Letters to the Editor
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Oh, Lord ...
Colbert just pointed out how incredibly ludicrous the whole "Obama isn't black" theme is.
Of course, Dickerson shows herself to be quite ridiculous when she starts calling Obama an "African- African- American." Does this mean that the closer you are to a ancestor who came from Africa the more times you have to say African?
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ridiculous
you're paying this woman?
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if he were white
I think Colbert missed a golden opportunity when he turned the tables on DD and said "if I were white...." I was disappointed when he explained this to mean he "doesn't see color." What I wish he had gone with is this: "My ancestors did not immigrate to America until after slavery, therefore, culturally and historically, I am not the same 'white' as those whose ancestors owned slaves." I don't see this as a valid argument in the real world, but I'm curious how DD would have responded. If there's a significant distinction between African American and African African American, why wouldn't there be an equivalent distinction between European and European European American?
If we're going to insist on these distinctions, the problem of present-day racism may be overshadowed. As Obama's wife said, when asked if she was worried about death threats to her husband, "he could be shot at a gas station"--because a present-day racist (regardless of his own heritage) isn't going to care how far removed Obama is from a personal/cultural experience of slavery.
But I must say--until this whole debate about Obama's blackness, I didn't realize that American slaves came from only one part of Africa. I think it can only help European Americans' understanding of race to realize that "blackness" has many shades of gray.
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A White Guy Who Didn't Know Obama Wasn't Black
Here is a preface to a simple question for Ms. Dickerson:
I have not made a decision as to whom I will support for President in 2008. From what I have heard thus far, Senator Obama is on the list of those for whom I would consider voting. I assumed, based purely on the color of his skin, that his family history included the "traditional American political context" black experience, specifically slavery. I have seen and read discussions of his candidacy on CNN, NPR, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. I apparently missed the part where his mother is from Kansas and his father is from Kenya. These other sources discussed his book, his positions on issues, lack of positions on issues, and how Senator Clinton was polling better with African American communities. I had not been "congratulating" myself on my willingness to vote for a black candidate. I just like the guy. The first time I was made aware that his family history did not include slavery (in America) was on the Colbert Report. You were the one who educated me.
And now, as a reward for your patience, here is the question:
A white guy assumes a black guy's family history includes slavery in America and wants to vote for him. The white guy is then told by a black writer that the "black" candidate's family does not in fact have a history of slavery, and as a result is not really "black." The white guy doesn't change his mind on the candidate's "content of his character" and wants to vote for the "black" candidate anyway. Since the candidate's "black status" has changed, and my decision to support him has not, should I "congratulate" myself now?
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Quick! Need help from Dickerson!!
We're having a rally out near the old prison tonight. I need to say a few words about Barack Obama, and I thought I had at least one of them figured out. But now you've got me in a bind.
What exactly should a Grand Imperial Klaxon of the Knights Kamellia call the junior senator from Illinois? I'll try to hold off the cross-lighting till you get back to me, but I can't wait forever.
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I'm not white: I'm an East European white American.
Okay Ms. Dickerson, two can play at your game. If Barack Obama is not black because he is not descended from West Africans slaves in America, then I and millions of others are not white because we are not descended from white Americans who lived in America before the Civil War.
Ergo, any white-skinned American whose ancestors first arrived on these shores after the Civil War is not white, and hence cannot be racist, ever.
Thanks for letting me play your (very silly) game.
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just can't take her seriously anymore
I've read Ms. Dickerson's essays, and before the Obama piece I'd considered her a fairly reasonable woman who makes cogent arguments. After her essay, all that changed. Here was just another talking head saying Sen. Obama just isn't "black" enough. I groaned as I read the article, then put it out of my mind as someone else with a two-cent opinion.
But when I actually saw her on The Colbert Report -- hoo boy. Smug, self-satisfied and convinced of her circutious logic, until one of the great satirists of our time utterly twisted her argument into so much silly string. From this point on I can never take her seriously again. She could point upwards and I'd wait for the argument as to how it's not really a blue sky compared to other blue skies.
Dickerson's a crank. Not a crank on par with someone mentally unhinged, like Camille Paglia, but a crank just the same.
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Alex Tucker
Alex, I like your letter best! Silly string is the best-ever description of Colbert's hilarious brain contortions!
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dickerson on colbert
to miss dickerson........
really!!!!!!
you present yourself as representing a whole class of people with whom
one, the fact that you're employing a term that I didn't even know was
a term such as "African, African American" makes me want to consider
if you're being paid by someone to come on Comedy Central and make an
a** of yourself. My mother is Jamaican, my father is from Southside
Chicago, I was born here in the United States, just like Barack Obama,
so by defintion I am an American citizen. I don't call myself African
American, if anyone has a right to call themselves African anything,
it would be Barack Obama because his father IS from Africa. I'm
appalled that you allow Comedy Central to use you and your views as a
tool for something that you don't seem to see yourself.wow!!!!! Speak
for yourself please, not on the behalf of all "black" people, or would
you be more comfortable if I said, African American.
yours,
madrid