In his first years as president, Barack Obama mentioned race less than any other Democratic president since the 1960s. When Obama has broken his silence on race, he has been harshly attacked. When he said, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon [Martin],” he was lashed by the conservative media. These days Obama is again beginning to speak about race but in a cautious and circuitous way. Most recently, he touched on the issue in an interview with NPR. Obama acknowledged that racial bias has played a role in some of the opposition that he has faced. Just as Obama…
In his first years as president, Barack Obama mentioned race less than any other Democratic president since the 1960s. When Obama has broken his silence on race, he has been harshly attacked. When he said, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon [Martin],” he was lashed by the conservative media. These days Obama is again beginning to speak about race but in a cautious and circuitous way.
Most recently, he touched on the issue in an interview with NPR. Obama acknowledged that racial bias has played a role in some of the opposition that he has faced. Just as Obama needed an “anger translator,” his comments on race needs a bit of “race translation,” because of Obama’s indirectness. At times, Obama uses the phrases “my unique demographic,” “my background,” and “the particulars of who I am” instead of simply saying “my race.”
Obama is aware that his race has activated and energized some of the opposition to him. He understands that some Americans fear him because he is African American. He observes that “the specific virulence of some of the opposition directed towards me . . . may be explained by the particulars of who I am.” And, he also recognizes that the xenophobia and Islamophobia directed at him are also partially caused by his race.
In the interview, Obama noted that the “questioning whether I was born in the United States” was “actively promoted” and “gain[ed] traction because of my unique demographic.” Indeed, Obama would have had an easier time had he been a white Canadian like Ted Cruz. (Hispanics can be of any race.) Although Obama was born in Hawaii and has released his birth certificate, to this day a large share of the American public refuses to believe that Obama is American. My analysis of Google Trends data reveals that concern about Obama’s place of birth has dwarfed the concern about Ted Cruz’s place of birth–and Cruz actually was born in another country. Implicit bias researchers have found that Americans are more likely to associate the white, United Kingdom, former prime minister Tony Blair with American-ness than Barack Obama. In my book, America Is Not Post-Racial: Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Racism, and the 44th President, I find that individuals with stronger anti-black sentiments are more likely to say that Obama is not American. Racial prejudice feeds the view that Barack Obama is an immigrant.
Obama also pointed to “my background” to help explain the Islamophobia directed at him. He said, there are “specific strains in the Republican Party that suggest that somehow I’m different, I’m Muslim, I’m disloyal to the country,” and these attacks are “pretty specific to me and who I am and my background.” Although Obama is Christian and was involved in a major controversy around his membership in Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright’s church, many Americans are convinced that Obama is Muslim. In America Is Not Post-Racial, I find that individuals with stronger anti-black sentiments are more likely to believe that Obama is Muslim. Racial prejudice also feeds the Islamophobia directed at Obama.
Some conservatives adamantly reject the idea that race has played a role in the opposition to Obama. They also argue that the conservative support of individuals like Ben Carson and Clarence Thomas shows that conservatives are colorblind. But this argument rests on a too simplistic view of how racial prejudice works. It is now a cliché that when someone is accused of racism he mentions that he has a friend of another race. People like Carson and Thomas can function as that friend who serves as a cover for racial bias. Carson and Thomas take positions in strong opposition to the positions held by black civil rights organizations. It is, of course, possible to be opposed to this civil-rights agenda and not be prejudiced, but if one is prejudiced one is very likely to oppose this agenda. Thus, for some who are prejudiced, supporting someone like Carson or Thomas is a way to be anti-black and simultaneously to attempt to hide one’s prejudice behind the blackness of individuals like Carson and Thomas.
Obama’s NPR interview is revealing for what the president says about the role of race in motivating some of the opposition to him. Obama recognizes that some Americans hate him for his race, and that racial prejudice is even implicated in the xenophobia and Islamophobia directed at him. All of these attacks illustrate the burden of being the president while black.
Algernon Austin is the author of America Is Not Post-Racial: Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Racism, and the 44th President which is the only book to analyze the 25 million Obama Haters in America.
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Obama Would Have Had an Easier Time as a White Canadian Like Ted Cruz
