How Black is Barack Obama?
Rod Blagojevich’s hood posturing aside, the question about Barack Obama’s blackness has uniquely resonated inside and outside the gravel gates of Black America for awhile now. And I just don’t get it; I mean, how many signs does a brother have to throw your way to convince you that he is, indeed, a brother?
How many rappers have to be on his campaign trail?
How many times does he have to reach out to Muslims – in their own country?
And how many times does his wife have to come out of the house sans perm for us to get it?
Even if President Obama was Carlton Banks-esque in his public presentation; even if he was more in step with Michael Steele or Armstrong Williams, those laughable pundits on a personal pilgrimage to purge themselves of cultural pride and association, would it matter at this point? He was obviously black enough for black people to trust him, and obviously not black enough for everybody else to believe that black folks are trustworthy.
Obviously, there is such thing as talking black. There is such thing as acting black. Just as there is such thing as talking white, or Latino, or any other ethnicity. But in our media-spun ignorance, we choose to view differences in language, logic and life as negative stereotypes. So instead of embracing different sounds, looks and lifestyle, we’d rather use it against each other.
And its the human condition; there’s very little you can do to change it. But at least acknowledge that its real. And that we’re better off without it than with it.
Is that what trips people up about President Obama? That he doesn’t race bait? That he seeks to bridge cultural chasms across America? Are we that hard up for drama and a reason to complain that when you can do better, we choose to do otherwise and blame it on ethnic presentation?
Well, I’m glad we don’t have Cris Carter or Madea running the show. For as much as American history owes it to us, truthfully, we don’t need divisional thinking any more. At this point, we have to accept that what we can’t or won’t do for ourselves, the grand design of government won’t lay out for us.
And if we have to grasp at ethnic straws surrounding President Obama and Black America’s first drink from the fountain of international influence, then we might want to reconsider the kind of Kool-Aid we’re choosing to drink.
