oh, god, dr. weems. that just makes my guts sink into the floor. i’m still trying to figure out the answer to this question. i’m trying to think of a concise way to wrap up fear, isolation, the systematic oppression of societies with special attention given to certain groups of people, greed, human brutality and cruelty … all into one neat answer that doesn’t make the world seem like a hopeless place. i’m having trouble…

As you say, the President’s answer was not off base. However, in his place I might have answered somewhat differently. such as, “I do not believe they hate me so much as they hate what I am trying to do. Whenever a person stands up for change and inclusiveness there will be those who hate the idea of giving up their exclusive position.”

I appreciate the way the President addressed the little boy . He kept the answer simple enough for a fourth grade boy to grasp, while remaining magnanimous. The deeper meaning is for each of us to grapple with. There are still some people who cant wrap their minds around a confident black man with the audacity to believe he deserves to be president! Some people (still) want our brothers to answer to “Toby”! So to the boy’s question, why
do they hate you, I ask, must they love you in order for you to live?

I remember asking a similar question while in the 4th grade. I was one of only a handful of African American students who integrated an elementary school in Huntington, NY. I wondered why people have hatred for those who are different.

I agree that President Obama may have misinterpreted the young man’s question. While some of the hating going on is political in nature, what I have observed seems to have a significantly deeper root. Quite frankly I have been shocked by statements made by some of my white, middle class, conservative friends. I’ve had to do a few double takes as I checked to see if the person I thought made a derogatory comment was indeed the person who made the comment.

In the past decade, my white friends have told me that they see beyond race. I have been told that we should be beyond issues of racial discrimination. What should be and what is are too different things. As many congratulated Barack Obama on his win of the 2008 election, a neighbor told me that these were the last days. She told me about the discussion that ensued at her church…..the Presidency of Obama was considered an omen that the end of the world was upon us.

Yes, some of the hating going on is political in nature…but some of the hating has significantly deeper roots.

It frustrates me that President Obama will speak out freely about the behavior of superstars ie Kanye West and other trivialities, but he is hush mouthed about real issues like what happened to Professor Gates and then this little boy’s question. I guess it comes with the job.

Dr. Reems,

I just finished trying to explain to a white woman about what is offensive about hearing “we want our country back”. And she still doesn’t get. I am so tired, I don’t know what to do. What that little boy is picking up in his sensitive little spirit is the hatred that goes beyond mere disagreement on the issues. It is visceral and personal and ugly. What Obama should say and can’t is they hate him because there are certain people who can’t stand that a black man is the leader of the free world. That his foreign policy decisions do not place the interests of America at the center of the universe. That America has to educate all of its citizens and that the healthcare system has to work for the people and not just the insurers. And they hate that it is coming from a black man who is in love with his strong beautiful black woman and their children. That just has them frothing at the mouth. It’s a crimson shame.

I too asked that question of my grandfather when i was in 5th grade. My grandfather told me that trying to figure out why white flolks hate colored folks is like trying to figure out why a dog barks. “He barks cause he’s a dog”
He told me you can’t make people like you but you can teach them to respect you. Sometimes i question the level of respect this country has for our president. I wonder what Megar, Martin and Malcolm would say.

I think he didn’t want to share the weight of hate with a child. I think he’s tired of white folk already and doesn’t want to give them anything else to talk about. I work with kids and his election has many of them hoping and believing in new possibilities for themselves and black people. I can understand wanting to protect that. Parents need to have the hard conversations with their kids and I’m sure the person that brought that child there, has had that conversation. I’ve accepted that Barack will likely not go deep again (as he did during the “Wright” campaign issue)until he’s on the way out. Too much exhaustion has happened on the front end. I bet the first family is already counting the days until this season is over.

I thought the President did a great job with the question as the President. After all, that same question could have been asked of Bush and of every other presidents albeit reasons differ.
Could the question have cut differently if was asked by a white fourth grader? It hurt most for me because of who was asking it.

Speaking of which, yesterday one of my dear-est and best-est of my church leaders (i am a black woman pastoring a 90% white congregation) asked me what I thought of the judge who refused to marry the interracial couple. I never got to my response because she completely took me by surprise when she said, “I dont see anything wrong because it is his belief and we all have a right to our own beliefs”.
Now dear-est and best-est has become the white-est and it hurt-est. Race issues in the USA muddles everything.

@K,
I’m feeling your pain. I’m a grad student and my advisor is a white woman who studies racist attitudes. I respect her work and the stand she takes against racial prejudice. She called me “uppity” this week when I asked her a question.
Now, President Obama probably knows how quickly your white supporters can turn into your white detractors, and it needn’t be because they disagree with you on an issue. It could be because white people as a group still don’t know how to treat black people. President Obama could have told the truth, but we heard this week about the financial problems the Secret Service is having, so that probably wouldn’t have been wise. Instead, he did was President Obama does-he sat in the middle.
Hopefully that young brotha has a mother who will tell him what President Obama couldn’t.

Opps! scratch that last post I hit send while scrolling down. But I really want to respond to this! I have to say that I felt outside of the answer. I wanted to be drawn to the center of what affects the masses of African Americans. I think his “0′Ness” should have exemplified “Lowliness”. Being in one of the highest offices in the nation, I feel he should have came out of his “Elected Self” and been bold and beneficent in his natural “Erected Self”. It was a chance to go to the heart of who he really is. A product of being Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian. It was a chance for him to identify with the boy he use to be the boy standing before him, and the “boy” of hate that comes out of the mouths of those who are ignorant! I guess this is a wake up call for every leader, men a women alike, to be conscious. Know that you are set up for the spotlight, and when you get your opportunity to let your true self shine. Stand erect and erudite and DO NOT MISS THE MOMENT!