Aug 032009
A teachable moment? Oh really? What was it meant to teach? The president detracting from his nationally televised health care speech by commenting on his friend, Mr. Gates (Harvard scholar on black studies) was surprising to me. When he said that the police had acted “stupidly”, I was shocked. Harvard educated, reticent, and heretofore making every effort to be fair and unbiased in his approach to race, Mr. Obama’s earnest efforts to create an atmosphere of tolerance imbued with responsibility have been nothing short of impressive. So, why’d he do it?
As much as we don’t want it to be so, two things are true: Racism is here to stay and profiling is natural and sometimes a necessary evil.
We generally define what’s right/normal by what we see in the mirror. It was a form of survival back in the days when fire was carried from place to place. Just like the body’s response to not eating by slowing metabolism to prevent starvation in cave-man days, the “you or me” reflex has eluded evolution. As a result we have yo-yo dieting and racism. We should know better intellectually but we just can’t seem to help ourselves–we were hoping that Mr. Obama could. We were counting on his calm demeanor, his intelligence, and his bi-racial background to lift him above the fray. Instead, Mr. Obama used the stupid word to describe the police action before (admittedly) he knew the details! How did he come to the conclusion that the police were in the wrong? Was he profiling?
Profiling has become a dirty word. It shouldn’t be. For the most part profiling is a good thing, we do it almost everyday to help us make quick decisions. Our brains store information from past experiences and intellectual observations to guide us around corners. Mr. Obama however, knew this question was a possibility. He had time to prepare. He took sides. Those of us that worked hard to put Reverend Jeremiah Wright out of our minds saw him creeping back into our peripheral vision.
What was the teachable moment? If you get stopped by the police be deferential without regard to color? If you are in a position of authority do your job, be empathetic and walk away? Get the details before you lay blame?
All three men made mistakes–Mr. Obama’s was the most egregious.
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