Posted on 12/17/2006 9:02:23 AM PST by shrinkermd
The possible presidential candidacy of the biracial senator has sparked an illuminating debate on race.
WE KNOW this: Barack Obama is a rising star. He's a powerful speaker and a gifted writer. He is the only African American serving in the U.S. Senate. But is he black?
That's what New York Daily News columnist Stanley Crouch asked last month, and his answer was decidedly "no." No, Crouch wasn't just employing the old "blacker than thou" canard. Nor was he concerned with the fact that Obama was raised by his white mother. Rather, he was treating blackness not just as a racial (shared biology) identity but as an ethnic (shared historical experience) one. And isn't that what the switch of terms from "black" to "African American" was all about?
Think back to the late 1980s, when the Rev. Jesse Jackson became the most prominent black to call for the adoption of the term African American. "Just as we were called colored, but were not that," he said, "and then Negro, but not that, to be called black is just as baseless…. Every ethnic group in this country has a reference to some land base, some historical cultural base. African Americans have hit that level of maturity." The problem, of course, is that most black Americans are descendants of slaves who had their African cultural heritage brutally stripped from them.
What Crouch is arguing is that what the majority of black Americans share is their ancestors' experience as human chattel, brought to these shores in the grips of chains. Slavery and segregation not only forged a rigid racial line between black and white but created a shared ethnic experience. For Crouch, the fact that Obama's father — whom Obama met only once — was a black Kenyan...
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Uh, can't say.
Here's a few names for you: 1. "Mammy" from 'Gone in the wind' 2. "Uncle Remus" from "Song of the South" 3. Sidney Poitier (I am pretty sure) won one. I may be missing someone - didn't Cuba Gooding Junior win one too?
I've been known to use sarcasm a couple of times to make a point.
Butterly McQueen ('Mammy') was the first black female Oscar winner, I believe..
I guess you were distracted for some reason.
He's a "big earred American" with the middle name of Hussein. Does anyone know his religious preference?
Note, I said black female. If she wasn't the first black female actress to win an Oscar, then I'm just wrong. I thought that was what the fuss was all about when she won.
When you work with people sometimes you find the most important information is what is not said rather than what is said.
In Barack's instance this all has to do with his mother. Anyone ever seen a picture of her? Anyone ever heard of an interview with her? Is she even alive? What was her history and why did the Grandparents enter the picture?
If that isn't enough how about the grandparents who allegedly raised him. Who are they? Pictures? Biographies?
This man has achieved celebrity status and may be nominated for POTUS and simple, basic information is not only unknown but never mentioned. If the MSM won't do it, we need to find someone who will.
FWIW
She was the first black actress to win the Oscar for Best Actress. Hattie McDaniel and I think Whoopi Goldberg won for Best Supporting Actress before Halle. The fuss was simply that Best Actress is none of the top awards, having a higher status than best Supporting Actress.
I read in an article that his mother died about 10 years ago of ovarian cancer. The article had a picture of her holding Obama as a child.
I dunno, Barack mom is probably just an average looking middle-aged white lady. Since that would go against the MSM's "King of Africa" image - or those who thought is mom was the Virgin Mary something, you'll never hear about it.
Thanks, it is a significant first.
Film still exists of Miss McDaniel accepting the trophy, more than a little quavery, saying she hoped she was a credit to her race.
How far we've come...
In some cases, white mothers who raised them without the help of their black father.
"nor do we have a public declaration of devotion to Christianity."
That is correct, he states his religion is United Church of Christ. Their values definitely do not support biblical Christian teachings.
abortion: http://www.ucc.org/justice/choice/
homosexuality: http://www.ucc.org/lgbt/
Ask Teresa Kerry. She called herself African American during the 2004 campaign because of where she's originally from.
There was a guy in the news a few years ago that was from Madagascar, as I recall. He listed his "race" as African-American, even though he was white. He was under fire for doing so, since he was white, even though he was technically an African-American (by the strictest definition of the term).
I don't think Tiger's mother is white.
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