Thinking Out of the Box

Weekend Edition

October 25, 2008

A white woman's leap of faith.

As Senator Barack Obama's 85 year-old grandmother's health declines, his visit to Hawaii to see her this weekend reminds us of a number of things --  human things and incredibly cosmic things.

I hope you have been able to see beyond the banal racial prism attached to Obama's direct genetic relationship to the white woman who helped raise him.  The media seems comfortable enough now to drone on about it, thinking they are being open and helpful to the cause of cross- racial unity, a sentiment that certainly can't hurt the Senator's day at the polls next week.

But to me, it isn't that Barack Obama's grandmother is white that is the compelling narrative of his meteoric political rise. The cross-racial imagery being communicated by the media is a surprisingly obvious interpretation of what is at play here.

In fact, I find this kind of trite interpretation of Barack Obama's social significance to be ratings-hungry fodder for the television news media this weekend, who usually follow him around to his massive, crowd pleasing, weekend stump speeches. It seems to me that what is really at stake in this heartfelt American drama, is that an educated, driven, professional, feminist, white woman, who came of age in the Depression, can see her own seeds of tolerance, discipline and openness in full bloom in her grandson. God knows, everything in the society in which she lived, during the time that she was raised, mandated that she reject him -- or at least see him as "less than."

So, yes, there is some of that wonderment where we see just how similar all Americans are, regardless of their race.  But, more so, in light of Senator Obama's grandmother's journey, we can see just how fundamental certain kinds of traits, both inherited and taught, are to human success.  Now, add in the leap of faith it must have taken to love and raise a "stranger" who is in fact, a close genetic relative, and you have a nuanced perspective on the fallacies of certain kinds of American identities.

By moving this conversation into the realm of a white woman's leap of faith, one is made aware of eternal, cosmic optimism.  The kind of hopefulness that Obama was originally derided for trying to push on us, the cynical American electorate.  I can see a woman who had no real reason to believe that her own black grandson could even be regarded by others as a real American, grow to actually lead Americans.

The failing health of a loved one always forces everyone around them, and certainly themselves, to step back and take a look at the big picture. And the big picture here seems to be that in an era where white women were not in the habit of raising black men, she did. 

And, did she ever...