U.S. must move beyond race, Obama says in frank speech

Address follows firestorm over ex-pastor's remarks

Last Updated: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 | 12:46 PM ET

CBC News

U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama confronted America's legacy of racial division head-on in a speech Tuesday, calling recent controversy in the Democratic contest part of a "racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years."

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama speaks about race and politics in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
(Alex Brandon/Associated Press)

The Illinois senator, whose father was Kenyan and white mother was from Kansas, is seeking to be the country's first black president. He has said his unique life story enables him to deliver his message of unity, and lift Americans above their deep-seated racial and political divides.

During a wide-ranging address on race and politics Tuesday in Philadelphia, Obama also sought to appease public anger over inflammatory sermons made by his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who has served as Obama's religious mentor for more than 20 years.

He called Wright's comments "not only wrong, but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity.

"They expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country, a view that sees white racism as endemic," he said amid a backdrop of eight American flags in what observers had billed as the most important speech of his candidacy.

During his speech, Obama cited the unresolved issues of the African-American community's grievance in the wake of slavery and white resentment over affirmative action. He said the continuing schism is rarely talked about publicly, but often emerges in more intimate circles such as churches.

Passions 'reflect the complexities of race'

He said he understood the continued passions on all sides, adding they "reflect the complexities of race in this country that we have never worked through, a part of our union that we have not yet made perfect."

'He contains within him the contradictions — the good and the bad — of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.'

—Senator Barack Obama on his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright

But he insisted Americans of all colours must address the issues surrounding race with mature discussion in order to move beyond the lingering divisions.

"If we walk away now, if we retreat to our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve problems like health care, education and the need to find jobs for every American," Obama said. 

But the candidate also offered praise for the embattled Wright, saying he could not disown the man who embraced him in the Christian faith, baptized his two children and inspired him with his message of hope to take action.

"He contains within him the contradictions — the good and the bad — of the community he has served diligently for so many years," Obama said. "I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than my white grandmother … who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."

Pastor's 2003 sermon targeted

In recent weeks, Obama's critics and the U.S. media have cited — and replayed repeatedly — a 2003 sermon made by Wright to his congregation at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. Obama did not attend the sermon.

During the sermon, Obama's pastor of 20 years appeared to suggest the U.S. government was seeking to destroy African-Americans. In other addresses, Wright suggested America was perhaps responsible for inciting the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on Washington and New York.

"The government gives them drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants to sing God Bless America," Wright said during his 2003 sermon. "No, no, no, not 'God Bless America' — 'God Damn America.'"

Obama has already sought to distance himself from Wright's comments, previously calling them "inflammatory and appalling." That condemnation, in turn, has reportedly sparked fury from Obama's supporters in the African-American faith community, with many church leaders viewing the move as a betrayal.

Clinton camp questioned over other race comments

The emergence of Wright's sermons on the internet came amid renewed controversy over race in the Democratic campaign, after racially charged comments made by Senator Hillary Clinton's former honorary co-chair, former vice-presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro.

Ferraro resigned from Clinton's campaign after suggesting Obama would not be in the same position as he is in the race if he were white.

Clinton's husband, former president Bill Clinton, was heavily criticized ahead of the South Carolina primary for comparing Obama's campaign to Jesse Jackson's previous presidential runs in 1984 and 1988, in that Jackson drew almost exclusively on African-American support.

Obama currently holds a significant lead in pledged delegates over Clinton in the Democratic contest ahead of the party's national convention in September, in which Democrats will select a nominee to run in the November presidential election.