...I saw Obama's speech as trying to bridge that divide--to say, as someone who had one foot in each community, "This is why the way they do things you don't like--not because they're different, but because they're very much like you." To be sure, he did it in a hamfisted way. But the grandmother example was, I thought, less an attempt to throw Grandma under the bus then to say that "racism is not the same thing as being an evil person". I'd venture to say that most white people know at least one older person who is both an extremely good, moral and virtuous person, and a racist. When it is a grandmother, a beloved teacher, a longtime employer, or a friend's parent, we discount their unacceptable beliefs, because we have personal proof of their general goodness. Thus we come to understand that good people can have very bad ideas. I think it was perfectly fair of Obama to extend that same charity to Reverend Wright.
What I love so much about Megan's post is that it rejects ideology and offers some humanity to this whole debate over this whole "state of racism" business. It's a great post. By all means check it out.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
It's interesting how Obama is able to present himself as a visible emblem of the hope of racial reconciliation - as a biracial person, even though he is identified and identifies as black, he can justifiably claim to have a foot in both communities. The same option doesn't exist when it comes to gender divisions (well, except for transgendered folks, but somehow I don't think they're likely to be listened to in the same way)--I haven't really worked this out yet, but maybe this points to a basic difference in the ways race and gender divide us?
It's interesting how Obama is able to present himself as a visible emblem of the hope of racial reconciliation - as a biracial person, even though he is identified and identifies as black, he can justifiably claim to have a foot in both communities. The same option doesn't exist when it comes to gender divisions (well, except for transgendered folks, but somehow I don't think they're likely to be listened to in the same way)--I haven't really worked this out yet, but maybe this points to a basic difference in the ways race and gender divide us?
I read that post back when it first went up and I commented there about how well thought out and honest it was. She really kind of let go of the typical stuff that colors (no pun intended) these discussions and got at the "realness" of it all. Being a black male, I really respected that.
How can a good person have bad ideas? For example, a kind person isn't someone who is kind on Thursdays, kind only to teenagers, or kind only to their own race. That's not kind. Kind is generic. Likewise with good. Someone who is good to their own race is a raciest, who "has been good to some people". If we allow that “good” can be applied on a race or gender or class basis, then we buy into these biases as valid perceptions.
By allowing for a racist to be "good person with bad ideas" we buy into the idea of racism as an "idea" rather than a deeply rooted psychological problem that toxifies the whole person.
"how can a good person have bad ideas?" Through ignorance or misperception.
What is very interesting and hopeful and wonderful about this campaign, this blog (Ta-Nehisi, thank you!), and the anonymous intimacy of the internet is that all of us may becoming a little less ignorant and gaining a little more knowledge of the complex similarities between ourselves and "the other".
Accepting that a misguided racist may still be a good person is like loving your screaming toddler even while finding the behavior unacceptable. Censuring the person is not the answer--we need to determine how to connect with the person and erase the misperception.
Just gonna second Sybil here--and not cause she shouted me out. In my time, I've heard some black folks say some pretty awful things about, say, the Korean merchants we dealt with as kids in West Baltimore. Hell, I remember calling it the "Chink Store" and basically thinking nothing of it. Was I evil? Nah. Incredibly ignorant? You bet.
I think "evil" is pretty strong language. What do we say is the problem with people who are bigoted and purposefully ignorant?
I'm sticking to my guns: Nice and good are characteristics that exclude mean and bad, whereas mean and bad don't mean the person isn't capable of nice and good. A bad person can do a good thing... but to be a good person you can't do bad things.
There is a great deal of racism in America. If you don't want to be racist, then you have to work at it. If you don't work at it, then you aren't a good person. I don't want anyone to take the struggle out of goodness... it's a struggle... there are racists who don't do any harm, but that doesn't make them good people.
Misguided is when you fault the Yankees for having so much money... that's what I think misguided looks like.