By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
June 05, 2008
Tuesday, June 3, 2008, marked a special moment in the history of the United States of America and the contemporary world. It was the day when Barack Obama became the nominee of the Democratic Party to contest the 2008 elections in November. Some said it couldn’t be done; some said that the Democratic Party would never elect an African American as their standard bearer; some even said that even if he were nominated he would not live to realize his dream. They must have been thinking about Dr. Martin Luther King.
Obama’s victory raises itself to epic proportions. His achievement follows a long line of salient moments that define America’s racial past: from the Declaration of Independence that excluded Black people from citizenship (1775); to a ruling by Justice Roger Taney, Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, that said a black man “was altogether unfitted to associate with the white race in social or political relations, and so far inferior that he had no rights that a white man was bound to respect” (1857); to an assertion by the President Lincoln that he would do what he had to do to save the union even if he could do it “without freeing the slaves” or some of the slaves (1862); to the formation of the NAACP to prevent the lynching of Black people and to ensure that their rights were protected (1910); to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1964 where for the first time Black could vote unencumbered; to this historic moment of Obama’s assumption as the proud standard bearer of the Democratic Party.
Ten years ago Barack Obama was an obscure figure in Chicago where he served as an Illinois State senator in Illinois from 1997 to 2004. Four years ago, he joined the United States Senate after a tremendous victory; today most members of his party have banded behind him so that he can secure the chief political prize: the presidency of the United States of America.
It need not be assumed that his journey was anything but difficult. Even in the end, Hilary Clinton refused to allow him his day on the international stage. She was defiant to the bitter end even as she makes a play for the vice presidency. However, I don’t expect her to receive such a nomination. She and Bill would emerge as monumental detractors from the work that Obama has to do and may prove to be too overwhelming for President Obama.
But this is getting ahead of our story. Many have tried to explain away (and to explain away) the magic of this man. Some have said that his very origins, his being the product of an African father and an America mother (white) has created within him just a closed psychological zone that allows him to distinguish himself from other Americans and thereby to etch himself on America’s unconscious in a new way. One report described him as being “very much an American but tends to view the incongruities of politics with the distancing eye of the outsider.” His not being quite as black as Jessie but just white enough to be accepted by white Americans allowed Obama to make his historic breakthrough.
Obama, as his wife Michelle has said, is a genuinely nice brother. He is generous, smart, tactical and tough. When Bill Richardson, his Presidential rival and first Hispanic governor, endorsed Obama he said he is really a nice guy “who brings out the best in us.” No one who listened to Obama’s acceptance speech on Tuesday could mistake the generous accolades he directed at Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy. It is a shame that she could not respond in similar fashion. In stead, she nursed the insane assumption that this, too, was her moment because no other woman had gotten this far in the election cycle. Yet, it was Obama’s night. He had created history as the world’s press acknowledged the following day. He was the first African American to have captured such a prize. He deserved his evening under the television lights and the eyes of an adorning world. She refused to acknowledge the historical dimension of his achievement.
There is no doubt that Obama is a brilliant man. A Harvard law graduate, he was a member of the University’s law review, the most prestigious in the country. After graduation, he refused a clerkship with Judge Abner’s Milkva preferring to work as a community adviser in Chicago. That certainly had to be career suicide for this young lawyer. Only he could envisage and believe in the promise that such a career offered.
After arriving in Chicago, he became immersed in the city’s politics. He even selected a mixed neighborhood to live and work in: not too poor not too rich, with the right mix of conservatism and liberal politics and lifestyle. Living in Chicago, however, he had to get into the rough and tumble of ward politics there. With a coolness and calculation that would come to characterize his style, he challenged Alice Palmer, his former mentor. Through a series of maneuvers he knocked her out of contention and ran unopposed to the seat. He had learned the art of bare-knuckles politics in Chicago’s South Side. While in Chicago, he even taught constitution law at the University of Chicago Law School.
