Call Me Idealistic, But I Have a Dream

I’m a little hung over from the pre-debate-debate-post-debate binge. And afterwards, I lay awake thinking of "if only" zingers Obama could’ve used. Me and half the country, I’m sure.

But whatever political points both candidates scored last night, whatever differences they were able to articulate, the most obvious difference in this presidential campaign remains unspoken. Skin color. Only a few pollsters and columnists are even mentioning it. So I have a dream.

Barack, you know how you did the red-blue-purple thing in 2004? About how we’re all the same America, united and all that? It’s time for the race talk in 2008. I’d like to see you hit us with some good-ol’ consciousness raising. Aim it at white guilt. Aim it at Christian guilt. Aim it at Jewish guilt. Aim it at those who should "know better" but are holding back out of ancient, latent fear. We have to be carefully taught. And now is a teachable moment.

I grew up in an all-white suburb and believed blacks, Negroes, as we called them in the early 1960s, were people who lived in Harlem or Africa. Occasionally, I heard the term schwartze at home and learned to lock the car doors and turn my rings palm-side-down when driving above 96th Street in New York City. I remember visiting my grandparents in Florida and seeing "colored" and "white" drinking fountains.

I remember MLK and the civil rights movement and the Black Panthers and Malcolm X, and I believed in equality. But until I became a social worker, I didn’t really have to dig into my own racism and learned prejudice. I remember in my first year of graduate school, we studied "differences." With clients of a different race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, or ability, we were taught to name that difference, bring it into the session, and work with it. Barriers existed, but barriers could be overcome, or at least acknowledged. Naming it is the first step to connection and mutual understanding.

So, Barack Hussein Obama, I’d like to see you look right into that camera and name it:

"Look, folks. I get it. I get that many of you, when you look at me, see only the color of my skin and that scares you somehow. You see someone who looks different from you and you say, ‘I can’t vote for him. I may agree with his policies and ideals. I may disagree with the Bush administration and the Iraq war and the mismanagement of our economy, but I simply can’t imagine pulling a lever for a black man. For president?’

"I also get that, for many of you, nothing I say or anyone else says in the next few weeks will change your mind. I get that you believe a black man simply shouldn’t be in the White House, the White House, because of his skin color. So be it. I concede your vote.

"But I know there are many more of you out there who are still struggling to decide. You’re smart, thoughtful Americans who care about our country. I get that you’re still worried about my first name, my middle name, and my last name, and the name it rhymes with. You’re still worried about my religious background, about whether I agree with Reverend Jeremiah Wright, whether I’m elitist or out of touch, and whether I love my country. You know as well as I do there’s a lot of name calling going on, rumors tossed about by some stubborn folks who have some outdated ideas and hateful tactics. You know better. You’re too smart to fall for that ‘sticks-and-stones’ playground silliness.

"This is not the old America, the segregated America. You’ve seen a lot of change. I know. Change is hard. I feel your growing pains. But, deep down, in your heart of hearts, I know you believe in freedom and equal rights for all Americans. You are fair-minded, patriotic, God-loving people. You can spot injustice and cheer the underdog. Were you raised to believe that people who look different from you and your family are less than equal? Probably. Maybe even, without knowing it, you began to believe it was true. That’s the nature of racism. I get it. That’s part of all our history. But you’re smarter than that now, in 2008. You can see past the biases you had no choice but to inherit—you can think freely now. America needs change. We agree on that.

"So, I ask you to think, really think. I believe you’re smarter than those narrow-minded, old-fashioned people who would judge a man simply by the color of his skin, rather than the ‘content of his character.’ You know the speech. You know the truth. You know it’s time for change we can believe in. Yes, I'm black. We're different. But you’re smart and fair and thoughtful. And, if you have the courage to stop and look inside, I believe you know the answer. Together we can change history and change America."