2/28/07

A couple of years ago, when Barack Obama was just rising to national prominence after his amazing speech at the Democratic National Convention, I stupidly watched a portion of Colin Quinn's completely unwatchable and short lived late night show on Comedy Central (I can't even remember the name of it). Anyway, on the show, a black comedianne, I can't recall who (it wasn't Wanda Sykes or anyone like that) said that Barack Obama, because he was raised by his white mother, was "faking the funk". At the time I found the remark completely offensive, but I assumed it was the feelings of a teeny-tiny minority within the black community and it eventually drifted out of mind.

A few weeks ago, however, I was confronted by this ugly view one more time. A woman named Debra Dickerson was on the Colbert Report (funny how this view kept popping up in the 11:30 time slot on Comedy Central, but I digress...) and she said a varitiation on the same theme. She wasn't quite as overtly racist, however - she said that Obama's non-blackness was a result of his not being a descendant of West African slaves.

Now, on the one hand, I thought that this was merely a cloak to disguise the racism underneath. But on the other hand, I can understand that slavery leaves a legacy that many black Americans may feel is very important to their self-identification. And, who am I to say to a black person what makes them black?

Of course, Barack Obama says that he is black, too. Who to believe?

Then I read this article in the Post.


(Take a minute and glance over it.)


The passage I found most interesting was this one, the third paragraph in the story:

Sharpton, 52, said he had suspected that his forebears may have been slaves but had never attempted to confirm that or find out any details.

Now, if anyone in this nation has a view on what does or does not make one black, it would be Al Sharpton. And, while it turns out that his ancestors were slaves, the above passage indicates that Mr. Sharpton himself did not know if this was true or not. More importantly, it also tells us that he did not care enough to look into the matter himself. In 2004, when Al Sharpton was running for President, nobody was questioning his blackness, even though he, nor presumably, anyone else, did not know that he was, in fact, the descendant of slaves. So, my question is, where were the Debra Dickerson's of the world then, when they *should* have been DEMANDING that Al Sharpton PROVE his blackness by tracing his lineage?

Xenophobia and racism are just as ugly coming from the mouths of blacks as they are from whites. And this silly notion that Barack Obama is not "black enough" because he is half-white or because his father was an immigrant is exactly that - xenophobic and racist.

Personal blog tomorrow. Don't forget to catch the Terps in action tonight at 9:00 on ESPN. Peace...