The Persistence of the Color Line: Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency
In 2007 and 2008, most Americans probably learned about the presidential campaign through the media. A little TV, some Internet, maybe newspapers and magazines. There was certainly plenty of coverage 鈥� not to mention plenty to say. As readers remember, the candidacies of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama provoked a nationwide conversation about gender and race.
But a very, very small segment of the population was at Harvard Law School during 2007 and 2008, taking Randall Kennedy鈥檚 class on the campaign. Kennedy is not only a legal scholar but the author of several books on race and racism, including 鈥淣igger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word,鈥� and 鈥淩ace, Crime, and the Law.鈥� As such, Kennedy鈥檚 students had the additional benefit of their professor鈥檚 scholarly and historical perspective 鈥� and now you can, too.
In The Persistence of the Color Line: Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency, Kennedy helpfully compiles and interprets the public conversation around Obama鈥檚 2008 election and his nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. He references New York Times鈥� op-eds, blog posts, blog comments, song lyrics, Congressional outbursts, court cases, radio talk show hosts, poems, political ads, Gallup polls, sermons, books, articles, speeches, off-the-record remarks, and lots and lots of history. (Indeed, on some pages the footnotes are almost as long as the text.) Kennedy uses these cultural artifacts to consider whether President Obama鈥檚 election means that the United States is post-racial.
Kennedy鈥檚 answer 鈥� which he articulates in the first sentence of the book 鈥� is no. Kennedy writes, 鈥淭he terms under which Barack Obama won the presidency, the conditions under which he governs, and the circumstances under which he seeks reelection all display the haunting persistence of the color line.鈥� Guided by this thesis, subsequent chapters consider how race (and sometimes gender) factored into blacks鈥� response to Obama, whites鈥� response to Obama, and the president鈥檚 own rhetoric.
Regarding the black community, Kennedy posits that Obama walked 鈥渢he tightrope between being black enough but not too black.鈥� He cites comments in The New Republic, AfroChat.net, and New York magazine that indicate Obama鈥檚 dark-skinned, African-American wife won him particular goodwill among many in the black community. For these contributors, the president鈥檚 mate was a sign of his commitment to his black identity. On the other hand, Kennedy suggests that Obama鈥檚 elusive stance on affirmative action made many blacks suspect the president鈥檚 commitment to racial fairness.
Nevertheless, Kennedy recognizes Obama鈥檚 overwhelming popularity among most African Americans. He credits their enthusiasm to 鈥渢he magnetism of success,鈥� as well as to neediness: 鈥淏lacks are so used to being neglected, if not mistreated, that they often tend to exaggerate the virtues of authorities that treat them with even a modicum of respect.鈥�
Kennedy鈥檚 assessment of the white community鈥檚 response is also skeptical. Kennedy surmises from an anecdote Obama tells in his own book, 鈥淭he Audacity of Hope,鈥� that the president took care to make whites feel less white. Kennedy also points out that in Obama鈥檚 well-known race speech the president uses the passive voice 鈥� simultaneously acknowledging slavery and Jim Crow while obscuring enslavers and Jim Crowers. As a result of Obama鈥檚 careful expression,
Kennedy hypothesizes that many whites were grateful, or at least confident that Obama did not resent them. Ultimately Kennedy suggests that Obama did not so much overcome whites鈥� racial resistance as neutralize it.
In his final chapter, Kennedy offers several conclusions: that race still matters, but it is sometimes an asset; that black candidates, voters, and officials are likely to remain a force, especially in the Democratic party; and that, at the very least, Obama鈥檚 presidency has effectively demonstrated that a person of color can responsively govern.
These conclusions are not earth-shattering, but they are useful points of reflection. The same might be said for 鈥淧ersistence鈥� as a whole. By adapting his lectures and harnessing some of the national chatter, Kennedy has created a valuable historical document 鈥� both for those of us who lived through the 2008 election and would welcome a more academic perspective on it, and for those who one day will look back on that time and wonder what people were talking about.
Kelly Nuxoll is a Monitor contributor.
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