In Chicago Obama was not too shy to push a few persons around and change positions to achieve what he wanted. But he is disciplined and organized. He won a seat to the Illinois State Senate because he attended to the nuts and bolts of campaigning. While Hilary and the other presidential candidates had their eyes on the big prize he was doing the nitty gritty work of organizing the various caucuses none of them felt were that important to the outcome of the race. So that although Hilary was projected as the odds on favorite, evinced an air of invincibility, and came on strong in the latter half of the campaign, Obama had already secured a majority of the early delegates that made his victory possible.
In life there are paradoxes. Toni Morrison had called Bill Clinton the first black President and he really believed it. After he left the presidency, he moved his office to Harlem to be among the folk. Yet, somehow when the real black folk hero arrived to take his rightful place in the political arena Clinton was not ready to receive him. He called his quest for the presidency a “fairy tale” and, in a derogatory manner, compared Obama’s efforts to those of Rev. Jesse Jackson. Bill genuinely wanted to see a black president in his time but not at the expense of the woman who is his wife. One would never know whether in the throes of Monica Lewinsky affair Bill made certain promises that he had to keep. He served her faithfully in the campaign but having lost much of his previous political magic he was not as successful as he would have liked to be. Obama had come onto the political stage too early.
On election night my younger daughter called me from Texas to share this historic moment with me. She knew that her father was engrossed in the politics. I had urged her to follow the primaries and to take pride in Obama’s achievements. During our glee she informed that my first grandson, aged seven, was also elated by Obama’s victory. Seeing Obama on the TV monitor, he observed, “I can do that too. I want to become a president.”
That, in the end, is Obama’s major achievement: the tremendous amount of hope that he gives to the million of minority people, especially black children, around the globe. No wonder African-American, Caribbean people and Africans rejoice in his achievements. He has simply become one of the most inspirational figures in the world. Together with Nelson Mandela he has shown the heights that Africans can reach if only they would try. He also forces us to remember the first verse of Edgar Guest’s poem, “It Couldn’t Be Done.”
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done
But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he tried.
So he buckled right in with a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to do sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
It is a lesson that we all can learn from Barack Obama’s stupendous achievement.
Obama has personally achieved something with this victory and in a general way some non-Whites can look to this with a sense of pride. But I feel many are wrong in trying to claim that Obama is Black and/or African-American. He is light-skin, mixed race and not African or even Black.
Obama also has very little in common with most African-Americans because he was not the product of the American slave experience and has grown up with a measure of White privilege. He has signaled that he is expedient like any other politician although not as inarticulate as several previous American candidates and presidents. Also, he failed to marry legitimate African-American views with his campaign and in order to appease White American voters he has distanced himself from these African views and his preacher who was sharing them.
So while it is expected that many people can be proud of Obama’s achievements, I am not convinced that his achievements can bring meaningful change, especially to Africans.
I think that we can appreciate different people, including mixed-race folks, without trying to claim that these mixed race folks are Black or Africans when clearly they are not.
He will accept the Democratic Party’s nomination on August 28, forty five years to the day since Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech. Those of us fortunate enough to be part of the group that will vote for him know that he is not only carrying the banner for Afro-Americans, but for all young people everywhere. This was the first political campaign organized on the internet, and run by mostly young people. When I attended the Obamarally in Houston, the stadium was filled to capacity with a crowd that waited more than four hours to see him do his little signature run up to the podium. People brought their small children, conscious that this was history in the making. There were people there from every ethnic group in America.I get e-mail from all over, with notes about him.
A person willing to make it, can overcome abstacles in America, and make it. The education system is the key. The fact that he grew up multi-cultural is also a help. His African grandmother still lives in a hut in Kenya, and his Indonesian playmates remember him well. As a friend of mine once said of MLK, what a man! What an example. Racism will not go away obvernight, but this is one giant step forward for Mankind and for The United States of America.
