Of
the many noteworthy lines in President Obama's Inaugural speech, here's
one that especially struck me: "We cannot help but believe that the old
hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve;
that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal
itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of
peace."
The President was speaking of America's history as a multicultural
nation, laying out our unity as an example for the world. He was
offering e pluribus unum as it had originally been intended: not merely as a historical fact, but as a model for future human governance.
As most Americans heard today, he preceded his "lines of tribe"
comment with this: "... we know that our patchwork heritage is a
strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims,
Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language
and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have
tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from
that dark chapter stronger and more united ..."
For those who think this kind of rhetoric is a platitude, a
no-brainer, "Mom and apple pie," think again: The rhetoric of tribe is
being used today in every corner of the planet to divide, conquer, and
destroy. Tribalism is the curse that can destroy humanity. So far, the
21st Century has been no better than the century before it in terms of
our ability to overcome our heritage of tribal division.
Consider this Kenyan commentary, written as Obama won the Democratic nomination in June of last year:
"I am finding it very difficult to join in the
jubilation about Senator Barack Obama. Not that I want to deny the man
his victory, but my impulse to celebrate keeps deflating on the idea
that the best thing that happened to little Barack was not growing up
in Kenya ... If he had grown up here, and had he somehow managed to
retain most elements of his current self, he would have been another
outstanding, intelligent and competent Luo man in our midst:
And he would have been killed.
... after all, when we had that incredibly good-looking and
charismatic home-grown hero, Tom Mboya, we shot him to death. And when
that austerely intellectual and elegant leader, Robert Ouko, threatened
to look overly intelligent to the world, we killed him too. We killed
Pio Gama Pinto and we killed JM Kariuki ... When Wangari Maathai is
abroad, we feel that her Nobel Prize is partly represented in each of
our Kenyan living rooms; when she comes home, she is just another
Kikuyu politico ..."
These words come from a bitterly disappointed writer, someone whose
heart has been broken by tribal warfare and corruption. That's how
Obama, the Obama that would have been had he grown up in Kenya,
appeared in his eyes: as just another promising young half-Luo facing
violent death.
But tribalism isn't just a Third World problem. For 144 years we've
been spared the violence of civil war and received the grace of life in
a peaceful civil society. But we're not as different as we like to
think. There are tribal ruptures here, too. I've seen it in my own life
as the child of two religious heritages. Too often we use belief (and,
as the President observes, non-belief) to divide us - whether it's by
viewing wars and occupations through sectarian lenses, or by using "Phone
Books" that help us to do business only with those of our own faith.
Sure, it's political rhetoric to speak of finding unity and strength
in our diversity as "Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and
non-believers." But how often in the past ten years have we used these
differences in a tribal way to divide and conquer, electorally and
socially? We saw that happen in national politics over the course of many elections, and
again this year in California with the passage of Proposition 8.
Constitution-loving Americans have waited years for a President who
will say this: "We reject as false the choice between our safety and
our ideals .... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not
give them up for expedience's sake." But it's the call against
tribalism that rings in my ears tonight. If humanity is to survive,
those lines of tribalism must dissolve.
It's human nature to have communities of affinity as well as
communities as geography. Those communities can be based on common
history, shared interests, or a mutual wellspring of dreams, hopes, and
faith. There is a complex balance to be struck between respect for
cultural differences and devotion to our common destiny. Finding that
balance can be the work of lifetimes.
It won't be easy. Tribal divisions have to be recognized, not just
dismissed. We've failed to understand and acknowledge tribal issues in
making military and foreign policy decisions, to our own detriment and
the world's. We'll need to understand these forces better if we are to
forge that "hard-earned peace" the President spoke of in Afghanistan.
If we have the national will, however, improved intelligence and
improved diplomacy can be put to a higher purpose: the goal of building
a common human future by reducing sectarian division.
