Black enough ....
Go figure.
Posted on 01/17/2013 8:52:35 AM PST by Osage Orange
Leonard Pitts Jr.: How black is black enough?
BY LEONARD PITTS JR.
| Published: January 16, 2013
I suddenly find myself concerned about my blackness.
It had never occurred to me to worry about it before. Then came the incident last month on ESPN's “First Take” program that initially got commentator Rob Parker suspended and then, last week, fired outright. It seems Parker, who is black, analyzed what he saw as the insufficient blackness of Robert Griffin III, rookie quarterback for the Washington, D.C., football team that is named for a racial slur.
Having returned their team to relevance for the first time since the Clinton era, RG3, as he is known, can do no wrong in the eyes of Slurs fans. But Parker, saying that the young man's fiancee is (gasp!) white and that he himself is rumored to be — cover the children's ears — a Republican, found him lacking in the area of authentic blackness. “My question,” he said, “which is just a straight, honest question: is he a brother, or is he a cornball brother? He's not really … OK, he's black, he kind of does the thing, but he's not really down with the cause. He's not one of us. He's kind of black, but he's not really like the guy you really want to hang out with …”
That explosion you hear is the sound of my mind, blown. I'm left second-guessing my own blackness.
I mean, I listen to Bruce Springsteen, for crying out loud! There's even a Dixie Chicks album on my iPod. And I read books sometimes, man — even when no one's making me do it. Some of them are thick as bricks. Some aren't even about African-American themes.
It gets worse. I have no natural rhythm, no criminal record and can correctly pronounce the word “ask.” I don't curse nearly as much as I ought to. Oh, and I went and married my baby mama.
Obviously, my blackness is on life support.
Many of us have been taught that it is demeaning and delimiting when someone presumes to say who you are, how you will behave, what you think, what you like, and how intelligent you are, from the color of your skin. We have been taught that such behavior abridges the other person's individuality.
But apparently, that's only when white people do it to black people. When black people do it to black people, it's called assessing your blackness, making sure you aren't some “cornball brother.”
How enlightening to learn that. It is even more enlightening to discover that we have such easy-peasy rubrics to go by. You can't be black if you are a Republican? That means Colin Powell isn't black. Neither, if published reports are to be believed, are rappers LL Cool J and 50 Cent. Who'd have thought?
Poor Frederick Douglass has a double whammy. He was a Republican and had a white wife. Who'd have thought this former slave, one of the towering heroes of African-American history, wasn't black enough?
It is this kind of bold insight and trenchant analysis ESPN loses in sacking Rob Parker. What is the network thinking? Parker, who also contributes commentary to WDIV television in Detroit, defended himself in an interview with the station that aired just before ESPN dropped the ax. He pronounced himself shocked by the fallout and suggested his comments were taken out of context.
“You can't be afraid to talk about race,” he said. He's exactly right. In discussing race, we must be fearless. We must also be thoughtful. And informed. And exact. And alive to the ramifications of what we say.
Surely, Parker knows this. Or if he didn't before, he does now.
As for being black enough, he is probably a greater expert than he was before. He is, after all, a man out of work. It doesn't get much blacker than that.
Colon Powell is sure black enough, He damned sure isn’t Republican enough.
Or maybe he is if we compare him with John McCain.
I tuned the author's post a bit to expose his hypocrisy. Not that it much needed doing.
You can't be black if you are a Republican? That means Colin Powell isn't black.
Colin Powell is definitely black, but he's definitely NOT a Republican. He just calls himself that. If Colin Powell is a Republican, I'm a giraffe.
The explosion you hear Mr. Pitt is Racism moving past the speed of sound.
“He is, after all, a man out of work. It doesn’t get much blacker than that.”
Sometimes the truth rears its ugly head and cannot be denied!
But it's just a numbers game........
But like I said earlier....Pitt's just can't shake his Progessiveness.
leanard pitts jr is an aqnti-christian bleedign heart liberal of the whiniest order- I didn’t even bother readign hte article because it became apparent when our newspaper picked up his articles, that he was a nasty viscious liberal that was always screamign abotu racism andm aking mountaisn out of molehills- He’s incapable of writign abotu the truth except perhaps by accident, and even though he claims to ‘be Christian’ it’s VERY clear from reading his past articles that he is not a CHristian and hasn’t got even hte slightest knowledge of the bible or the Chrisdtian faith- The only reason he calls himself CHristian is because he mostrl ikely thinks that it gives his outrageous expositions ligitimacy with the ‘Christian’ crowd- he’s sadly msitaken-
If he wasn’t such a viscious hateful person cryign wolf at every turn, I’d read his articles because he does have the potential of beign an itnerestign writer0- but unfortunately his hateful anti-Christianity, and his blatant extremist partisanship spoils any message of worth he may have
Some blacks can’t stand it when one of their brothers leaves the plantation. Why is that.
Black enough ....
Go figure.
Good rant........
I know Pitt's FR account was banned, but I guess we still allow his stuff on here. No matter really.
What is a matter, is that my wife on several occasions (including at work), has been told she isn't black enough.
Methinks it is because she is a conservative.
Blacks can be very racist to whites, and other black people too. Strange.
5.56mm
I’m reminded of the story of a chicken that lays one egg a day and an oyster that lays millions at one time. The chicken cackles loudly and the oyster silently goes on.
It’s a matter of public relations and press!
We know the MSM never lies.
Ask Manti Te’o, ESPN and Notre Dame.
not nearly as rant as pitt’s articles I’m afraid-
Then does Pitts ever wonder that maybe all those white people who vote Republican are not necessarily racist haters and bigots? Maybe they’re concerned about the growth of government and the eradication of a national culture based on Judeo-Christian ethics and morals? Somehow I don’t think so.
So, what exactly qualifies as ‘black enough?’ I’d like some input from fellow Freepers.
Are you black enough only if you consider your race to still be oppressed, and being held down by ‘the man?’ What are some other criteria?
Excellent post..............
I never post his crap articles...Only when he say's something I kinda agree with.
Racism is just crazy. Period. I've seen too much of it..
I had some friends in SoCal. One was black, one was Hispanic. They got married. And both families hated the others. For nothing other than they were different.
Many years ago...I attended a mostly black church. It was just great teaching.
Some of the racism going on there was crazy. The Pastor and I became friends.....he hated that crap. It's just ingrained, and taught, I guess.........
I thought it was a very funny article, thanks for posting.
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