The Lead

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around . . .
. . . when yellow will be mellow . . .

. . . when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. Let all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.

With "do justice and love mercy" the Rev. Joe Lowery might have invited each of us to "walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8).

The Rev. Lowery stirred up something of a hornets nest in his inauguration day benediction with that line "when white will embrace what is right." The complaint seems to be that whites have broadly embraced the belief that blacks have suffered discrimination in the past, and want to do what is right by ensuring that no individual is treated differently by virtue of the color of their skin.

Ta-Nehisi Coates writes,

There is a strong temptation to simply say, "Tough. Get over it." Or some such. I think, from a black perspective, we don't expect sensitivity from people who've basically run shit for the past few centuries--especially given that we spent the last two decades hearing about how black people are so sensitive. Moreover, it was a kind of joke, a reversal of that old rhyme about "black get back."

A lively discussion ensues in the comments.

Here's my gassy two cents. We have a black president. But there's only one black senator -- and he was appointed with some controversy. There are two black governors; none in the South. The same is true in the private sector; blacks are still disproportionately represented amongst the poor. Look at the civil rights agenda of the incoming president at whitehouse.gov and you'll find the same old assumption that if the we legislate equality of civil rights then there will be equality of outcomes. The policy points are all well and good, if old, but they won't get us where we need to be. (Not that I'm saying discrimination is no longer a problem -- even whites who embrace what is right fall short wittingly or not -- but on the discrimination front the progress to be made is going to be primarily at the level of the heart and the impulse, beyond mental assent or mere law. Something that perhaps our children will be better at than we are.) The LGBT agenda (scroll down the civil rights agenda link just given) is fresher and more promising.

Blacks may not have to get in the back of the bus anymore, but there's still a problem. Poverty amongst blacks is a legacy of slavery. There's much as a nation to be redressed by an attack on the problem of poverty. Not that there is an easy answer. But it's plain embarrassing (though, evidently, necessary politics) for all sides how much of the campaign was spent addressing the middle class -- read, the white middle class. I'm pretty sure it came up even more than Joe the Plumber.

Now is the time to put away childish things.

The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

- Barack Obama

Opportunity might suggest do no harm; do not discriminate on the basis of color. It might suggest to some that we mandate opportunities even if they are overpaid make-work projects. But I think Obama means attacking the sources of poverty at their roots so that more Americans can earn a good living and create a good environment for their children.

Comments (6)

Just need to point out that there are two black governors--David Paterson in NY and Deval Patrick in Massachussetts. Paterson is also legally blind, showing that NY can have both a minority and disabled governor. We need to remember these victories.

Correction made. Thank you! - JBC

Posted by Nick Wolfe | January 21, 2009 7:03 PM

Joseph Lowery was not only the most beautiful speaker--with that hot Micah moment, and the bracing shot of truth-telling about the rich and the poor-- but the most genuinely prayerful. As a white American, I'm grateful to be prayed for by the man, who's spent his life working for my salvation.
"Keep us forever in the path we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee; lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, forget thee."
Amen.

Posted by Sara Miles | January 21, 2009 8:03 PM

Warning --white woman of privilege wading into dangerous waters - willing to be corrected -
My only problem is with the red and yellow comment --- the terms are thought to be racist, as I understand it, with Native Americans and Asian Americans --- and what did he mean by yellow be mellow - nice rhyme but given some of the difficulties between Asian and African descent peoples - it could be read as - Asians are a problem like whites with the rights. Native Americans feel that they are totally forgotten in racial discussions and left in places with the poorest land and worst life expectancy. I think Rev. Dr. Lowery was making a pointed rhyme - but depends a lot on who gets the sharp end.

Posted by ann | January 21, 2009 11:28 PM

Ann,

It's an old African-American aphorism:

If you're white, you're alright.
If you're yellow (yella), you're mellow (mella),
If you're brown, stick around.
But if you're black, you'd better get back! *

[I'd never heard the "Red Man/Ahead, Man" line before---but thought it worked, marvelously.]

In the same way that the woman (white, FWIW---I'm white, too) next to me at my viewing party had no idea Rev. Lowery was quoting "Lift Every Voice" [aka "Negro National Anthem"] at the start of the prayer: if you don't know the context, it's easy to read in something that's not there.

JC Fisher

* Please note that the aphorism can also refer to hierarchies-of-color WITHIN the larger African-American community, as relations between the (so-called) races.

Posted by tgflux | January 21, 2009 11:58 PM

I'm surprised at how much commentary on Lowery's benediction is based on a literal reading of those last lines. Mellow? Right? Folks getting upset that whites voted for Obama, so they're right already, etc. I don't hear anybody saying "Justice roll down? Is that an attack on the Justice Dept? Or is that specifically a reparations reference?" Many outside the African-American preaching tradition aren't used to such language and are taking it in all sorts of weird directions.

Also tiresome is the always-missing sensitivity to differences in power relations in communication. Look at any discussion thread below a video or transcript and you'll find, "Why can he say that but I as a white person can't?" There is a strong current in argument from the white perspective that now that racism is somehow "over," there never should be conversation in which ethnicity should be acknowledged. And certainly not in rhyme!

Michael Rich+

Posted by Padre Michael | January 22, 2009 3:58 PM

There is a strong current in argument from the white perspective that now that racism is somehow "over,"...

I'm so sick of that argument that because white folk voted for Obama, they think they're no longer racist.

Racism and white privelege are alive in America. Witness the killing of Oscar Grant by the BART cop. Yeah, that cop resigned because the evidence was caught on video (and shown on YouTube) But countless racist attacks still go unreported. - Jay Vos

Posted by dutchfox | January 23, 2009 3:25 AM

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