Toni Morrison on Barack Obama
Toni Morrison is one of my favorite novelists. I’ve read almost everything she’s written, so I was interested to find out her feelings on Obama’s election - especially since she had publicly endorsed him. I tried to Google the information the other day but didn’t find anything, so was pleased to see her on the Charlie Rose Show, yesterday.
She says she is somewhat exhilarated. When Charlie Rose asked her why only somewhat, she replied that Obama is an exceptional man and what she calls wise, but he is only one man and the weight of the whole country should not be on one man. We, the people, need to take responsibility. And we may finally be ready to do that.
She said that we’d been beaten with fear - somebody’s going to get us, somebody is going to hurt us. We’ve been terrified and underneath that terror is cowardice. Obama’s election shows that we are finally finished with being cowards. That doesn’t mean nothing bad will happen, but perhaps we won’t feel compelled to shoot people in foreign lands because we are afraid.
She said it all far more eloquently than I have presented it, of course! :) Bottom line, she seems to be wary of adding to the weight Obama already has on his shoulders.
Her latest novel, A Mercy, sounds fascinating. She wanted to explore what it was like for a black slave before race was an issue so she set it in North America just prior to the formation of the U.S. before racism had taken root.
Obama’s job is tough, no doubt. And I also beleive that noone can solve everyone’s problems. Therefore, to judge Obama in anticipation would be wrong.
As a non-American, my interest in Obama is in his election. And all that preceeded it. What happens from here on will definitely be of interest, albeit for a completely different reason.
What is exhilirating for me personally is to see that the ‘mass’ can still make the right choice. There is a very good short piece in the current issue of New Yorker magazine which lists out all qualities of Obama and says why his skin colour is oversadowing that, in the media and other forums.
I beleive a black president is a social change that was predictable and inevitable; still the moment when it happened is definitive. But what is more important is that a guy who could think, who maintained dignity despite everything said about him and who never failed reason in a political campaign as difficult as his was a man who deserved to be President. People elected him and probably for once proved Ibsen when he said - Majority is always wrong. That’s heartening and a reality beyond hope.
I meant to say “proved Ibsen wrong”
I agree - people elected Obama based on his abilities, not on his race. I think it is true that people have stopped seeing color. What amazes me is that my 70+ year old mother was for Hillary Clinton and when she lost, she was for McCain. At first I thought that was about color, but then I realized it was truly about experience because as soon as McCain put Palin on the ticket, she was for Obama. And this from a woman from the south whose father was raised by a black indentured nanny.
The times were a’changin’ (as Bob Dylan sang). Now they’ve changed! How else can change take place if it doesn’t permeate through the majority?
The masses are mindless, no doubt. But I still trust in a collective wisdom within the masses, nonetheless. (Maybe there remains some truth to the 10,000th monkey theory?)