Letters to the Editor
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Dickerson: A Comedic Genius
I was fortunate enough to catch Debra Dickerson on Colbert the other night. I laughed until I thought I'd cry! I thought Colbert played off Dickerson's comedy riffs like the master he obviously is. But I thought it was Debra that had the funniest lines and deepest irony.
Only know I find out that it was only Colbert who was trying to be funny, and that Dickerson was actually serious. Color me.... well, I don't know anymore.
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Lot of comments from non-black people
It's unfortunate - but telling that the overwhelming majority of people who have commented so far are not black. And I know that because every African-American decendent of slaves and immigrant African-American (or African-African-American as Dickerson says) knows there are cultural differences, and often some tensions between the communities.
Every. Single. One.
Whether that translates into whether African-Americans will support Barack, or whether he's technically "black," or whether white voters can embrace him because he looks it, while not actually being it - is something we can all discuss. But failing to recognize these differences and simply lumping all dark-skinned people into one category based on looks or treatment, while admonishing those who point out the difference, illustrates better than Dickerson ever could why white people in this country still DON'T GET IT!
There's a personal connection and thereby consciousness of slavery that comes with being a decendent of slaves. Upon exploration, a light-skinned African-American who's complexion is the product of the rape of their great grandmother is more likely to view some sensitive issues differently than a light-skinned African-African-American who's complexion is the product of a voluntary marriage.
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An Old Joke (with appologies to Modern day Mississippi)
What do you call a black man with a PhD in Mississippi?
I am certain you all know the answer to that ancient missive.
That the punchline doesn't change when you change the subject of the question is the answer to Ms. Dickerson's poorly thought out arguments.
What do you call a Congressman with a Father from Africa and a white mother in Mississippi?
What does the NYPD call him?
What is he called behind closed doors by allies and enemies for their own purposes?
The punchline never changes, except when you ask, What does Debra Dickerson call this congressman? An African African American, a phrase that is somehow much more offensive than the other punchline, because it pressumes the man in question isn't running the same race as Ms. Dickerson, and releaves her of her guilt at trying to trip him up.
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African African American...?
Adopted brother? As black as circumstances allow??
Well, now she just sounds crazy.
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There are many subcultures among African-Americans.
And there have been for a long, long time. There has never been one single "African-American community," and to pretend like there is one, and that therefore we know that Obama does not fall within it, is nonsense.
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DD's Authentic Black Experience
Why does this woman waste brain neurons on the question of who is black/African American/African African American? Could it be because she herself has an "authentic black experience"? You know, the one in which she is married to a WHITE man and has children for whom I bet she struggles daily to find some dumb label? This woman doesn't need a media tour, she needs a shrink.
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A side issue
I know we are famous for our historical amnesia in the US but this stuff about Obama being the first "credible" black candidate for president is nonsense. I think credible in this case means if "mainstream" commentators think he has a chance to win. No matter what you think of Jessie Jackson, his results were quite credible.
In 1984, he earned 3.5 million votes and won five primaries, the biggest being Michigan.
In 1988, he got 6.9 million votes and won eleven primaries. He was even brifely considered the frontrunner for the nomination after he again won the Mich. primary because he surpassed the other candidates in total number of pledged delegates.
He didn't win, but, those are quite credible results.
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She sounds crazy
Because she is crazy. African african american. That is pretty ridiculous. Even if he isn't black in Dickerson's racist construction (or blackist construction, since blacks can't be racist by definitition (their definition)), he's definitely an african-american. I think Colbert at least took her down a few pegs.
Sorry if that sounded racist in any way, but I think the whole "he isn't black" is an academic discussion that does nothing for race relations. If we have to elect Kunta Kinte for it to count as a step in race relations, that is sad sad sad.
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re: "A black man"
I'm "a white man", and I'm aware of the fact that there are, as you say, "cultural differences, and often some tensions" between the African-American and African immigrant communities. I'm also aware of the fact that growing up as an African-American means that you have a specific cultural identity that is, due the legacy of slavery, distinct from others of African descent. That only seems natural. Of course, I don't know myself what it's like to be African-American, but that's hardly something I have any control over.
So what am I not "getting"?
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re: "not getting it"
I think as white folks, we are frankly baffled as to why a member of a minority group would bother to disassociate itself from a fairly successful politician. That in no way obligates anyone to get on the Obama bandwagon, but I think Colbert was that the whole argument of Obama's "blackness" looks ridiculous to anyone outside of the black community.
Let's look at Dutch Jews for a second--they contributed to the deportation of "foreign" Jews (at least in Hannah Arendt's version of things) thinking that they were different. To Germans, though, a Jew was a Jew and there wasn't a pause as they were deported too despite being Dutch. The oppresor doesn't care if you think Obama's black, he's black to everyone else. So what is to be gained by denying his blackness. From a white person's perspective, the debate is just splitting hairs, and, perhaps worse, can be portrayed negatively. How strange does it seem for Dickerson to be implying in her choice of words that her community's adoption of "African American" meant to exclude Africans living in America? Why not just then change the name to "Descendent of Slave-American" or "Victim American" or something more descriptive?
I don't know if it gets to the level of internalized racism, but debating if someone is "black" or not seems to me to be counterproductive. What goal is served by stripping Obama of his professed "blackness?"