In North America, if one has a drop of African blood, then he/she is African-American, irregardless of how much European (or other)blood they may have. This racial stereotyping goes back through Apartheid days to slavery. Therefore it’s not worth it to split hairs over Mr. Obama’s ethnicity. Whatever he may be, he is a damned great leader, helluva Politician, and seemngly genuinely admirable person! Although I can in no way impact the US’s electoral system (I live in Canada), my vote (in principle) goes to him for the next US president….
Heru- You may not be aware of this, bit in the United States of America; Race is defined by color not genetics or social economic privilege. Obama on any night of the week couldn’t hail a cab from the Barry Farms neighborhood of D.C… I speculate the same to be true in many other U.S. cities. He is Black as defined by The United States citizens. He definitely married Black America when he married Michelle. His former Pastor is lighter in skin tone than he and Rev. Wright had (according to American definitions of race) Black parents.
The change has already happened. People are learning that they can compete again without worry of being cheated out of their accomplishments. African Americans have been hearing that there is no excuse for the collective to live as they have, but now they see that they to can compete for a better way of life. If Obama were to win you will see a rise of Black pride globally. If Obama becomes President and does a good job, then the world need to be ready for the rise of Africans throughout the Diaspora and in the mother land not only from the aid of an Obama led White House, but also through the strength, courage, hearts, and minds of a people who have for too long shared the audacity to hope without any meaningful or significant change. Obama didn’t have to be a descendent of slavery to share the legacy of slavery in the United States. As a non- White male who has features in common with some of his African American peers, when in the U.S. there were plenty of accounts where he was stereotyped by others to ease their xenophobia. What is offensive is that you post as if you have a clue as to what African American values are? The most commonly know thing about African Americans is that they do not share the same views on everything. One reason can be traced back to slavery. Others include the fact that they are individuals existing in a free society as Americans with no ties to any other land culturally. They are not bound by ancient traditions excluding for some who follow the preaching and teachings in the Bible.
Obama may not be Asian, or Native American, or Persian, but he is African (Father from Kenya), and White/ European (mother genetically from Europe). In the United States and in this case, he is Black married to a Black Woman who together has Black kids on their way to a predominantly Black city.
Your post reminds of the story of how Napoleon blasted the true nose of the Sphinx off of it’s face because he couldn’t comprehend how Africans could build such a thing. Also, anyone who believes that the pyramids were built by non black/ African peoples has lost their mind. That’s ours also. I guess in about a hundred years, Oprah and Puff Daddy will really be descendents of Danish or German immigrants.
With all that being said, it is not enough to just have a Black President if Black people don’t stop the self destruction. Now they have a legitimate reason to do so and it’s for the first time applicable to the masses. The reason is because if he can do it, so can I. Blacks believe that when it comes to rapping, singing, dancing, and any form of entertainment, but now can apply it to things that the masses can benefit from. This is a exciting time for everyone. Obama never promised Blacks anything that he didn’t promise other Americans. It’s just the fact that he can do it that gives promise to African Americans. If Obama is Elected President, It will be a good thing for the World if Obama is elected, not just Americans and African Americans.
May I ask Heru a question? What on God’s earth is a ‘legitimate African-American view” on anything? The best education for all, quality child care starting at an early age, to bridge the poverty gap; health care for all, a vibrant economy not based on borrowing from China and other powers, a strong military focused on defence, not starting bush-fires around the world, and a participatory government are the values of all Americans, regardless of where they come from. That the country should take care of its elderly in a dignified way is also an American value. It is ridiculous to assign values by ethnicity. All the Asians I know, JApanese Americans, chinese, Korean, Indian and Vietnamese share these views. So do Europeans and Africans, including those from the CAribbean.
Kerry Mulchansingh:
I am not splitting hairs over Obama’s ethnicity. I am merely stating that he is mixed race and not Black or White, African or European.
The Clinton camp was accused of publishing a darkened picture of Obama to make him appear more African (darker in complexion) as they believed that that would scare away White voters. So they too understood that he is light-skin and therefore more appealing to Whites.
It is the media and others who are selling Obama as a Black person and a representative of African-Americans when even he himself claims to be mixed (being politically expedient).
