About Obama's White Grandmother

It has been called "the greatest speech about race in
America in a generation," described as "Eloquent",
"Historic"; The New York Times compared the speech
by Barack Obama to those of Abraham Lincoln, Franklin
D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy.

Yet, soon after the last words had been uttered, reactionary
critics swarmed upon it like so many vultures picking out bits
of it to toss about. The Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the pastor
Obama has refused to sever from his life, has become the
Willie Horton of this presidential campaign.

But the most vicious remarks have been made about Obama's
remarks about his white grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who
helped raise him. Some have gone so far as to accuse him of
denying his white ancestory, of locking his grandmother away
and forbidding her to participate in his campaign. She is 84,
her back painful from osteoporosis, and has refused to make
any statements when reporters try to contact her by phone.

Others say he insulted her by stating she had been afraid
of Black strangers and had made stereotypical comments.
These critics, hardly any of whom can speak of Obama as
a candidate without refering to his race, cannot acknowledge
how it is almost impossible for a white person who has lived
in the United States for four or five decades to be totally free
of racial prejudice. Those who proclaim themselves without
prejudice are usually unaware of how they give themselves
away in remarks they make.

Their attitude toward the Rev. Wright's anger is similar to
that of a local newspaper which, when referring to an
incident of racial injustice, stated: "but that was before Civil
Rights," as if the valiant struggles for the right to vote, ride
buses, and eat at lunch counters, ended with the slate wiped
clean. It's as if to say, "It's bad, but that was yesterday".

Ah, but we old people grew up during those yesterdays,
daily we saw peoples of color denied good jobs and decent
housing, even if we didn't believe the prevailing myths, that
"they" were living where they wanted to live, with "their own
kind". We were inundated with racist media. Racism and
separatism was as much a part of our lives as the air we
breathed. Many of us were aware of the injustices and
regretted the way things were, but most of us couldn't
spend a great deal of time questioning because of our
own struggles to survive.

The younger folks of all colors are not burdened with the old
baggage their grandparents carried. They see Blacks with
good jobs, Black elected officials, policemen, firemen,
university professors, and so forth. Which is not to say that
prejudice has been wiped out. Far from it: there are still
ghettoes in most cities, there are unwritten laws that
prevent Blacks from choosing just where they wish to live,
and there are young people who have absorbed the
prejudices of their elders.

Just recently I heard of a white high school girl thrown out
of her California home for dating a young Black man. The
difference now is that they will not be ostracized by all of
society- a white classmate's family took her in- and they
can remain friends. Furthermore, that young white woman
who has grown up seeing Black students and teachers at
school, Blacks working at every kind of job, and in elected
positions, will remain more free of prejudice than her parents
and grandparents who have experienced different social
conditions.

But it doesn't matter much whether Obama's critics believe
all this or not. Most were already against him because of his
Black skin. Their outrage over his remarks about his
grandmother and about his pastor's diatribes will simply give
them another reason to cast a vote against him, as they had
already planned to do.