Interesting quote from Obama on the campaign trail yesterday, which I'm sure some of you have heard of. In reference to his major speech on race, in which he described his grandmother's occasional racist remarks, Obama said the following:
"The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity, but that she is a typical white person. If she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know - there's a reaction in her that's been bred into our experiences that don't go away and sometimes come out in the wrong way and that's just the nature of race in our society. We have to break through..."
Now, I'm sure there are arguments and counterarguments as to whether we should make a big deal out of this quote. But there's one thing that I don't think anyone can possibly deny: if Hillary or McCain had made reference to the "typical black person," the nation would be in uproar. And that would be the end of the campaign, period.
I should mention that Obama's campaign has attempted to clarify Obama's statement by saying that he was merely referring to the prevailing attitudes of his grandmother's generation - not every single white person. That is a cop-out if I've ever heard one. Obama used the present tense and specifically stated, "our experiences...nature of race in our society." It is a stretch to read the past tense into these statements...he was without a doubt referring to present-day white people, implying that they are all afraid of black people.
Double standard?
"The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity, but that she is a typical white person. If she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know - there's a reaction in her that's been bred into our experiences that don't go away and sometimes come out in the wrong way and that's just the nature of race in our society. We have to break through..."
Now, I'm sure there are arguments and counterarguments as to whether we should make a big deal out of this quote. But there's one thing that I don't think anyone can possibly deny: if Hillary or McCain had made reference to the "typical black person," the nation would be in uproar. And that would be the end of the campaign, period.
I should mention that Obama's campaign has attempted to clarify Obama's statement by saying that he was merely referring to the prevailing attitudes of his grandmother's generation - not every single white person. That is a cop-out if I've ever heard one. Obama used the present tense and specifically stated, "our experiences...nature of race in our society." It is a stretch to read the past tense into these statements...he was without a doubt referring to present-day white people, implying that they are all afraid of black people.
Double standard?