This argument also came up with Tiger Woods who many would like to believe is African-American but he is clearly mixed race and rejected being labeled as Black or African (for all the wrong reasons I suspect).
Dogheal,
Your post reminds me of typical Americans who feel their definitions of things are correct because of the might of the U. S. That one drop of ‘Black blood’ misnomer is not a definition of race. It is simply a product of early White Americans’ attempt to ensure the European race remained free from mixing with Africans — another bogus idea. The American definition of race is flawed in my view and many of us do not accept it.
Race is largely defined by one’s physical characteristics that could be transmitted via one’s genes. We know by Obama’s looks that he is mixed race and light-skin. He was born to African and European parentage. That makes him a mixed race person.
Obama himself claims to be mixed race and not African or European — not Black or White.
Regardless of how many feel elated by the idea of him becoming the president of the U.S., that does not alter his race or parentage.
The race of his wife does not change him from being mixed race.
HeRu wrote:I think that we can appreciate different people, including mixed-race folks, without trying to claim that these mixed race folks are Black or Africans when clearly they are not.
One good thing about this election it’s the type of topics that are being raised.. Even though Obama is half white, raised by his white family. Here, he is undoubtly called an African American. Why? It is something that MUST be addressed.
Men like Federick Douglass (who claimed he was the son of his slavemaster) and the evils of slavery cannot be shunned. How can a man enslave his own blood!
It will be an interesting 5 months to come and the impact it will have on T&T and our ‘nice’ Colour Class Conscious society will be riveting.
Affirmative re-action
“Connerly’s campaign – which he calls Super Tuesday for Equality – could also get a boost if the presidential ballot includes an African American or a woman. That would help him make the case, he said, that the playing field is level and minorities no longer need a hand up.”
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jan/19/nation/na-affirmative19
By the time people get this it seems it could be too late. Not suggesting Obama shouldn’t be elected, just think it’s a good idea to check the angles.
Obama has allowed himself to be described by many in many ways. He has been called mixed race, Kenyan American and African American. What is significant is how he describes himself…an American with a Kenyan father who left him when he was two years old and a White American mother. He never fails to mention that he was raised by his White grandparents.
One journalist explained his charismatic appeal by suggesting that looking at Obama can be compared to taking the Rorschach Ink Blot Test.Each individual sees and interprets him to suit oneself. Young Whites see part of themselves in him, while others react intellectually, some emotionally and many others racially.
Although Obama’s success can be attributed to his charisma, without his luck and superb organizational skills he could not have defeated Billary Clinton.The big fight is just beginning and people take note , at a time when the spotlight is shining brightly on him, John McCain is in a dead heat with him in the polls.
I am amazed that people whom I assume to be Trinis of whatever hue, are having this discussion. Mr. Thomas Jefferson’s children by Sally Hemmings, his slave, were considered Black, and remained slaves even though their father was President of the Country.Recebntly the sued to get DNA prooof that they are his descendants, and won. All of them are very pale people, who in Trinidad may be considered white, but not in the USA. As Condi Rice says, racism in America is a birth defect. We seem to have bought the arguments lock, stock and barrel, of dividing up the human race by tinges of skin and curl of hair. Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans and all kinds of Asian Americans are NOT white, therefore they are Black. MANY HAVE TRIED OVER THE YEARS, TO BE RECLASSIFIED AS WHITE,TO NO AVAIL. Many Latin Americans have tried too, but based on color of skin, they are classified otherwise.This has gone on for more than a hundred years. Barack Obama is an African-American in the truest sense of the word. African Americans are referred to as Black people by those wishing to deny them a place(country,continent) of identification.
I am considered African-American, although I am a Trini. I do not fuss about this. I would suggest others focus on what Obama can bring to the White House and the world- his intellect, his dedication to treating all people as equals, his promise to consult with all the people, and account to them,his wanting to get us out of that mess called Iraq, and his boundless optimism for the American Dream. He is conscious of his immigrant father, because it shows that anyone can succeed here, in this nation of immigrants. We in TnT could learn a lot from his attitude. Once, we had that optimism and commitment to all people being equal. In the last twenty years we seem to have gone into our own corners, and identify ourselves by ethnic grouping, to the apparent exclusion of others. This could leave some families in a quandary.
