JESSE WASHINGTON, ESPN's THE UNDEFEATED
  • Home
  • Articles
  • BOOKS
  • FILMS
  • Music
  • Bio
  • Speaking
  • Contact

Way Barack When

1/27/2012

3 Comments

 
People tend to forget that Barack Obama wasn't instantly embraced by black folks. Some of them even said that Obama wasn't black. Today I was reading Joan Morgan's insightful essay "Black Like Barack," which discusses among other things the meaning of being "black" in America, and was struck by a 2007 New York Times quote from a 58-year-old barber in Washington DC:

"When you think of a president, you think of an American," Mr. Lanier said. "We've been taught that a president should come from right here, born, raised, bred, fed in America. To go outside and bring somebody in from another nationality, now that doesn't feel right to some people."

There's more than a little similarity in this comment to the beliefs underpinning the "birther" movement. (I know people who still aren't convinced that Obama is a citizen.) Now, of course, black folks overwhelmingly support Obama. 

What happened?

Randall Kennedy offers an analysis in his book "The Persistence of the Color Line: Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency." I urge you to read it for yourself. But here's a hint, from Kennedy: "Having decided to be black, Obama had to determine what sort of black to be. He made himself black enough to arouse the communal pride and support of African Americans but not 'too black' to be accepted by whites and others."

What a difference an election makes.
3 Comments
Kenneth B. Lucas link
2/6/2012 05:47:30 pm

The term African-American perpetuates the southern racist myth of "part black, all black". The fact that a person has dark skin doesn't mean a majority of ancestors came from Africa. Dark skin only means a person received one or more of the half dozen skin color related genes that produce "black" skin from an African ancestor.

For example, the media insist on calling Tiger Woods "African-American" in spite of the fact his ancestry is mostly Asian. His mother is Asian and his father had Asian ancestry as well as African and American Indian ancestry.

Calling black Americans African-Americans denies them the opportunity the claim their European, especially Irish, and North American ancestry. The first Africans in the English colonies worked along side the Irish in the fields and in some cases became sexually involved with them. Irish overseers and plantation owners often raped slaves. Some black Americans can trace their ancestry back to President Thomas Jefferson and his virtual wife Sally Hennings.

Many whites, including former President Warren G. Harding, have African ancestors. Most whites with African ancestors probably don't even know it.

Reply
cartier replica uk link
11/5/2014 05:20:40 pm


Avoid hair products containing alcohol, which can be drying. Also, do not use products directly to your scalp, this can irritate it and clog the pores on your scalp. Both of these issues can cause your hair to appear unhealthy. Towel dry your hair before using a blow dryer. Blow dryers generate excessive heat is harmful to hair.

Reply
cartier replica sale link
11/5/2014 05:22:07 pm

Aroma type: like a fragrance of things. there is no doubt, there are perfume,bubble gum.also go to smelly agent,they wouldn't hurt a fly and they have a variety of temperament.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Jesse Washington is a Senior Writer for ESPN's TheUndefeated.com

    Archives

    January 2016
    August 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011

    Categories

    All
    Abraham Lincoln
    Affirmative Action
    Al Sharpton
    Asians
    Baha'i
    Baha'i
    Barbershop
    Because They're Black
    Being White
    Black Boys
    Clarence Thomas
    College Admissions
    Condoleeza Rice
    Ebonics
    Football
    Hair
    Herman Cain
    Hollywood
    Interracial
    Martin Luther King
    Mike Vick
    President Barack Obama
    Race Cards
    Race Statistics
    Reconciliation
    Republicans And Race
    Structural Racism
    Suburbs
    The Media
    The Story Behind The Story
    Trayvon Martin
    Unsung Heroes
    Welfare
    White Supremacy
    Young America

    RSS Feed

Serving Fresh Words Daily from '86 to Infinity. All Rights Reserved, Son! 

  • Home
  • Articles
  • BOOKS
  • FILMS
  • Music
  • Bio
  • Speaking
  • Contact