Black Like Me?
Those Asking if Barack Obama Is 'Black Enough' Are Asking the Wrong Question
By Marjorie Valbrun, writing in the Washington Post
What does it mean to be black, and who is the arbiter of authentic blackness? As Sen. Barack Obama's "blackness" has increasingly been discussed on black-oriented radio shows, at political conferences and on Sunday morning news shows, I've grown more dismayed by the day.
The discourse, occurring mostly among black people, has been dominated by questions about Obama's being biracial, his immigrant father and his suitability as a presidential candidate, given that his life story doesn't parallel that of most blacks born in the United States. Some have implied that only a black candidate whose ancestors were slaves here or who have themselves experienced the trauma of this country's racial history can truly understand what it means to be black in America and represent the political interests of black Americans.
This is a narrow-minded and divisive notion. At a time when blacks living in this country, whether by birth or by choice, should be harnessing their collective political clout to empower all black people, we're wasting time debating which of us are truly black. (link)
This black immigrant from Haiti goes on to tell of her plight - being discriminated against by other blacks ...
For the love of Christ, don't get caught up in all this. Or this.
While all other ethnicities in America assimilate, well, including (in near entirety) black immigrants to this country, there is one group that refuses to participate. The "black community." Its members dwell on the past. They are fixated on wrongs they have no real understanding of perpetrated on people they don't know in an era long past. They wallow in their ancestors' misfortunes. They brood over misery and sorrow and pain. They will want it to be your misery. Your sorrow. Your pain.
Except for the slave traders in their midst, who earn a fabulous income from the retelling of the tale of woe, they're all losers. And always will be.
Don't get caught up in it. Get past the "victimization of self" attitude these people will throw at you.
Join us. America long ago welcomed you into the fold. You can succeed. We will help one another succeed. Americans helping fellow Americans.
Or you can sign on with the perpetually disaffected "black union" crowd and piss and moan about your skin color, your miserable lot in life, and the disadvantages that have been placed in front of you as roadblocks. And let the fabulous opportunities awaiting you fall away.
Don't. We need you. But first you must resolve to fight this bunch and reject their self-defeating plan for you.
There is so much we have yet to accomplish. Together.
3 comments:
you know what's funny about this post? When you hear people say, "we're a color blind society", or "Racism is over", or "I don't see color", it only comes out of the mouths of white people, and to be more precise, white males.
You never hear a person of color say those things. That alone tells me we have a ways to go still and pretending racism isn't present or if we just close our eyes it will go away isn't a serious answer.
What it tells me is that there are black people who make a career - and a handsome income - out of telling white males what what males think. Maybe they - and you - should listen to what the white males say about white (male) racism.
I guess that must have been a white guy named Al Sharpton, that recently said of Barrack Obama, "He may be our color, but he ain't one of us."
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