Obama on Race 2008

This speech was delivered when President Obama was still a candidate for President. The speech was delivered on the campaign trail and was in response to remarks made by Mr. Obama's former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Instead of merely responding to allegations of racism, however, the speech embraces a broader view of the history of race in America, In order to trace where divisive views like Reverend Wright's might originate. The speech is also notable for its rhetorical style. Here are 40 words from the speech.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. divisive
    causing or characterized by disagreement or disunity
    And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.
  2. denigrate
    attack the good name and reputation of someone
    On the other end, we’ve heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.
    Alliteration is used throughout the speech, as it is here with
    " greatness and goodness." The conjunction of "greatness and goodness" is also interesting as it joins two things that don't usually go together- greatness usually replaces goodness on a scale of beneficial things. Here Obama uses both to mention the greatness of America in achievement and the good nature of its moral character.
  3. racism
    the prejudice that one people are superior to another
    Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.
    Candidate Obama balances a phrase containing "wrong with America" with a "right with America" phrase, a symmetry which can be very satisfying to a listening audience. Also note the continued alliteration in this passage, this time with "e" words: expressed, endemic, elevates, emanating.
  4. stalemate
    a situation in which no progress can be made
    It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.
    More alliteration, this time with words beginning with "s": stained, sin, slavery, stalemate, slave. Although "slave" comes after it, the list really climaxes with "stalemate" as the resolution that was a non-resolution to this problem, the fact that the list ends like this echoing the frustration of the historical situation.
  5. segregated
    separated or isolated from others or a main group
    Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven’t fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. [The Board of Ed.]
  6. disown
    cast off
    I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community.
    Repetition is also an important tool when composing and delivering speeches- it keeps a topic front and center, so any slight differences will be easy for the listener to pick up. Here, many people were calling on Obama to disown Rev. Wright, but says he cannot, because doing so would be like disowning the black community, something he would never do.
  7. polarization
    having a relation between two opposite attributes
    The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.
  8. discrimination
    unfair treatment of a person or group based on prejudice
    Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments – meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations.
    In a long paragraph, Obama addresses his topic of "legalized discrimination." The speech is building a case, like an essay or a lawyer in court, and with so many examples, this part of the speech takes on momentum, a life, all its own. One example after another hits the listener and clearly relates back to the main point. The audience gets the sense that there could be even more examples of injustice, that the speech had picked just a few to back up its thesis.
  9. cynicism
    a pessimistic feeling of distrust
    And it means taking full responsibility for own lives – by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.
  10. bawdy
    humorously vulgar
    Like other black churches, Trinity’s services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor.
  11. quintessential
    representing the perfect example of a class or quality
    Ironically, this quintessentially American – and yes, conservative – notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright’s sermons.
  12. gaffe
    a socially awkward or tactless act
    We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.
  13. endemic
    native to or confined to a certain region
    Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.
  14. exploited
    developed or used to greatest advantage
    At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician’s own failings.
  15. aftermath
    the consequences of an event, especially a catastrophic one
    We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.
  16. truism
    an obvious statement of fact
    The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright’s sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning.
  17. derogatory
    expressive of low opinion
    Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect.
  18. stereotype
    a conventional or formulaic conception or image
    I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
    Obama expands on the theme of what he cannot disown and why, contrasting his white grandmother's good and bad qualities.
  19. pervasive
    spreading or spread throughout
    ...the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today’s black and white students.
  20. bogus
    fraudulent; having a misleading appearance
    Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.
    The words "bogus" and "legitimate" are used here as a clear contrast of opposites.
  21. constrict
    become tight or as if tight
    They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted.
    The expected word choice here is "restricted," but by using "constricted," a word more likely to be associated with physical acts of cutting off, Obama humanizes the lack of opportunity and reminds us that it harmed and continues to harm, real people.
  22. inexcusable
    without justification
    Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable.
    Sometimes, using a word and then its negation is a bad idea, you should try to find a synonym for the opposite to vary the vocabulary. Here, though, Obama uses "excusable"and "inexcusable" one after the other to show that the issue is "simple" and he won't waste time reaching for another word. It is direct and reinforces the content of the speech.
  23. raucous
    unpleasantly loud and harsh
    Like other black churches, Trinity’s services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor.
  24. irrevocably
    in a manner that cannot be taken back
    It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country – a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past.
  25. entirety
    the state of being total and complete
    Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety – the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger.
    Like "goodness and greatness" above, these "and"statements - "the doctor and the welfare mom"...combine things that don't usually go together to form a contrast that captures the listener's attention.
  26. inequality
    lack of balance or similarity in status
    But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
    Helpfully, sometimes speakers will define words the use in one sentence with a synonym just a little later in the sentence, as Obama does here with "disparities" and "inequalities." You can tell that "disparities"!and "inequalities" are similar because there are no negation in the space between them and no word that changes the course of the speech, like "but" or "although."
  27. racist
    a person with a belief in the superiority of one people
    And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns – this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.
  28. unyielding
    stubbornly unwilling to give in
    This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people.
  29. legacy
    a gift of personal property by will
    But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
  30. complicity
    guilt as a confederate in a crime or offense
    That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change.
  31. sermon
    an address of a religious nature
    And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way
  32. union
    the state of being joined or united or linked
    “We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.”
  33. resentment
    a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will
    So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they’re told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.
    This paragraph is another example of a speaker building a case (see "discrimination" above) but this time the case is from the perspective of white Americans and the topic is the emotion all the examples can lead to, namely, resentment.
  34. overt
    open and observable; not secret or hidden
    In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed.
  35. affirmative
    giving assent
    On one end of the spectrum, we’ve heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it’s based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap.
  36. rabbi
    spiritual leader of a Jewish congregation
    Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.
  37. snippet
    a small piece of anything
    And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way
  38. predominantly
    much greater in number or influence
    Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety – the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger.
  39. disparity
    inequality or difference in some respect
    But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
  40. demagogue
    a leader who seeks support by appealing to popular passions
    We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.
Created on Fri Jan 08 10:52:39 EST 2016 (updated Mon Jan 11 15:09:23 EST 2016)

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