오바마의 인종문제 연설, 정말 감동인 걸!!!

득표전략 면에서는 악수가 될지 묘수가 될지는 두고 봐야 알겠지만,
오바마의 이번 연설 자체는 정말 감동이라 아니할 수 없다.

미국의 인종문제나 우리나라의 지역문제는
그 뿌리가 너무나 깊고 정치사회 전반에 지대한 영향력을 가지고 있음에도 불구하고,
실재하는 그 문제를 제기하는 것마저 되려 인종주의네 지역주의네 비난하며
있는 것을 없다고만 하고 넘어가자고만 하는 사람들이 많다.
(내 생각에는, 그런 사람들의 대부분은 그런 차별의 수혜자이거나
 정상적인 정보수집 또는 논리판단능력이 좀 부족한 경우가 많은 것 같다. )
내가 눈만 감으면 세상에는 빛이 존재하지 않는다고 생각하는 것만큼이나 어리석은 짓이다.

좋은게 좋은 것이니 그냥 넘어가자,
시끄러운 것은 싫으니 그냥 넘어가자,
혹은 '경제를 살려야 하니' 이런 것들은 그냥 넘어가자는 패배주의적 유혹에 물들기 쉬운데...
문제의 역사적 맥락을 살필 줄 알고
이 문제를 해결하는 것이 바로 보다 나은 미래를 가져다 준다는 것을 설득할 줄 알며
그런 대담한 희망을 불러일으키는 리더를 제대로 활용할 줄 아는 그들이 부럽다.

그의 연설은 그 핵심 주제 뿐만 아니라
강약의 조절, 사적인 경험과 공적인 문제의 연결,
과거와 현재와 미래의 연결, 인종 문제와 다른 사회문제와의 연결 등
그 전달 방식에서도 정말 훌륭하다.

자칫하면 화살이 거꾸로 자신에게 돌아올 문제,
잘하면 10원 이득, 잘못하면 10억 손해인 문제를
저렇게 호소력 있고 당당하게 정리한 오바마에게 좋은 결과가 있었으면 좋겠다.

가장 감명깊고 호소력 있는 구절은 역시 그의 인생사 자체에서 나온다. 노무현의 재임 중의 잘잘못과 능력/무능력을 떠나 당선 그 자체가 바로 그의 지대한 업적이었던 것처럼 오바마가 만일 당선된다면 당선 그 자체가 엄청난 업적이 될 것이다.

• I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.

특히, 자신을 키워 주면서 온갖 희생을 마다하지 않았었지만 길가의 흑인이 무섭다고 고백하고 인종차별적 언사를 입에 담아 오바마를 움츠리게 하게 하는 인종주의적 가해자의 일면도 가지고 있던 그의 백인 할머니에 대한 고백은 바로 미국의 '보통'백인의 자화상이라 아니할 수 없다. (여기서... 일본의 식민지배의 정당성을 굳이 찾으려 애쓸 정성은 갖고 있으나 덜영남정권의 지난 10년에는 균형의식이라고는 티끌만큼도 찾으려 하지 않는 꼴통 지역주의자들을 지지하시는, 하지만 자식들에게는 자상하시고 헌신적이신 영남 지역 어르신들의 모습이 오버랩... 아울러, 문제를 역사적 현실적 맥락에서 구체적으로 제대로 이해하려 하지 않고 "둘 다 나빠 나빠~~" 하며 짐짓 균형잡힌 척 위선을 떠는 타지역 사람들의 모습도 오버랩... -.-;;)

• I can no more disown him (목사) than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

그리고, 멋진 구절 몇 군데 더...

• This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either "too black" or "not black enough."
• But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
• The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.
• Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
• This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.
  But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.
• In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.

  
  
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