In an earlier post (Feb. 2) I examined the notion among some Blacks that Barack Obama is not Black enough because of his parentage (White mother from Kansas; Black father from Kenya) and where he grew up (Hawaii and Indonesia).
Now on the eve of his expected formal announcement of his candidacy for president Saturday, some White people are saying that he is TOO Black because he belongs to a Chicago church, the historic Trinity United Church of Christ, that is dedicated to uplifting Black people and especially to strengthening Black families. These critics are zeroing in on the church’s 12-point Black Value System (www.tucc.org/about.htm) and its motto: “Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian.”
This too-Black salvo comes from a certain sector of White conservatism that is showing its true colors. (Illinois Review, www.illinoisreview.typepad.com)
On its web site (www.tucc.org), Trinity says: “As a congregation of baptized believers, we are called to be agents of liberation not only for the oppressed, but for all of God’s family…. W.E.B. DuBois indicated that the problem in the 20th century was going to be the problem of the color line. He was absolutely correct. Our job as servants of God is to address that problem and eradicate it in the name of Him who came for the whole world by calling all men, women, boys and girls to Christ.”
Obama told The Chicago Tribune, which carried a prominent story on this issue Feb. 6, "If I say to anybody in Iowa--White, Black, Hispanic or Asian--that my church believes in the African-American community strengthening families or adhering to the Black work ethic or being committed to self-discipline and self-respect and not forgetting where you came from, I don't think that's something anybody would object to.
"I think I'd get a few Amens."
Obama’s announcement will be carried on C-SPAN Saturday morning and no doubt on cable networks like CNN. My guess is that whatever he says will attempt to bridge the gulfs that race-based campaigns – on the Black side and on the White side – have revealed. This will be a true test of his mettle.
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3 comments:
Willful historical and contextual ignorance. It's getting old.
Actually, it's way past that point.
The question of race in the 21st Century is going to be a trick question.
What would you make of this women's story from bbcnews.com http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6336137.stm
You are so right. Thanks for alerting me to this BBC project: Identity: Who Do You Think You Are? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6336137.stm
It reminds me of some years ago when I was showing this tall, skinny, curly-haired white boy around central Harlem. Some of the guys on the street not only gave him grief, but also me. My retort to them was that this guy was the most authentically African American in that spot. He was born in southern Africa, the latest generation of a line of Jews forced out of Russia during a pogrom who settled in Africa. Eventually his branch of the family ended up in North America -- the U.S. and Canada.
We need to break out of the old molds because they are just TOO moldy.
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