Cordula Meyer: An interview with sociologist Michael Eric Dyson on Barack Obama, Martin Luther King and race relations in America
According to sociologist and Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson, Barack Obama has already won the election. But if he were white, "he'd be up by 15 to 20 points in the polls." In an interview, Dyson talks about why Barack Obama can't be emotional, his similarities with Martin Luther King, black self-hatred and the shades of black success.
Professor Dyson, the polls show Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama clearly ahead of Republican candidate John McCain. The Republican Party's standing in the polls seems to have hit rock bottom, and the financial crisis is helping Obama. Has he already won the election?
Certainly. If he were a white man, he'd be up by 15 to 20 points in the polls. But there are many Americans who -- regardless of the intelligence or the profound political persuasion of a figure like Barack Obama -- will never vote for a black man. Not all of them are racists; some are skeptical, and some are suspicious.
Do these people still matter, especially after Obama so clearly won the televised debate last week?
Still, his sheer eloquence is often held against him. If a black person stumbles rhetorically, he is viewed as incompetent and unintelligent. If, like Obama, he rises to elegant expression, there is doubt cast on his intentions, aspirations and motivations. If he ever got emotionally intense, Obama would be viewed as an "angry black man." There's an awful tough tightrope for Obama to walk, and there's little doubt that it's held taut by racial tensions.
In 1967, Martin Luther King said: "The vast majority of white Americans are racist, either consciously or unconsciously." Is that still correct?
Well, I think that America certainly has made extraordinary progress. The collective unconscious of the nation has certainly shifted as a result of the civil rights movement and the developments in the '70s and '80s. We have witnessed a great expansion of the black middle class.
But ?
Were King to reappear on the American scene, he would have to bitterly conclude that there are persistent pockets of prejudice and barriers of bigotry. They continue to prevail in the deep underlying structures of the national consciousness -- and not only when a black man is hanged here or a black man is dragged there....
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Professor Dyson, the polls show Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama clearly ahead of Republican candidate John McCain. The Republican Party's standing in the polls seems to have hit rock bottom, and the financial crisis is helping Obama. Has he already won the election?
Certainly. If he were a white man, he'd be up by 15 to 20 points in the polls. But there are many Americans who -- regardless of the intelligence or the profound political persuasion of a figure like Barack Obama -- will never vote for a black man. Not all of them are racists; some are skeptical, and some are suspicious.
Do these people still matter, especially after Obama so clearly won the televised debate last week?
Still, his sheer eloquence is often held against him. If a black person stumbles rhetorically, he is viewed as incompetent and unintelligent. If, like Obama, he rises to elegant expression, there is doubt cast on his intentions, aspirations and motivations. If he ever got emotionally intense, Obama would be viewed as an "angry black man." There's an awful tough tightrope for Obama to walk, and there's little doubt that it's held taut by racial tensions.
In 1967, Martin Luther King said: "The vast majority of white Americans are racist, either consciously or unconsciously." Is that still correct?
Well, I think that America certainly has made extraordinary progress. The collective unconscious of the nation has certainly shifted as a result of the civil rights movement and the developments in the '70s and '80s. We have witnessed a great expansion of the black middle class.
But ?
Were King to reappear on the American scene, he would have to bitterly conclude that there are persistent pockets of prejudice and barriers of bigotry. They continue to prevail in the deep underlying structures of the national consciousness -- and not only when a black man is hanged here or a black man is dragged there....