Blacks debate impact of Obama's race on campaign

Blacks debate impact of Obama's race on campaign
By Kayce T. Ataiyero
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Published May 23, 2007, 6:41 PM CDT

ST. LOUIS -- In a converted Shriners temple, presidential hopeful Barack Obama stood before a majority-white crowd on a recent afternoon and spoke of uniting the country beyond race. Nearby, at a soul food joint called Sweetie Pie's, a mostly black crowd debated whether his race would keep America from ever giving him the chance.

"The workplace is much more integrated, as is society with blended families," said Leah Merrifield, a 50-year-old college administrator, who thought Obama's chances are good. "You have more white people with more personal experience with people who are different."

Her sister, Carolyn Christiel, 55, a schoolteacher, was unconvinced.

"Society is so tainted," she said. "What makes me think they are going to let this black man win?"

At lunch counters and cocktail parties, in living rooms and grocery lines, black America is having its own private conversation about Obama's candidacy that is less about the man and more about the racial reality he seems to belie.

At the core of that dialogue is the struggle to reconcile the face of America in the crowd at an Obama rally with the everyday America that still struggles with racial segregation, discrimination and bigotry. It's about understanding how the same culture that gave rise to Don Imus can make Obama a political rock star. It's even about fears that Obama could be assassinated.

The basic question is whether society has made enough progress on race to elect a black person to lead it. In a country where a black man still can have a hard time catching a cab, can he be president of the United States?

Opinions within the black community are mixed. In some circles there is a reluctance to believe that white people will vote for Obama. While some blacks question whether he is black enough, others think that in the end he will prove to be, in effect, too black. They say they are resigned to the notion that he is doomed, not by black ambivalence but by white prejudice.

To be sure, it's a conversation black America has had before. A similar dialogue took place in the 1996 campaign, when retired Gen. Colin Powell's mainstream popularity prompted many to call on him to run for president. But the fact that Obama is an actual contender has brought an immediacy to today's discussion.

Voters like Chicago real estate appraiser Barry Tatum think white people will vote for Obama because of his multicultural pedigree but that their endorsement would not reflect an improvement in race relations in America.

"It's just like with Tiger Woods. They want to make him the exception. He ain't really black," said Tatum, 43. "It's the same thing with Obama. That's why he can win."

Raymond Broady, a 60-something architect, agreed. On a recent morning at Izola's Restaurant on Chicago's South Side, Broady and a group of breakfast buddies debated Obama's prospects.

He "has all the white credentials, doesn't come off as being about black power. He's different," Broady said. "He is speaking for everyone."

Burke Baxter, 72, a retired criminal justice administrator, said Obama's manner is such that whites are more comfortable voting for him than a black candidate who is more racially divisive.

"He speaks a language that white people can understand and comes across as not frightening," Baxter explained. "White people who are somewhat apprehensive are more relaxed" with him.

Some blacks say acceptance of Obama on those terms shows just how little progress has been made on race. Many cringed earlier this year when Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) described Obama as the first mainstream black candidate who is "articulate and bright and clean," comments that were intended as compliments but were seen as offensive because they suggested Obama was an exception.

"The criteria that a lot of whites use to support Obama—articulate, different, clean—him being black becomes incidental and, to me, that is like saying I still don't want a real black person in office. But I will take Obama because he's different," said Robin D.G. Kelley, a professor of history and American studies at the University of Southern California. "That doesn't mean we are back in the days of Jim Crow. It does mean that the same assumptions about racial differences are still in place."

Lynn Small, a 70-year-old retired advertising and marketing executive from Chicago, agreed. He said that while there are pockets of white America that could accept a black president, the country as a whole is not ready.

"They give lip service to the right thing," Small said, "but when they get in the voting booth it will be hard to pull that lever."

Recent political history, though, suggests that America might be closer than Small thinks. David Bositis, senior political analyst with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, an African-American think tank, said the 2006 election of Deval Patrick as Massachusetts governor is an example of how whites are more willing to vote for black candidates in big races than they once were.

Those candidates typically share similar traits: Ivy League educations, high-powered résumés, a message that is not aimed principally at African-Americans, characteristics more closely associated with mainstream contenders, Bositis said. An Obama presidential candidacy stands in contrast to those of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who lacked similar credentials and whose agendas were viewed as black-oriented.

"It doesn't mean that racism has gone out of voting in American elections," Bositis said. "But a majority of voters in enough states have shown that they will vote for a black candidate. And those states will potentially give that black candidate enough votes to win."

In his 2004 race for the Senate, Obama received support from 66 percent of white voters, 92 percent of black voters and 82 percent of Latino voters, according to figures from the Joint Center.

Obama's candidacy is a scary notion for many blacks who fear for his safety. Rika Lawrence, a 25-year-old assistant business manager from Chicago, said the early assignment of a Secret Service detail to protect him is proof that her concerns about an assassination attempt are valid.

"Unfortunately there are still lots of racists out there who would hate to see him win," Lawrence said, "and that is the bottom line."

An undercurrent of hard-line racism is simmering in America, said Melissa Harris-Lacewell, associate professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University. Harris-Lacewell wasn't surprised earlier this month when CBSNews.com was forced to shut down reader comments on Obama stories after the postings became racist. She received similar vitriol via e-mail when she spoke out against Imus.

"If you listen to Don Imus and Michael Richards and the discourse in parts of white America around those comments, not only are we not ready for a black president, old-fashioned racism is back," Harris-Lacewell said.

Alondra Jones, a 23-year-old senior at Howard University in Washington, D.C., noted a slow but steady change.

"In 2007 we are far more progressive on race than we were in 1967. But we are not at the point now where the whole of America will allow a black man to win the presidency," Jones said. "Maybe in another 25 or 26 years. I'm hopeful."

kataiyero@tribune.com