what happened to hope?

I’ve held out for a while against my husband’s pessimism, but gradually pessimism is taking hold of me to as I watch this presidential race continue to unfold. If there is one thing I need and feel our country needs, it is change. We need to fundamentally change the way we think about ourselves, our politics, and the world. There needs to be an ethic of the common good, instead of an ethic of self-aggrandizing. As I watch Democrats and Republicans split into their respective sides, the gulf between them widens. The pursuit of power daily minimizes the chance that our country will actually move forward from its partisan paralysis. And this means that rest of the world will continue to watch the bitter drama of the American stage with skepticism and disrespect. If there is anything that the world needs, it is leaders who act in the interests of the common good, who pursue justice, healing, reconciliation, equality. To borrow from Jim Wallace: leaders with a moral center.

The last few weeks have been ugly on the campaign trail. I have been sickened and outraged by the racial bind Americans are still trapped in. I have been repentant as I have seen the way “race” has been used to feed white power and privilege. Consider this: the fact that Barack Obama is increasingly leading among African American voters actually hurts him because it will alienate him from white voters. Barack Obama cannot talk freely about his identity as a biracial candidate with African roots or explicitly about his connection to the realities of racial injustice in this country because to do so will make him less palatable to white voters – even though it is clear that he has a keen understanding of these based on his own life experience. Meanwhile, the opposition candidates work to bring up Obama’s “blackness” as often as possible knowing the more he is associated with blackness, the weaker he becomes. The smear campaigns about his “Muslim” heritage or against his church, which is admirably dedicated to black empowerment and community revitalization continue. As a Christian, I am deeply troubled by conservative rhetoric against Obama’s church as “racist” simply because of its commitment to lifting up the marginalized black community.

This campaign is only bringing to light deep structural problems that exist in America – and I am saddened that there have not been more white people speaking out about this. I wish we were challenging this reality. Invoking Dr. King, Obama spoke last week of unity being the great need – the urgency – of the hour. He is right. Polarization by race and polarization by party will destroy us and the causalities will be the vulnerable and marginalized both in our own country and around the world.

Hope is believing in what is not yet seen. I still have hope because I believe the stance Obama has taken, the challenge that he has presented to the American people, is a prophetic one. It’s one that is less about him as a political figure (I am cynical about politics producing real change) and more about each of us staring deep into our hearts and asking if we are really ready to rise above self interest and work for the common good. Obama is calling us to heal what divides us in our neighborhoods, in our institutions, and in the world. The call is one that requires us to have deep empathy as we engage our differences and seek understanding. It is to give up our right to power and meet our neighbors in the middle. It is to work from the ground up.

The burden is on us. No one ever said that it would be easy. As we are seeing now, the structures of power are very powerful indeed. They inherently oppose change. It is not just black people who are hurt by the politics of power and privilege. It is white people too. We are all hurt by sacrificing the common good, by letting ourselves by silenced by the politics of fear. This feels really personal to me because I see what is playing out nationally on a day to day level. And yet most days all I hear is silence – especially from the white community. The burden is on us to challenge the prejudices, the cynicism, and the fear. The burden is on us to choose and work for change. The burden is on us to speak out against injustice – especially racial injustice. The burden is on us to sacrifice our own personal gain for the common good.

Shame on us if we ignore the call of the hour.