Let us focus on hope, and on change we can believe in. The young people of this fairly young country are fired up, and are apparently prepared t o leave the ancient hatreds behind. Let us be glad of him, and for him, and for them. In light of the mess we have lived with in the USA for the last seven years, Obama’s message of hope is so uplifting.
Heru:
“Race is largely defined by one’s physical characteristics that could be transmitted via one’s genes. We know by Obama’s looks that he is mixed race and light-skin. He was born to African and European parentage. That makes him a mixed race person.”
For the sake of clarification, maybe you will like to tell ‘us’ what are the defining physical characteristics of the “African/Black” Race?
I know that this video will help you none in your response.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTXPglptcJQ&feature=related
Looking forward to your response.
Well said, Linda! In the end, we are all judged by our character, integrity and what we bring to the table, so to speak. It’s a fact that history has dealt people of colour an unfairly stacked deck, but we just have to press on and try to do our best. Mr Obama has demonstrated this to the absolute utmost.
On CNN they are doing post-mortems asking whether gender biases worked again Clinton, and my jaw just drops in amazement. I think the question that they should be asking is “How did Mr. Obama pull it off with the widespread race biases and religious slurs (his church, early upbringing, and even the issue of his middle name being Hussein) that were bantered about”.
He demonstrated that not only could one rise magnificently above closemindedness and negative energy, but that one could do it with syle, and poise! That is the kind of leader that the world needs…
Heru- We were talking about a American Senator who is running for the highest office in the United States. Why would you believe it inappropriate to discuss the American definition of race in application to an American running for the Presidency in response to your previous post? I simply stated and will do so again that race in America is defined by politics and not by science. You are the one who posted that Obama is not Black or White when that is clearly a lie. He is both genetically speaking, but he is Black according to Americans. That’s who he wants to represent. My definition of race would lie more with science rather than burden an individual with stereotypes. American history or at least the race factor in American history doesn’t limit the “one drop rule” to Africans for the perseverance of the European race in America, but rather was formed to prevent the ascension of minority races within the U.S. society. The American view of race is definitely flawed, but at the same time it is the American definition of race. What does that have to do with you?
Obama does claim to be Black. Listen to his speech on race or any speech that he has made where he spoke about who he is.
It is clear by what I have read that under your definition of race that the majority of African Americans would be of mixed lineage than African. My mother and my father (from Trinidad) were light skinned Black people. The most important par is that they are proud as am I and understand that we don’t have to live up to anyone’s definitions of race because we are who we. Who we are is defined by our values handed down from generation to generation. Things such as,” If you make your bed rough, you have to lay in it”. I will personally never forget being told,” If you do not hear you will feel”.
Obama self identifies as African American. Most Americans identify Obama as African American. Why does that bother you? Genetically yes Obama is European and African. In the world of American politics and within the realm of at least America, he is Black/African American. I guess you would have to understand American History to understand the significance of Obama’s’ achievements. Get over it.
Dogheal:
I do not believe it is inappropriate to discuss the American definition of race. I have simply stated that I do not accept that one drop of black blood American concept.
Dogheal said:
This could be the case but if it is not defined properly then it is worth discussing.
Dogheal said:
This is a blog that allows for discussions on a wide variety of issues so I am advancing my views. Also, I believe people are misrepresenting this issue so I am registering my opinions.
Dogheal said:
There is no reason for some people to distort what I have stated unless they have character defects, including racial insecurities and prejudices where they are unable to evaluate what is being communicated on this topic. My comments so far have not judged Obama’s character based on his race. I am also proud that I do not have to live up to other people’s definition of race and that is the reason I am sharing my views on the topic and showing how it is different to the views of many other people.
