African Americans would say, ‘Look at what we just did. So now we ought to have unblocked access to all of our dreams, all of our hopes,’” Cleaver said.
Many Americans are misguided in thinking that a Barack Obama win will settle the race discussion in the U.S., Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Hillary Clinton supporter who drew attention this weekend for pointed remarks about Obama, told FOX News on Wednesday.
Following up on remarks he made to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in which he described Obama as a “mediocre” orator, Cleaver said he thought the Illinois senator will win the Democratic presidential nomination, but that doesn’t mean the work will be done trying to improve race relations in America.
“I think whites would say, ‘How could anybody say we were racist, that we have any racist residue when you look what we just did (potentially electing Obama)?’ And African Americans would say, ‘Look at what we just did. So now we ought to have unblocked access to all of our dreams, all of our hopes,’” Cleaver said.
“And I think there would be great disappointment when they saw some issue of race surfacing. It would be like, ‘Oh my goodness. I thought we were past that.’”
Cleaver, a former Kansas City mayor, added that whites sometimes think that saying an African-American is “articulate” is a compliment, but in actuality it is symptomatic of latent low expectations.
“If you will remember earlier, one of the senators here referred to Senator Obama as ‘articulate.’ And I’ve never heard someone refer to Senator Clinton as articulate. I’ve never heard it,” he said.
“I mean if we’re going to have a conversation about race, we’re going to have to saying an African American is articulate is good. … We have to think, do we say this about whites? I testified before Congress in 1977 after a flood in Kansas City. And after the hearing was over, a Democrat walked over to me and said thank you for appearing before our committee and you were so articulate. I mean, they have articulate people up here before Congress all the time,” Cleaver continued.