A more perfect union

By Dale Alison

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Many Americans were waiting for the Barack Obama who stepped into the White House briefing room Friday afternoon. During his remarkable 19-minute comment, he addressed the country's discomfort with the topic of race in a manner that was personal yet presidential. He gave deference to the Florida judge and jury in the George Zimmerman trial, which prompted the appearance, then shared what it was like to walk in the shoes of someone like Trayvon Martin, the man Zimmerman killed.

Obama challenged us individually but assured us collectively that conditions overall are getting better. ... His sober question Friday, “Am I wringing as much bias out of myself as I can?” will be remembered as well as his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention when said, ideally, “There's not a black America and white America and Latin America and Asian America; there's the United States of America.”

... The president reminded us that despite the all-too-often setbacks, year by year race relations are improving.

Yes, I was disappointed with the Zimmerman verdict. But parsing the case as it was presented to the jury, I understand how the six women reached their conclusion. I don't agree with it, but I see how it may have been arrived at.

From my perspective ... George Zimmerman was the aggressor and could have prevented the travesty by doing as the police dispatcher said and remaining in his car. He'll have to live with the decision he made.

We're seven generations removed from the armed conflict intended to end slavery and put Americans on the path to equality. At least that's what we're told in our elementary school history books, and that might be part of our problem.

It's more complicated than that. Much more, and far more recent.

Douglas Blackmon's “Another Name for Slavery” won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction in 2009. Blackmon described the 80 years following Reconstruction, where conditions in the South arguably were worse for the black race than before the Civil War. ... Conditions in the North were better, but hardly equal.

Civil rights legislation 50 years ago helped, but the head start whites had was considerable. Could it be many people don't want to acknowledge the indignities and injustices perpetrated on blacks because they don't want to confront the guilt that might accompany it? Is there one white person who would want to swap places with someone with darker skin? ...

Resolving the situation won't be easy, or it would have been done by now. But a good start comes with looking in the mirror and asking the question the president posed Friday, “Am I wringing as much bias out of myself as I can?”

Dale Alison is managing editor of the Burlington Hawk Eye. Comments: news@thehawkeye.com