Dreams from My Father - Preface, Intro & Ch. 1, 2, 3 &am

[DWill]

It's such a strange thing that race can become the reason to oppress or hate. A difference in color or appearance, that's all it is. I think of that phrase, "the narcissism of small differences," and how that ignorant attitude has plagued humanity forever.

[Trish]

That kind of enlightenment is somehow a luxury for white people. In the meantime I think what Barack is saying is that black people are constantly reminded of their race one way or another. There's a huge break between our ideals about race and the reality in which people live.

[Ophelia]

Thanks for the link Tom!

[DWill]

That kind of enlightenment is somehow a luxury for white people. In the meantime I think what Barack is saying is that black people are constantly reminded of their race one way or another. There's a huge break between our ideals about race and the reality in which people live.

I'm not sure what you meant by your first sentence, Trish.

[Robert Tulip]

http://obamalover.googlepages.com/Dream ... Father.pdf is the link.

Obama is not a descendent of slaves. This seems to be a critical factor in his perspective on America's racial politics. He has copped the prejudice from whites, but was raised by a white family, giving him cultural and physical resources to deal with prejudice in a way that is not possible for many blacks. He seems to have an inner confidence and poise that has been either beaten out of many black people or transformed into a set of oppositional values that enable coping but not success. Slavery established such a crushing constant oppression, together with its racist ideology of white superiority, that its effects continue to permeate American society. Trish's comment about the luxury of enlightenment seems to me to refer to the fear many white people have of black crime, and the social divide that continues to separate the races.

[Trish]

To clarify what I meant by the luxury of enlightenment is that it's very easy to say skin color doesn't matter when (if you are white) have always felt like a native in your own land. When a white person does commit a crime, no one even thinks it's a reflection of his skin color. White people don't worry what other people are going to think when they see another white person on the evening news in a police mug shot. Or how about this, what would a white kid think about his own heritage if he went to school and European and American history was barely mentioned at all -- maybe just a few exceptional names peppered in for a veneer of diversity. Africa is one of the most ethnicly diverse continents on the planet, but because of the legacy of slavery many African Americans can't trace back to their specific country or tribe of origin. So while I agree that skin color is technically just pigment, there's a whole chunk of human history excised by violence and hate that is not really being healed by simply declaring it doesn't matter.

[bohemian_girl]

I made a start on this book last night and I have to admit that I am really enjoying it. I was a little wary before I began reading it, because I expected a lot of political PR but I can't say that I've come accross much of that, thankfully.

I'm finding reading about Obama's early life fascinating, knowing who he became. His grandparents obviously had a huge influence on his life and I've liked hearing their stories. His father is quite an enigma and I too am wondering about his continuous abcense... how such a loving father can be apart from his son for so long and barely know him, and go on to have more children. I guess it's not an uncommon scenario in this world.

Reading about Obama discovering his race and what being African American is, has also proved fascinating. He talks of the age that African American kids lose their innocence... the event in their lives which makes them aware that they are 'different' and his account of seeing the photograph of the black man who tried to turned himself white, and the confusion and hurt that came with that was pretty moving.

What I've also learned, is there is nothing about this young boy that indicates that he is going to be President. There is no family history of politics, no free rides. He had the same opportunities as many young people today, which I find refreshing.

[DWill]

To clarify what I meant by the luxury of enlightenment is that it's very easy to say skin color doesn't matter when (if you are white) have always felt like a native in your own land. When a white person does commit a crime, no one even thinks it's a reflection of his skin color.... So while I agree that skin color is technically just pigment, there's a whole chunk of human history excised by violence and hate that is not really being healed by simply declaring it doesn't matter.

Skin color certainly matters, because humans make it matter. My comment was more in the nature of saying, "Step back from this whole situation and think about it. Does it make any sense at all that we humans would rank each other based on surface skin pigment?" We have done and still do, but there is a sense of unreality about it when you look at it from the outside. Of course, for most of our history this ranking was reinforced by the assumption that skin pigment and facial features corresponded with intelligence. Our knowledge that there is absolutely no basis to such racialist theories has accounted for the lessening of prejudice and bigotry in our time. Barack Obama during his life has been unusually well positioned to experience and evaluate the complete irrationality of racialism.

[Trish]

Oh I absolutely agree with you DWill. Science has shown that those long held assumptions are false. Actually there is technically no such thing as race on a genetic level. We are not seperate species and our differences are literally skin deep. We can explain our tendency to place intellectual and moral value on skin color if we look back to our earliest ancestors who had seconds to size-up a potential threat in order to survive. Understanding this, I hope, means we can realize the folly in that thinking and not resign ourselves to it.

[Trish]

Obama is not a descendent of slaves. This seems to be a critical factor in his perspective on America's racial politics. He has copped the prejudice from whites, but was raised by a white family, giving him cultural and physical resources to deal with prejudice in a way that is not possible for many blacks. He seems to have an inner confidence and poise that has been either beaten out of many black people or transformed into a set of oppositional values that enable coping but not success. Slavery established such a crushing constant oppression, together with its racist ideology of white superiority, that its effects continue to permeate American society. Trish's comment about the luxury of enlightenment seems to me to refer to the fear many white people have of black crime, and the social divide that continues to separate the races.

Forgive me for being late to respond. I think you raised a good point about not being the descendant of slaves. I don't mean to jump ahead too far here, but the book does explains a bit about the history of Kenya, which was once controlled by the British and that blacks were excluded from government. What of the crushing imperialism and racism that his father would have known? Is it different?