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Obama's grandma problem
Kathleen Parker, National ReviewWhat may be most telling about Obama's predicament may be found in his reference to his white grandmother her fear of black men on the streets and her stereotypical remarks about blacks. He said he cringed, but I'm betting he did more than that. Those remarks had to cut deep. A young boy who looks different from his immediate family is going to have identity issues of much greater magnitude than your run-of-the-mill "Who Am I?" questions all adolescents usually ask. His narrative of self-discovery and self-identification as an African American in Chicago begins there and the subtext is that his own source of emotional nourishment was polluted by a prejudice that was aimed indirectly at him. His grandmother his surrogate mother at that point rejected the black man he was becoming. The anger Obama heard in Rev. Wright's church may not have felt so alien after all. I think this may explain a lot. Please note, I said "explain," not "excuse." There's no excuse for judging people by the color of their skin. There's also no excuse for race-baiting, conspiracy theories, and just generally setting out to make a living off racial tension. Consider what sorts of rejections and prejudice the guys in the 332nd Fighter Group experienced. I'd wager it was much worse, on a daily basis, than anything Barak and Michele Obama ever see. Those guys had more genuine cause to damn America than Jeremiah Wright is capable of imagining. It is to their credit that they took a higher road. Posted by: Mike 2008-03-18 |
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