Saying we have made significant progress, President Obama nonetheless asserted that America has “by no means overcome the legacies of slavery and Jim Crow and colonialism and racism.”
Obama appeared on the fake news show, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, and was asked how he speaks to people about racism.
“When you are a person who has a platform, where you are in a space where you are engaging with people, it is often difficult to navigate and skirt that line between speaking your mind and sharing your true opinions on race — whilst, at the same time, not being seen to alienate some of the people you are talking to,” host Trevor Noah began.
“So the question I’ve always wanted to know is how did you navigate that?” he asked.
Obama explained that “we have by no means overcome the legacies of slavery and Jim Crow and colonialism and racism, but that the progress we’ve made has been real and extraordinary.”
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Via Grabien:
America is still struggling to overcome its “legacies of slavery, Jim Crow, colonialism, and racism,” President Obama told Comedy Central Monday night.
Appearing on “The Daily Show,” Obama was asked about how he speaks to crowds about race.
How does he “skirt that line between speaking your mind and sharing your true opinions on race whilst, at the same time, not being seen to alienate some of the people you are talking to,” host Trevor Noah asked.
“You know, my general theory is that, if I was clear in my own mind about who I was, comfortable in my own skin, and had clarity about the way in which race continues to be this powerful factor in so many elements of our lives,” Obama said. “But that it is not the only factor in so many aspects of our lives, that we have, by no means overcome the legacies of slavery and Jim Crow and colonialism and racism, but that the progress we’ve made has been real and extraordinary, if I’m communicating my genuine belief that those who are not subject to racism can sometimes have blind spots or lack of appreciation of what it feels to be on the receiving end of that, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not open to learning and caring about equality and justice and that I can win them over because there is goodness in the majority of people.”
Of course, those Jim Crow laws were vehemently defended and supported by Obama’s Democrat Party.
Whether they’re trying to simply intimidate the black community, or ignoring rising crime rates in urban areas, the Democrat Party has always been the party of segregation, the party of Jim Crow, and the party of slavery.
It was Jesse Jackson Jr. who said “so much of the Democratic Party’s history, since it is our nation’s oldest political party, has its roots in slavery.”
Jackson would also explain that Democrats wrote “revisionist history” when it comes to Jim Crow laws.
Now, according to your American president, Americans are still holding onto the last vestiges of those laws. They’re making progress mind you, but we’re all still just a little bit racist.
Comment: Are Americans still struggling to overcome racism, slavery, and Jim Crow laws as Obama suggests? Share your thoughts below.
