Abstract

Research Article| September 01 2020 (Re)-Signing Reconciliation: Reading Obama’s Charleston Eulogy through a Rhetorical Theory of Adaptive Racism Mark Lawrence McPhail Mark Lawrence McPhail Mark Lawrence McPhail is a Senior Research Fellow in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs at Indiana University. I wish to thank Professor Martin Medhurst for his sustained and ongoing commitment to inclusive excellence, diversity, and equity, Professors Aaron David Gresson, III, John Hatch and David Frank for their courage, commitment, and integrity, and Dr. Evelyn Boise Bottando for showing me the clear connection between white privilege, innocence, and sociopathy. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Rhetoric and Public Affairs (2020) 23 (3): 529–552. https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.23.3.0529 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Mark Lawrence McPhail; (Re)-Signing Reconciliation: Reading Obama’s Charleston Eulogy through a Rhetorical Theory of Adaptive Racism. Rhetoric and Public Affairs 1 September 2020; 23 (3): 529–552. doi: https://doi.org/10.14321/rhetpublaffa.23.3.0529 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveMichigan State University PressRhetoric and Public Affairs Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2020 Michigan State University Board of Trustees2020 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

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Rhetoric & Public Affairs
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2020-09-01
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10.14321/rhetpublaffa.23.3.0529
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  2. 2. Heather McDonald. The Shameful Liberal Exploitation of the Charleston Massacre, National Review, July 1, 2…
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  4. 4. Mark Lawrence McPhail, “A Question of Character: Re(-)signing the Racial Contract,” Rhetoric & Public Affa…
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  11. 16. See Mark Lawrence McPhail and David A. Frank, “Racing the Trump Card: Rhetorics of Whiteness and the Poli…
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  22. 27. Mark Lawrence McPhail, “Dessentializing Difference: Transformative Visions in Contemporary Black Thought,…
  23. 28. McPhail, “A Question of Character.”
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  26. 31. Obama, “Remarks.”
  27. 32. David A. Frank and Mark Lawrence McPhail, "Barack Obama's Address to the 2004 Democratic National Convent…
  28. (Im) Possibility of Racial Reconciliation," Rhetoric & Public Affairs 8 (2005): 571-93.
  29. 33. See for example Jerry Kang and Mahzarin R. Banaji, "Fair Measures: A Behavioral Realist Revision of Affir…
  30. Brian A Nosek et al., "Pervasiveness and Correlates of Implicit Attitudes and Stereotypes," European Review o…
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  32. 34. James L. Golden and Richard D. Rieke, The Rhetoric of Black Americans, Merrill’s International Speech Ser…
  33. 35. Golden and Rieke, 7.
  34. 36. See Aaron David Gresson III, The Recovery of Race in America. (Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Pre…
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  37. 39. McDonald, “Obama’s False Narrative.”
  38. 40. McDonald, “Obama’s False Narrative.”
  39. 41. McDonald, “Obama’s False Narrative.”
  40. 42. Mark Lawrence McPhail, The Rhetoric of Racism Revisited: Reparations or Separation? (Lanham, MD: Rowman a…
  41. 43. McDonald, “Obama’s False Narrative.”
  42. 44. McDonald, “Obama’s False Narrative.”
  43. 45. Obama, “Remarks.”
  44. 46. McDonald, “Obama’s False Narrative.”
  45. 47. Theories of aversive, modern, and symbolic racism are derived from social psychological research that dif…
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  48. 48. McDonald, “Obama’s False Narrative.”
  49. 49. The Urban League’s recent comprehensive report, 40 Years: The State of Black America, 1976-2016, directly…
  50. 50. McDonald, “Obama’s False Narrative,” Comments.
  51. 51. Ronald A. Heifetz, Leadership Without Easy Answers (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994), 72.
  52. 52. Mills suggests that this racial denial is a result of the incoherence between an abstract “social contrac…
  53. 53. Golden and Rieke, 6.
  54. 54. Mills, The Racial Contract, 18.
  55. 55. Paul M. Niedenthal, June Price Tangney, and Igor Gavinski, “‘If Only I Weren’t’ Versus ‘If Only I Hadn’t’…
  56. 56. The dynamics of guilt and shame in the Obama presidency have been productively explored by rhetorical sch…
  57. and Katherine Henry, "Slaves to a Debt: Race, Shame, and the Anti-Obama Jeremiad," Quarterly Journal of Speec…
  58. 57. Marzia Milazzo. “On White Ignorance, White Shame, and Other Pitfalls in Critical Philosophy of Race,” Jou…
  59. 58. Milazzo, 568.
  60. 59. Milazzo, 568.
  61. 60. See M. E. Thomas, “How to Spot a Sociopath: 16 Key Behavioral Characteristics That Define Sociopaths/Psyc…
  62. 61. See, for example, Shannon Travis, “Black Conservatives Join Hands to Deny Racism Within the Tea Party Mov…
  63. 62. Perry, 216.
  64. 63. Ibid.
  65. 64. Trump’s ascent may be the best evidence of the socio-pathological impulses reflected in adaptive racism. …
  66. 65. Obama, “Remarks.”
  67. 66. Katie Rogers, “Jenny Horne’s Plea to Remove the Confederate Flag,” The New York Times, July 9, 2015, http…