Last night Tessa and I scored free tickets to see Krista Tippett from American Public Media's "Speaking of Faith" interview Joshua DuBois, the director of President Obama's religious outreach in the campaign and now director of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
I was excited about the night, and almost purchased tickets for the night. I've got to say, that I'm glad that I got the tix for free, it was interesting, but not $18.00(MPR member rate) interesting.
This Joshua DuBois is an impressive guy, 26, Associate Pentecostal Pastor, Masters Degree in Public Policy, Cabinet level position in the Executive Branch. I mean, I kind of feel like a slacker compared to him. I mean, c'mon, I'm 28, and what have I accomplished? ;)
I admire President Obama and Mr. DuBois', ability to broaden the religious/political conversation in America. I think that one thing that the campaign did really well was listening to people's stories, and then making sure that language was inclusive to people of all faiths and non-faith.
The convesation last night had some interesting points, but in general it was so "Washington" it was so, "these are my talking points and what I'm allowed to say." So I was kind of disappointed. Even the brilliant probing questions and über tranquil and wise voice of Krista Tippett couldn't get him away from a series of formulated answers.
The most shocking point of the night came at the end though - Larry Jacobs, the moderator of the audience questions asked Mr. DuBois about his basketball game.
I can only assume this is because he is a young black man, and I'm a little shocked that someone who teaches political science at the University of MN would ask such a stupid question. I mean, Mr. DuBois is already an Associate Pastor, has a Master's in Public Policy and has worked on a super successful presidential campaign. Do you think he's had a lot of time to work on his game lately?
Why in 2009 are we still assuming that every black man plays basketball, AND even if they do play basketball, why do we make it a part of our discussion about RELIGION and POLITICS. He would not have asked a white person this question, nor would he have asked this question to an African American woman.
Geez!
Here's a link to the Newscut blog, which live blogged the conversation.
1 comment:
Minor correction: The Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships is not actually a "Cabinet level position." It's part of the White House Office, and entails working together with the Departments that make up the Cabinet (Interior, Housing and Urban Development, Treasury, etc) to facilitate inclusion of non-profits in the functions carried out by those Departments.
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