 percent were deemed to have high levels of anti-Semitism based on attitudes. Moreover, some blacks challenged the overall study by saying that certain items used to measure anti-Semitism (e.g., a belief that Jews like to stick together) might well have been said out of admiration for the perceived community-mindedness of Jews, not as a criticism.
But to say that black prejudice against whites (including the sub-category of anti-Semitism) has the same significance as similar white prejudice (including anti-black feelings by Jews which exists, albeit in lower numbers than among non-Jews) is to ignore completely the issue of power imbalances between the two races in this country.
Even if black antipathy continues to exist in slightly greater numbers than white prejudice blacks have little ability to act on it. They are not often in a position to prevent whites from moving into a neighborhood whites wish to live in, obtain employment, or any other thing of value. Prejudice without the power to act upon it simply becomes muttering to oneself or a fantasy...one likely to be felt more strongly by a people that have suffered from slavery, Jim Crow and still substantial discrimination in employment, housing and a host of other arenas. The need to have Obama denounce this or that black figure simply reflects both lingering white racism and a guilty conscience that wants absolution without expiation. Tim Russert appointed himself the representative of those white voters who seem to require a guarantee that if they vote for Obama all will be both forgiven and forgotten and, above all, no sacrifice of still substantial privileges of white skin will be required.
Postscipt May 9, 2008
The tumult regarding Obama's relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright throughout the nomination process---one that will continue until November in some form---was predictable even if the specific path the controversy took was not. Interestingly, the mainstream print and broadcast media almost completely ignored Wright's low-key interview with Bill Moyers on PBS three days before the Reverend imploded during a Q and A at the National Press Club. Why was this? Was it not newsworthy because Wright's demeanor undecut the pre-existing narrative of him as a bigoted and unpatriotic hater and media narratives,once established, are set in stone. If so, why? Had the Moyers interview been widely discussed and his demonization halted perhaps Wright might have performed a few days later, though he may have had other reasons not to, i.e. anger at Obama for distancing himself from his pastor.
Interestingly, Hillary Clinton periodically tried but failed to tie Obama to Farrakhan. The mass media, had it wished to thwart that effort and call a halt to "guilt by association" tactics could have chosen to show a clip on youtube (Google "Rendell" and "Farrakhan") of her major supporter in Pennsylvania, Governor Ed Rendell. Rendell, who is Jewish and therefore particularly unlikely to be perceived as someone "re-habilitating" Farrakhan, is seen effusively praising him when he was mayor of Philadelphia in 1997, after inviting the minister to the city to help quell a civil disturbance that involved the black community. Rendell noted in his remarks that many of his friends were not pleased that he came to an assembly to laud Farrakhan, but that he had come to realize his positive contributions to the black community and Islam's emphasis on family values.
Despite the efforts of Clinton, the GOP, and mainstream media---with the late aid of Rev. Wright---to derail the Obama campaign, as of this date Obama appears certain to have won the nomination and has an excellent chance to become President. Being black might have helped as well as hurt him in the nomination process---given the overwhelming support he eventually, not initially, garnered in the black community.
But the general election is a different matter. If he weren't black there is little doubt, given the state of the economy, Iraq's continuing nighmare, his youth, looks, intelligence and eloquence, Obama would be a heavy favorite to triumph in November. But with his racial identity and the resultant difficulty finding significant support among older and/or working class whites he might fall short. His opponent, John McCain, may publically denounce efforts to inject race into the campaign, but his allies will find every opportunity to do so. Obama, particularly after his forceful denunciation of Wright, has taken a huge step towards becoming an acceptable black man in white eyes, but his travails are not over.
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