Obama’s Real Challenge: Shifting the Collective Consciousness
Pamela Gerloff
“Most men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most pick themselves up and continue as if nothing happened.” — Winston Churchill
Churchill’s words about the human propensity to ignore the truth that is right in front of us reminds me of the mainstream media’s response to Senator Obama’s speech on race. The speech was filled with profound truths, and yet so many in the media — interviewers, newscasters, and pundits alike — have merely picked up where they left off, continuing as if nothing happened.
But something did happen, something profound. In years to come, the speech Obama gave this week will be ranked among the most significant in our nation’s history. Like Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, John F. Kennedy’s exhortation to “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” or Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” vision of a unified America free of bigotry and hatred, historians will view Obama’s speech as an eloquent address producing effects far greater than “just words” ever could. His nuanced truth-telling about race in America, at a pivotal point in our history, offers all Americans a choice:
Will we just pick ourselves up and continue as if nothing happened? Or will we rise to the challenge and finally, as a nation, begin to talk about race in a way that heals, not hurts? Will we use this moment to bring about real change or will we use it to keep replaying the same old tapes of anger, bitterness, and resentment that have not united, but rather, divided us?
Not only did Obama’s speech — at once personal and intellectual — reveal some of the subtle complexities of American race relations; it also revealed that Obama is the only candidate in this election who even comes close to understanding the underlying mechanics of societal change. Not just how to create policy changes in Washington, but how to create the shifts in collective attitudes and beliefs that are needed to enable more fair, just, and effective policies to take hold. This is the hidden power of words, and of authentic truth-telling. Together, they can change the collective consciousness.e con [more]