Race remains the focus as Obama hits the trail
Race remains the focus as Obama hits the trail
By Clarence Page
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Published February 18, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barack Obama's presidential quest has launched some revealing conversations, particularly about what makes a black person "black."
Even for those who think as I do that the answer is breathtakingly obvious, the question is not frivolous. For Obama, the son of a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya, the emerging media narrative invites a re-examination of widely held assumptions. Is race a matter of color? Ancestry? Or experiences?
"There are African-Americans who don't think that you're black enough, who don't think that you have had the required experience," reporter Steve Kroft said to Obama as they cruised Chicago's South Side during a recent "60 Minutes" profile.
"The truth of the matter is," Obama mused, gazing outside their vehicle's windows, "when I'm walking down the South Side of Chicago and, visiting my barbershop, and playing basketball in some of these neighborhoods, those aren't questions I get asked."
No, those are the kind of questions some people ask when you're the first black presidential candidate to have a viable chance of winning the White House.
"I also notice when I'm catching a cab," he quipped. "Nobody's confused about that either."
That was a significant line. In our racially complicated society, you're not just the race--or races--that you say you are. You're also the race other people say you are.
The big question for past black presidential candidates had been whether they could even get white votes.
For Obama, the emerging question has been whether he can attract black voters. In Washington Post/ABC News polls in December and January, 60 percent of black voters said they would vote for Democratic frontrunner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton compared with 20 percent for Obama. That surprised many people.
The fact is, black voters can be just as discerning and skeptical about political candidates they do not know well. Polls also have shown that about half of voters overall, including blacks, say they don't know enough about Obama to have an opinion about him. Obama, like the rest of the Democratic presidential field, knows that he has to overcome a lot of goodwill that Sen. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, built up among black voters, politicians and Democratic operatives over the years.
One black Clinton supporter, South Carolina state Sen. Robert Ford, went so far as to say that a black candidate at the top of the ticket could bring down the Democratic Party, even costing it its recently won congressional majority. When other black Democrats repudiated his remarks, Ford apologized and said he would support whoever wins the nomination.
Welcome to the big leagues, Sen. Ford.
Blacks worried about whether Obama is "black enough" might be reassured by the grumblings of others who think he is too black.
Obama quite sensibly observed in his "60 Minutes" interview that he did not "decide" to be black. "If you look African-American in this society, you're treated as an African-American," he said, "and when you're a child, in particular, that is how you begin to identify yourself."
That response rankled talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh, who apparently thinks race is something we can put on or take off like a suit.
If Obama did not "decide" his race, Limbaugh declared, "well, renounce it, then. If it's not something you want to be, if you didn't decide it, renounce it, become white!"
Ah, if only it were that easy.
Moving up fast in that silliness derby, talk-radio host Glenn Beck declared Obama to be "colorless." "As a white guy," Beck said, "... you don't notice that he is black. So he might as well be white, you know what I mean?" Beck added that he'll probably be called a "racist" by some bloggers for saying that. He hopes. It might help his ratings.
Why all the fuss about what Obama calls himself? Whether Obama had the "black American experience" before, he certainly appears to be getting it now.
Part of that experience is to hear other people argue over what you should call yourself. In fact, if you don't have the right to call yourself what you want to call yourself, you don't have much freedom at all.
Besides, if you look back far enough, we're all "mixed."
----------
Clarence Page is a member of the Tribune's editorial board. E-mail: cptime@aol.com
By Clarence Page
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Published February 18, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barack Obama's presidential quest has launched some revealing conversations, particularly about what makes a black person "black."
Even for those who think as I do that the answer is breathtakingly obvious, the question is not frivolous. For Obama, the son of a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya, the emerging media narrative invites a re-examination of widely held assumptions. Is race a matter of color? Ancestry? Or experiences?
"There are African-Americans who don't think that you're black enough, who don't think that you have had the required experience," reporter Steve Kroft said to Obama as they cruised Chicago's South Side during a recent "60 Minutes" profile.
"The truth of the matter is," Obama mused, gazing outside their vehicle's windows, "when I'm walking down the South Side of Chicago and, visiting my barbershop, and playing basketball in some of these neighborhoods, those aren't questions I get asked."
No, those are the kind of questions some people ask when you're the first black presidential candidate to have a viable chance of winning the White House.
"I also notice when I'm catching a cab," he quipped. "Nobody's confused about that either."
That was a significant line. In our racially complicated society, you're not just the race--or races--that you say you are. You're also the race other people say you are.
The big question for past black presidential candidates had been whether they could even get white votes.
For Obama, the emerging question has been whether he can attract black voters. In Washington Post/ABC News polls in December and January, 60 percent of black voters said they would vote for Democratic frontrunner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton compared with 20 percent for Obama. That surprised many people.
The fact is, black voters can be just as discerning and skeptical about political candidates they do not know well. Polls also have shown that about half of voters overall, including blacks, say they don't know enough about Obama to have an opinion about him. Obama, like the rest of the Democratic presidential field, knows that he has to overcome a lot of goodwill that Sen. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, built up among black voters, politicians and Democratic operatives over the years.
One black Clinton supporter, South Carolina state Sen. Robert Ford, went so far as to say that a black candidate at the top of the ticket could bring down the Democratic Party, even costing it its recently won congressional majority. When other black Democrats repudiated his remarks, Ford apologized and said he would support whoever wins the nomination.
Welcome to the big leagues, Sen. Ford.
Blacks worried about whether Obama is "black enough" might be reassured by the grumblings of others who think he is too black.
Obama quite sensibly observed in his "60 Minutes" interview that he did not "decide" to be black. "If you look African-American in this society, you're treated as an African-American," he said, "and when you're a child, in particular, that is how you begin to identify yourself."
That response rankled talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh, who apparently thinks race is something we can put on or take off like a suit.
If Obama did not "decide" his race, Limbaugh declared, "well, renounce it, then. If it's not something you want to be, if you didn't decide it, renounce it, become white!"
Ah, if only it were that easy.
Moving up fast in that silliness derby, talk-radio host Glenn Beck declared Obama to be "colorless." "As a white guy," Beck said, "... you don't notice that he is black. So he might as well be white, you know what I mean?" Beck added that he'll probably be called a "racist" by some bloggers for saying that. He hopes. It might help his ratings.
Why all the fuss about what Obama calls himself? Whether Obama had the "black American experience" before, he certainly appears to be getting it now.
Part of that experience is to hear other people argue over what you should call yourself. In fact, if you don't have the right to call yourself what you want to call yourself, you don't have much freedom at all.
Besides, if you look back far enough, we're all "mixed."
----------
Clarence Page is a member of the Tribune's editorial board. E-mail: cptime@aol.com
posted by Carlos T Mock at 9:12 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home