Obama’s Speech on Race Gets People Talking

By Anastacia Mott Austin

Barack Obama’s speech this week at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia has received widespread attention for its frank attention to the issue of race in America. Reaction from all sides, while varied, seemed to agree that at the very least, it was the most direct and honest address of issue by any Presidential candidate, or President for that matter, in recent history.

For this reason, whether people loved it or hated it, it got them talking. And if national media outlets are any indicator, most people loved it.

"Remarkable," "Amazing," "Groundbreaking," were some of the terms widely used to describe the speech.

The speech was given in reaction to inflammatory comments made by the former pastor of the evangelical church that Obama belonged to. The Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s comments about America’s bringing the 9/11 attacks on itself, and that HIV was purposely being spread from the white to the African-American community, among others, were widely publicized by the media. Obama, a longtime friend of Wright’s, initially distanced himself from the comments, but after receiving criticism that it was not enough, decided to address the issue of race in America head-on.

More than four million people watched the speech live on Tuesday, and the video of the complete, 37-minute speech has been the most-watched clip on Youtube this week.

"If Barack Obama is elected president, his speech on race in America will be remembered as one of the greatest in the country's history," said one editorial at the Hartford, Connecticut Courant.com.

Obama received support from some unlikely sources. Right-wing radio host Bill O’Reilly complimented Obama by saying that America needs to address the race issue. And Mike Hucakbee defended Obama and his decision to face the criticism and respond to it directly. "Obama has handled this about as well as anybody could. I agree, it’s a very historic speech," said Huckabee during an interview on MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" this week. "And he made the point, and I think it's a valid one, that you can't hold the candidate responsible for everything that people around him may say or do."

Obama in his speech said that while he wished to transcend the issue of race and unite the people of America with our common goals, he explained the necessity of having to talk about race.

"On one end of the spectrum, we've heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it's based solely on the desire of wild- and wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation and that rightly offend white and black alike."

Added Obama, "I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy, and in some cases, pain."

Many have said that what was appreciated in Obama’s talk was the frankness with which he was willing to talk about race and racial stereotypes, a topic that few political candidates (if any) have been willing to tackle.

"I can no more disown [Wright] than I can disown the black community," said Obama. "I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother, a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed her by on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."

He then added, "These people are a part of me. And they are part of America, this country that I love… But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America: to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality."

Hillary Clinton, while admitting that she had neither watched nor read the transcript of Obama’s speech, stated that she was glad the issue of race was being talked about, adding that race and gender both needed to come out into the open.

Universities have been quick to respond to the speech, initiating panel discussions and classroom debates about the issues of race in America. Consensus in most circles seems to be that this is a discussion long overdue.

"The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through, a part of our union that we have not yet made perfect," said Obama. "And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care or education or the need to find good jobs for every American."

Jon Stewart seems to have summed it up well, quipping on his show that "…a Presidential candidate actually spoke to Americans about race as though we were adults."

Imagine that.