Ram,
Race is annexed to a region where large groups of people developed their dominant observable physical characteristics (e.g. shape, eye formation, hair color and texture, skin color, shape of nose and lips etc.)
The YouTube video shows Africans and other mixed race people.
Obama’s skin color, hair texture and other physical features are products of his African father’s and European mother’s physical characteristics. For confirmation, Obama has explained how he is mixed. I see no reason to classify Obama in such a way as to conceal the fact that he has a European/White mother. He can be respected exactly as he is without trying to distort his racial heritage.
Good post T.Man. Everyone knows that Obama is the best remaining candidate. The history of racism will rear its ugly head in the general election. Some people will not vote for Obama because he is a tinted White man. That was for Heru. In some of the Democratic primaries where people had been affected the most by George Bush policies and Clinton supported NAFTA, the voters were still unwilling to support Obama who was the only one who was talking about helping them through his policies. If one were to examine the democratic primary results in states and regions were Obama loss to Hillary Clinton by huge numbers, one will find that many of them will now vote for McCain. In many of the exit polls when asked was race a factor, more than expected answered yes. They were just the ones that admitted it.
Obama is forcing America to either admit that racism is still systematically oppressive for Blacks, or to take the risk of electing a African American President to deny that America has a problem with race. We are witnessing the erosion of the balance of power based on race, but not limited to nation of origin, gender, or religion in America.
We will see what America will do and we will definitely be able to understand why whether we accept it or not.
Heru- You first posted,” Obama has personally achieved something with this victory and in a general way some non-Whites can look to this with a sense of pride. But I feel many are wrong in trying to claim that Obama is Black and/or African-American. He is light-skin, mixed race and not African or even Black.”
You have a right to your opinion and I should not attack your opinion. However, I feel based on the history of America that nobody is wrong in wanting to claim Obama and it is up to Obama when it comes to his own self identification. In My opinion, light skin does not make you any less African. Of course, my opinion is based on many factors pertaining to my life’s experience including my education and life in the United States.
I guess in order to have any kind of dialogue on the subject; I would first have to know what you define as Black or African. In the U.S., the commonly accepted definition of black in regards to people is a person belonging to any of various population groups having dark pigmentation of the skin. White is describing any person who belongs to the original peoples of Europe.
Obama is both, but looking at him he is Black because he looks more like a person of African decent than one of European Decent.
It’s not a distotion of the truth for him to be considered Black. He is Black. That doesn’t mean that he isn’t White. Everyone knows that he is both and not just one or the other or neither. Does that make you happy? In America especially if he wins and in their record books, he will be regarded as the first Black President. For the sake of everyone on this blog, may he be regarded as the forty- fourth White President
I cannot speak about what African-Americans ideals are regarding an Obama presidency. But I can say what seems to be what White-European-Americans are looking for. An easy way out of complicity in the ever more apparent institutionalized racism that is at the very foundation of the United States of America.
Of the many African-Americans on the political scene in the U.S., doesn’t it seem odd that the one put in the forefront, the first embraced by not only a major political party but the media as well, is mixed race but being touted as Black or African-American. There are African-American politicians with important views who are never given the respect and admiration being showered upon Obama. Could that be because they are dark-skin African-Americans?
Obama’s appearance is very significant as he is the version of what White-European-Americans can tolerate. Just as Whites have been the ones behind the “one drop and you are Black to discourage race mixing campaign”, so too are they behind the “who is not so Black looking for President” campaign. It should be expected there is a White-European-American agenda to unfold.
I doubt if he is elected president he will force anything in the eyes of White-European-Americans, more he will be used as an excuse for Whites to be able to deny their complicity in institutionalized racism.
As this thread demonstrates, along with the discussions I have observed and engaged in about Obama’s candidacy, most people seem to want to express their ideals about the impact of an Obama presidency on race relations in America, but I haven’t talked to anyone yet who can tell me where he stands on ANY issues.
An Obama presidency could be about change, but with the current situation and state of affairs in the U.S. I suspect it will be more about blame.
