Obama As a Black Man

Last night at the NAACP gala, the first African American president delivered the speech about race that he had avoided giving since the debacle over Rev. Jeremiah Wright that almost derailed his campaign for the Democratic nomination.

In some ways it had the tone of the speech Bill Cosby had been so criticized for making: the get off your ass, parent your children, and stop complaining.

What made this different? It was given by the President of the United States, a man who dabbled here and there with the lifestyle that has brought so many young African American men and women into despair.

But we can't forget, not for a moment, that racism is internalized, every moment that the disparities between whites and blacks continue, based not on happenstance, but on the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, and institutional racism that affects people of color not just daily, but throughout the day, for some. White people's attitudes are the problem, too.

Scroll down to the link to the bottom of the page and watch the speech. I was in awe of his ability to speak the truth, something so rare in any politician, especially after eight years of Bush.

Or read the speech and wonder how we can move to real conversations about race, like Eric Holder tried to do in February, his nation of cowards speech, and this one from the President hmself.