Tiptoe?

Doug writes:

"As a point of minor disagreement I don't think that Obama was anywhere near the neighborhood of "brutally honest." he was stepping so carefully around important issues that I think many (white ) folks will forever miss important elements of what he was describing. "

Serena agrees:

"Well said Douglas. I do think though, in our current climate that he had to be somewhat on his tip toes."

I don't agree with the premise of Doug's statement. Race is not something that is tiptoed around. Ever.

However, even if I accept the premise, Obama did not tiptoe around the issues. Here are some quotes from the speech:

"The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery

The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well

The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.

Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings.

That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races. In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor.

...when [white people] hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.

Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding. This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years."

As I stated before, I have never heard any public figure confront the underlying anger that exist in America today. Particularly discussing that anger the exist on all side of this issue, and how these world views create a climate where the racism is latent, whispered at home or with members of your own community. This is not skirting the issues, but laying it bare for all see.