The End of Obama-Magic and the Return of Politics as Usual

by Ed Whitfield

May. 1, 2008

[The following statement represents personal views from one individual and in no way represents the endorsement of any political candidate or initiative by the Beloved Community Center of Greensboro. This article is printed to promote ongoing dialogue about the opportunity and responsibility for promoting an equitable and democratic society for all.]

Barack Obama's Winston Salem denunciation of Reverend Jeremiah Wright for the audacity of telling the truth eases us back down to the familiar from that magic world where one might be half-black and half-white and where the widening gap between America's increasingly wealthy and the dispossessed darker inner cities is celebrated as progress to be built upon.

Barack Obama calls upon his mixed parentage and success in spite of an unstable youth as signs of new possibilities growing from the uniqueness of the American experience as though the rainbow hues of our black community resulting from centuries of racial mixing were not neatly incorporated into the existing bipolar/black and white structure of privilege and power on the one hand with poverty and near powerlessness on the other.

While he is free to define himself anyway he chooses Obama needs to understand that being half-black and half-white in America is being non-white -- black. . This has never been an insurmountable limitation, but is a reality that many of us have accepted and even asserted in the affirmation of our full humanity. Within this is a recognition even though it does not contain an endorsement of the irrational race construct that lies at the core, which is to say it is endemic to America's origin and development. This racial construct persists because it has not yet outgrown its utility to the descendants of its original authors.

Despite what Obama says, the truth does not give comfort to those who prey on hate. They are disturbed and exposed by it. That is why they must attack its form without dealing with its content. But the truth also discomforts those who would gloss over deep divisions and great pain in the name of simply moving forward to deal with the real issues. These issues are real. We have to tarry here. We cannot just move on past all that is stuck in the mire of racist history. These truths are embedded deeply in the whole story which contains other issues and people as well.

With Obama's seemingly heart-felt denunciation of truth's messenger, we are all evicted from the magical kingdom of disembodied, dancing hope. For us, our real hope comes from organizing renewed and expanded efforts to speak truth to power and stand for justice. Barack Obama is an articulate and brilliant man, but many of us have felt his strength more to be in a significant symbolism than in substance. We can only hope that he is not crushed by this experience and continues to work toward a new vision, but for now, even though there are no champions among his leading opponents, we are back at politics as usual.

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