To my mind, commentary about Obama’s ‘race’ speech in the press has been superficial and overtly, unreflectively partisan. (It was a fine speech, to be sure; don't get me wrong. This guy is not only a brilliant politician, he's a genuine intellectual. He has integrity. And, he's brave, to boot.) Yet, as editorial writers rush to call it "the greatest speech on race since King's 1963 oration...," I can't help but notice how they blithely overlook LBJ's 1965 commencement speech at Howard University which, to my mind and by any serious historical standard, was easily a more important and historic statement. Johnson’s speech was, after all, a statement which had and still has consequences, in terms of major institutional reforms embodied in our nation's laws and practices, affecting the lives of many millions of people over the span of two generations. (But, then, the Obama enthusiasts have successfully implanted the idea that it is somehow ‘racially insensitive to recall that LBJ's skills, vision, courage and compassion were absolutely indispensable in bringing about the progress we all take for granted today...)
It seems to me that this is a defining moment in the discourse on race and justice in America. Clinton once tried to promote a 'national conversation on race,' which was well-intended though ineffective. Well, we may be on the threshold of having a very different national conversation on race, thanks to Obama's brilliant yet troubling speech. That line about how the movement he's leading -- across lines of race, class gender, age and social location, on behalf of the idea that people can work together -- must not be made hostage to the past, this goes right to the heart of the matter, in my view. How shall we deal with our unlovely racial past? What claims, if any, does it make on us today? Of course, we ought not to be prisoners of our past. But, as a person deeply concerned for the welfare of black people in this country, I am far from being convinced that Obama's vision, as set out in his Philadelphia speech, marks out a coherent plan for moving forward on these issues.
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