The Nevada senator speaks at a press conference following passage of the historic health insurance reform bill on Christmas Eve. Image courtesy of http://reid.senate.gov/index.cfm
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reportedly said in private that Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s light complexion and his diction made him more appealing as a candidate, according to a new book featuring secrets from the presidential race.
The Nevada senator’s remarks about Obama’s electability – a candidate he supported – dominated news cycles over the weekend. On Monday morning, journalists and their guests continued discussing the matter before the release of “Game Change.”
According to Mark Halperin and John Heilemann’s “Game Change,” Reid “was wowed by Obama’s oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama — a ‘light-skinned’ African American ‘with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,’ as he later put it privately.”
What he said was insensitive and inelegant, but did he speak an untruth? The verbal controversy opened up the chance for genuine dialogue about colorism, race relations, structural inequities shaped by power, class and identity. A lot of the commentary on television Sunday and Monday morning didn’t examine the history and current reality behind the statements. In his online journalism column, Richard Prince noted that Sunday talk shows missed the boat when it came to having a race discussion.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, head of the National Action Network, on his nationally syndicated radio program Sunday morning, said Reid’s use of “Negro dialect” was offensive, but it’s unfair to compare his analysis of Obama’s candidacy to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott’s laudatory statements about former segregationist Strom Thurmond years ago. Republicans calling for Reid’s resignation are “overjumping the runway” as they compare Reid’s and Lott’s statements, he said.
Many listeners to Sharpton’s show called in to discuss how the verbal controversy not only created a political brush fire for his own electability in Nevada, but exposed a real view, one they and fellow African Americans and others may have considered. That Obama was akin to pre-scandal Tiger Woods, an acceptable, non-threatening black man. As I listened, I wondered even with his academic credentials, charisma and demonstrated commitment to service, if he resembled the uber-handsome actors Malik Yoba and Idris Elba, would he appeal to mainstream America? Or to Black America with its legacy of racial stratification, i.e. paper-brown bag tests for fraternity/sorority admission? I also thought about Obama’s gracious acceptance of Reid’s apology and as he tried to make a point, Reid compelled people like me to recall how slavery in America and segregation shaped the definitions of beauty and intellect and worth based on the amount of melanin in one’s skin. It also made me seek out reasoned and learned and thoughtful analysis of the situation, sources such as TheRoot.com. And it compelled me to see that many people – black and white- are living out his words even if they don’t utter them.
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