by Michael T. Heath

Created on: May 03, 2008   Last Updated: October 11, 2008

WHY DON'T THEY JUST GET OVER IT?

This question is typically posed by someone who is sick and tired of hearing minorities speak to these issues. The type of person who can close their ears, but never their own mouth. While it seems perfectly fine to them for fellow conservative commentators to espouse negative speech about the "injustice" of affirmative action, the "unAmerican" values of anyone who questions America's history or the "uppity" nature of those who demand their rights, they can't abide it when their fellow citizens exercise a right to free speech. When Bill Moyers interviewed Rev. Wright on PBS about the widely-circulated snippets from sermons he has delivered over the years, Mr. Wright told of the death threats both he and his church have been getting. Mr. Moyers also related how he and PBS have basically gotten the same mail: a segment of our country just doesn't understand the concept of free speech or appreciate the back-story of anyone who differs from themselves.

Using the Rev.Wright controversy as a starting point, let's examine this topic in a bit more depth. It seems that many ordinary Americans were outraged and shocked when the Obama opponents used 5-second snippets from Wright's sermons in an endless loop of negative advertising. Those who couldn't or wouldn't listen to Obama's own speech in March on the topic of race in this country have done themselves a disservice: in my opinion, this was much more than a good speech. It was a watershed event, destined to be studied, replayed and analyzed again and again for years to come. Mr. Obama used this platform - initiated as a much-needed response to criticism flowing out of the Rev. Wright controversy - as a teaching moment. Who, exactly, needed to be taught? The black community; the white community; Rev. Wright himself. Obama gave a tour of American history complete with stops in the Revolution, the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement up to today, putting into context where some black anger issues from. He clarified sentiments, giving short shrift to panicky, racialized fears of both blacks and whites in this country. As for Rev. Wright, Barak Obama gently scolded him for losing hope, for only alluding to the negative. "How can I be standing here today," to paraphrase him, "if this is not a land of opportunity?"

It may appear to some Americans that the racist, violent past we all share as a common history is old news, or at least something historical. "They got equal rights, don't they?"

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