Letters to the Editor
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It's not just the legacy of slavery ...
On 09 February 2007, Michele wrote:
While it seems socioeconomic factors have overtaken the legacy of slavery as an influence on the culture of black America, it's only been 3-4 generations since slavery ended. And it's been a rocky road.... It's not the color of the skin that matters, it's your history and the influences it has had on how you were raised
It's not just the legacy of slavery that affects black descendents of slaves and white Americans to this day.
We also have to acknowledge the actions by some whites to exclude black descendents of slaves from full participation in American society.
Some examples include:
1908 Springfield IL Race Riot
1921 Tulsa OK Race Riot
1923 Rosewood FL Race Riot
Much of this history happened during the "nadir" of race relations is the US between the end of Reconstruction and the the post-WW II movement towards racial equality (1890s to 1940s).
But this is not ancient history.
Highland Park, the Dallas TX suburb and former home for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, was a "sundown" town until the first black family bought a home there in 2003.
"Sundown towns" are communities where non-Caucasians -— especially African Americans -— are systematically excluded from living in or passing through after the sun went down.
Perhaps the discomfort from Debra Dickerson's commentary on race is simply unconscious discomfort that we still have a lot of work to do with respect to race and racism in the white community?
Most whites are not as blessed to be "color-blind" like Stephen Colbert.
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I agree with Dickerson.
I am Irish and my family has a long history in America. My mother's family is from the south and we are southern. I have a friend born to European immigrants with no history in America. While he was born and raised in the south, nobody would consider him southern. His family raised much more like a European.
Likewise, the son of recent Kenyan immigrants may be born and raised in Birmingham, Mississippi, but he likely will have a much different upbringing than the descendant of a line of African-Americans who have lived there for generations.
That is the point I believe Dickerson is making. Obama and his family do not have the close personal connection to the struggle for civil rights and the deep history and feelings that comes with that.
And yes, other countries have had struggles with race. However the experience of blacks in America, for example, is different than the experience of blacks in South Africa. They both suffered, but the history of each nation is quite different. The feelings they have toward their history is going to be different than the feelings that have for another's.
Just because two people are white does not mean they are the same. Just because two people are black does not mean they are the same. Anybody who suggests otherwise is speaking racism.
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He just had the bad luck
To pick the parents who maximized his potential as a person and minimized his potential as a President.
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Has the definition of "racism" changed?
"This refusal to recognize the nuances, the finer details of the black experience is so blatantly racist."
I always thought that racism was what happened when you discriminated against someone based on their ethnic/racial identity, not when you failed to recognize a distinction that pisses off an member of a particular group simply because you're not as obsessed with labeling every sub-category of homo sapiens as they are.
Of course anyone would be able to grasp the difference between a man descended from West African slaves, and a man who isn't. But not everyone cares. And is it just maybe possible that they don't care because it ultimately doesn't matter? I'd vote for anybody who was qualified to be president; I don't give a rip who their ancestors were or weren't. This whole thing is just stupid. It's like whites and blacks are just sitting there arguing back and forth, "Why do you keep obsessing about race?" "I'm not obsessing about race; you are!" "You're the one who won't let it go!" "Well you keep bringing it up all the time."
ARRGH
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If it will please you, Debra, I'll start hating him right now
I don't want to be accused of self-congratulation. So I guess I should start dumping on him now, eh?
Oooh that bad Obama, name sounds like Osama, I'll bet he'll make a crappy president.
I don't believe that. I just said it to make Debra happy.
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Dickerson: what an idiot
when they pay out reparations, make sure they hold her check . . .
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it's the education, stupid!
Yes yes Colbert is a genius and I thought he did his mock interview with his usual clear brilliance. Dickerson was not well prepared..she should have thought about this interview more before she did it... A while back a friend referred to Obama as an African American and I immediately said I would think of him as an American with an African father. I think there is still, sadly, a difference here. It is basically an educational issue these days and therefore a class issue. Black people from the islands and Africa do better here than some descendants of slaves because they have received better educations than the average African American..this is the result of this country's continuing econominc inequality. Obama grew up in Hawaii which is probably the most color blind state in the union..and the schools would seem to be pretty good. If the schools were all equally good this disparity would not exist. The history of persecuted people does filter down through the genertions but it can be totally overcome with a good education. There are plenty of African Americans who have received good educations.. and are doing terrific work..Charlie Rangel, Colin Powell, Sharpton, Jesse and his son, Spike Lee to name just five (Rangel, Powell Sharpton and Lee are all native New Yorkers and I wonder if that has anything to do with it). When we get our educational system up to par (if we ever have any money left over after the military industrial complex takes it all) then these distinctions will disappear. This is not really a racial or cultural issue.
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DNA
My mother always said her father was a Native American but I had a stepfather who would insist her father was actually a Black man, or a N***** as Mr. Bolin referred to him. Does it matter to me? Not a bit. If he was or wasn't makes not a whit of difference in any experience that makes me who I am.
Likewise, I don't think it would matter to any racist that Barack Obama is of ancestry that didn't includ enslaved people. Black is Black in their eyes. A N***** is a N***** Fine points don't matter.
I think if we all had our DNA tested we'd be very surprised with what we find.