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Sen. Barack Obama on Monday addressed supporters at a rally in the rain at the American Legion Mall in Indianapolis.
It’s part of the church tradition dating back to slavery in which good African-American preachers decry racism, minister to the many souls racism wounds and preach the gospel of overcoming. Race has always been an inseparable part of the black church.
Sen. Barack Obama in his presidential run has tried to distance himself from race. It’s why he was accused of not being black enough at last year’s National Association of Black Journalists convention in Las Vegas. His response was that he was trying to be a candidate for all America. He said when blacks saw him win majority white states they would vote for him, too. The strategy worked. His victories in Iowa, Missouri and Kansas — just to name a few states — proved it.
Boris E. Ricks, an assistant professor of political science at University of Missouri – Kansas City, explained why Obama’s strategy had served him well — until now.
Ricks called it “the de-racialization theory.” It dates back to the 1970s and gained traction as African-American candidates in the post-civil rights era began to run and win more elections for seats that previously only white men had held.
“It’s when you de-emphasize race to increase your chances for electoral success,” he said at a UMKC presidential forum sponsored by the Kansas City Association of Black Journalists and The African American Student Union. “Barack Obama would have never dealt with the issue of race had it not been brought to him.”
In a follow-up interview last week, Ricks described three categories of race in politics: race neutral, which is what Ward Connerly and whites who want the issue to go away espouse; race moderate, which fits Obama; and race specific, which embodies the Reverends Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton who emphasize race.
Unlike Jackson and Sharpton, Obama has not emphasized ending urban blight and racial disparities, improving urban schools, creating inner-city jobs and dealing with immigration. The United States has never ended inequalities shackled to race. Because of that, race “is a polarizing issue for the electorate,” Ricks said. “What it does is it calls America to her promise” of equality, opportunity and the pursuit of happiness for all.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech called it the “promissory note” — a bad check — America has long defaulted on for its black citizens.
Ricks said some whites support Obama because, if successful, he will end any discussion of race. To them, if a black man can become president then racism loses its punch, becoming only an excuse for blacks who are unable to achieve in America.
In Kansas City area diversity discussion groups, I’ve heard white conservatives voice that same viewpoint.
Obama’s efforts to dodge the topic of race also feeds the belief that race will cease to be a problem if he is elected because he didn’t bring it up. Rev. Jeremiah Wright, however, forced Obama to confront race even though it may have torpedoed Obama’s hopes.
Race now is an uncomfortable part of Obama’s campaign, despite his masterful speech on race in March and his recent denunciation of Wright. “He’s gone from being not black enough to too black,” Ricks said.
White candidates such as Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain have to do the opposite to appeal to black voters. They have to emphasize race to win black votes but run race neutral with whites.
They have the luxury of turning race on and off. Obama does not.
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