Prometheus 6

There's an awful lot of biological determinism in this post.

Key to the power of the speech, of course, is who Obama is.

He reminded us that he is the child of a black immigrant father and a white midwestern mother. He spent his formative years abroad, and he later embraced the African American community in a major political and cultural center of that community: the South Side of Chicago. Ta-Nehisi rightly pointed out that there is controversy about Obama's blackness, but I think that Obama has sought to speak at different times from different identities. Though many will disagree with me, I think he can plausibly portray himself as a player on many teams--Black, White, Mixed-Race and Immigrant America--and this can give authenticity and insight and thus power to his words.

Enough that I'll never, ever be able to accept his internal processing. And this

The first we can call the Fallacy of Racial Continuity. This is the idea that because races--or what Americans call races--exist unceasingly over time, then the injustices that one race can be said to commit or have committed against another in the past can be attributed to the component individuals who make up that race today. This is the basis of an idea that lies behind much race conversation in America: whites dominated, exploited and committed atrocities against nonwhites, especially blacks, and thus owe reparations, affirmative action, or some other compensation.

...is a piss-poor description of things.

This is better: if I punch you in the face today, seven years from now after every cell in both our bodies have died and been replaced, you will still hate me because I punched you in the face. 

Better still: if I invest the money you pay me for my protection racket, make scads of money while your business fails for lack of capital, when we both die does my estate owe your estate anything?

If you can understand the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry you should have no trouble understanding why a lot of Black folks believe the whole "sins of the father" thing. Though it would be a good thing for everyone to be clear on the difference between collective and individual responsibility.

There's a couple other issues I could raise in the post but I won't for two reasons. First, I'd never get a response.

I won’t name it but most Americans know what it is: that toxic brew of emotion--of anger, resentment, guilt, denial, license and hypocrisy--that seems to creep to the surface when Americans discuss racial issues, especially those involving blacks and whites.

Second, though, is this stuff is all in the middle of the post. Framing it are two interesting concessions: this at the beginning

Obama’s speech was remarkable and powerful for what he said, how he said it, and because of who he is. At the same time, it showed that even a politician as gifted as Obama cannot transcend rule number one of American politics: there shall be no policies targeted to benefit blacks.

(There's that biological determinism...oh, well) and this toward the end.

As Glenn and Ta-Nehisi note, African Americans suffer egregious inequalities in incarceration rates, childhood poverty, residential segregation, and other areas. But apparently these are to be combatted, in Obama’s view, only with policies that also benefit whites, Asians, Latinos, and Native Americans.

This non-targeted, universalist strategy might indeed be the the best way to get elected and the wisest course. And I must admit I'm excited by Obama's universalist vision. But in a country that regularly helps specific groups, such as farmers or residents of particular regions or college students or even corporations, a truly open and honest conversation about race should explore and explain why a serious candidate can't talk about using targeted policy to help racial groups. 

Good catch, Mr. Skrentny.

If I were to group the good and the bad in the post, I would say the bad were internal descriptions while the good were external interfaces. I need to be concerned with my own internal descriptions but yours, well, not so much.

However.

I have come to recognize when folks are trying...it's like they've declared the right interface, but the code is a little buggy. And you can't say that's a good thing, but bug free systems are  vanishingly rare.