NationStates Jolt Archive

What Obama isn't: black like me

If Barack Obama makes it all the way to becoming the Democratic nominee for President in 2008, a feat he says he may attempt, a much more complex understanding of the difference between color and ethnic identity will be upon us for the very first time.

Back in 2004, Alan Keyes made this point quite often. Keyes was the black Republican carpetbagger chosen by the elephants to run against Obama for the U.S. Senate seat from Illinois. The choice of Keyes was either a Republican version of affirmative action or an example of just how dumb the party believes black voters to be, since it was obvious that Keyes came from the Southeast, not the Midwest.

That race was never much of a contest, but one fascinating subplot was how Keyes was unable to draw a meaningful distinction between himself as a black American and Obama as an African-American. After all, Obama's mother is of white U.S. stock. His father is a black Kenyan. Other than color, Obama did not - does not - share a heritage with the majority of black Americans, who are descendants of plantation slaves.

Of course, the idea that one would be a better or a worse representative of black Americans depending upon his or her culture or ethnic group is clearly absurd. Even slavery itself initially came under fire from white Christians - the first of whom to separate themselves from the institution were Quakers. The majority of the Union troops were white, and so were those who have brought about the most important civil rights legislation.

Why then do we still have such a simple-minded conception of black and white - and how does it color the way we see Obama? The naive ideas coming out of Pan-Africanism are at the root of the confusion. When Pan-African ideas began to take shape in the 19th century, all black people, regardless of where in the world they lived, suffered and shared a common body of injustices. Europe, after all, had colonized much of the black world, and the United States had enslaved people of African descent for nearly 250 years.

Suffice it to say: This is no longer the case.

So when black Americans refer to Obama as "one of us," I do not know what they are talking about. In his new book, "The Audacity of Hope," Obama makes it clear that, while he has experienced some light versions of typical racial stereotypes, he cannot claim those problems as his own - nor has he lived the life of a black American.

Will this matter in the end? Probably not. Obama is being greeted with the same kind of public affection that Colin Powell had when he seemed ready to knock Bill Clinton out of the Oval Office. For many reasons, most of them personal, Powell did not become the first black American to be a serious presidential contender.

I doubt Obama will share Powell's fate, but if he throws his hat in the ring, he will have to run as the son of a white woman and an African immigrant. If we then end up with him as our first black President, he will have come into the White House through a side door - which might, at this point, be the only one that's open.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/467300p-393261c.html

Hmmm... While I see the authors point that there is a serious distinction between ethnic Africans and ethnic Blacks, there are parts of this that I find troublesome.

I don't see the author's point.

The argument that the legacy of slavery still plays a significant a part in modern political culture always seems a bit absurd to me. This Mr Obama has suffered at the hands of slavery just as much as any other Black American... i.e. not at all.

The difference between africans in america and old-stock black americans is very pronounced if you've known them.

People who come over from africa, or are descended from those who have recently, do not have any of the cultural, racial baggage that descendents of slaves do.

You will be hard-pressed to find a kenyan or rwandan or sudanese who walks around wearing women's jewelry and saying "I aint gone no school, nigga."

The culture of basketball and rap music and failure that is so prevalent among poor descendents of slaves is as foreign to most african immigrants as it is to most europeans.

What I find troublesome about the article is that the author seems, on the one hand, to be implying that an Obama candidacy would make the black/white divide less relevant, but on the other hand, he seems to be hanging onto that divide and promoting it by saying Obama isn't "one of us" and, I suppose, can't "feel our pain" -- i.e. that he somehow isn't really a black candidate. He almost makes it seem as if President Obama somehow would not be the first black President.

I get the feeling that this writer is seeing Obama as a chance to declare the Civil War and segregation over and say that being a black American isn't about slavery anymore, and maybe he's not really ready to do that, not quite ready to move on. Yet, if black American voters are going to embrace a mixed-race candidate, then I don't see how black political leaders/spokespeople can continue to define "black Americans" over against and in semi-opposition to "white Americans."

It's an interesting question.

"Africans don't like Black people" -Patrice Oneal

http://i12.tinypic.com/2w34zys.jpg

That articles from the NY Daily News, that barely counts as a real newspaper. And according to some black people I know, anyone who has a drop of black is considered black, no matter how they lived. Like Tiger Woods is black.

it seems to me that it reflects the racist notion that blacks can only be one way or they arent really "black".

how much do the children of big time lawyers, financiers, politicians, athletes and actors have with the children of the inner city ghetto? do they lose their blackness because their moms were never on welfare? i dont think so.

when it comes to the children of white immigrants we have no problem calling THEM white even if they were raised with the customs and values of the country their parents came from.

barack obama grew up black in america, thats qualification enough for being black.

"Why then do we still have such a simple-minded conception of black and white - and how does it color the way we see Obama? The naive ideas coming out of Pan-Africanism are at the root of the confusion. When Pan-African ideas began to take shape in the 19th century, all black people, regardless of where in the world they lived, suffered and shared a common body of injustices. Europe, after all, had colonized much of the black world, and the United States had enslaved people of African descent for nearly 250 years."

yes, it was those damn pan-africanists that made up all those laws that segregated people according entirely to skin color...

Obama is a character.
A kid raised by a fiercely agnostic white woman who viewed religion as only having cultural significance grows up to join a traditional black church? Bullshit.

how much do the children of big time lawyers, financiers, politicians, athletes and actors have with the children of the inner city ghetto? do they lose their blackness because their moms were never on welfare?
Yes. They are no longer part of the community that is most often ignored in the US.
barack obama grew up black in america, thats qualification enough for being black.
No. He grew up black in white America, not in the inner cities.

No. He grew up black in white America, not in the inner cities.

I grew up in an inner-city neighborhood. I went to a school for six years that was 94% black and histpanic. Am I back or hispanic? Not really. Do I even act inner-city most of the time? Not really. The environment does not make the person.

That being said, I think the article is trying to convinve black Americans not to vote for him without really thinking about it, which many of them seem to want to do. He is trying to foster more thought among black Americans about their own heritage and how they will vote. Many black inner-city Americans still have the idea of slavery and that the white people caused slavery. I remember an arguement I had with a friend of mine when was little about how black people are stronger because of slavery, and his defense was that his mom told him that. And Obama clearly did not grow up in this kind of environment, and clearly dosn't automatically represent people who think this way, even if they share the same skin color.