You guys should be glad for old people like me. Senator Edward Brooke of Massachussetts, the first African American senator was whiter than Obama, but he was Black. The first black on the Supreme Court, was Whiter looking that Obama, but he was Black. W.E.B. duBois, the first African American to graduate from Harvard, 1898, was lighter than Obama, but he was Black.Colin Powell is paler than Obama, but he is Black.
We learn from History, that we learn nothing from history.
“Too much looking back upon history is bad for a people with a future to build”. Sir Phillip Sherlocke, Chancellor of UWI when I was a student there.
Shall we put this to rest then, and send a small financial contribution to help Obama get elected? Go to his website and find the Donate button, and send. You have to have a credit card to do this. Help move America forward. You would be so proud of yourself. Incidentally, you should have seen my vieled Muslim protege jumping up and dancing on the floor of the stadium when Obama came. Truly, he is, as the Rev. William Lowery, a veteran civil rights fighter said, a phenomenal person. I am glad of him. I, this mixed race Trini with a green-eyed, red haired gene, who is Black, African-American and Trini to de bone, with TAino and African ancestors whose names I do not know, am proud that the dream of equality in America will be carried forward by someone whose people landed here before Plymouth Rock. The first African in North America was here, in Texas, in 1533.
Obama’s achievement highlights the fact that White America is only willing to permit those who are lighter in complextion and more “passable” looking into certain jobs. Just look at all the so called “Blacks” on the various TV networks. Just examine the so called “Blacks ” who are on TV sitcoms. There are numerous other examples of mixed race “Blacks” moving up in White America.Regardless of what we call ourselves, this type of selection still exists and what is even worse, White America holds up this selection as evidence that America is changing. Is it really? And YES, this is worthy of discussion!
Dogheal said:
This is some strange doublespeak. One can simply say that Obama is mixed race instead of giving a convoluted explaination.
Many Africans allow White America to determine who is Black or White, African or Caucasian/European, and in so doing White America plays on Colorism as a way to disguise their racism. Many Africans today also act on Colorism where light skin is preferred and darker skin Blacks are conditioned to think that their place is behind light-skin folks.
I believe it is worth the effort to examine how people view each other along color lines to appreciate that some people may be holding on to Obama, not based on merit, but on some level of color prejudice that is a hallmark of American society and most other societies today.
Colorism is largely unaddressed and as such it remains the preferred means of masking anti-dark-skin-Black racism.
Here is some research into how Whites act on Colorism:
Skin tone more important than educational background for African Americans seeking jobs, according to new research from the University of Georgia
Writer: Philip Lee Williams
Source: University of Georgia
Athens, Ga. – Everyone knows about the insidious effects of racism in American society. But when it comes to the workplace, African Americans may face a more complex situation—the effects of their own skin tone.
For the first time, a study indicates that dark-skinned African Americans face a distinct disadvantage when applying for jobs, even if they have resumes superior to lighter-skinned black applicants.
Matthew Harrison, a doctoral student at the University of Georgia, presented his research today at the 66th annual meeting of the Academy of Management in Atlanta. Along with his faculty supervisor, Kecia Thomas, a professor of applied psychology and acting director of UGA’s Institute for African American Studies, Harrison undertook the first significant study of “colorism” in the American workplace.
“The findings in this study are, tragically, not too surprising,” said Harrison. “We found that a light-skinned black male can have only a bachelor’s degree and typical work experience and still be preferred over a dark-skinned black male with an MBA and past managerial positions, simply because expectations of the light-skinned black male are much higher, and he doesn’t appear as ‘menacing’ as the darker-skinned male applicant.”
While there have been other studies of effects of colorism socially, this is the first study designed specifically to examine how it operates in hiring and in the workplace.
In America especially, Harrison says, when people think of race or race relations they commonly think of black and white. In fact, skin tone differences are responsible for increasing differences in perceptions within standard racially defined groups such as “blacks.” This diversity within races based on skin complexion has a long history but only recently have researchers begun to understand what these differences can mean.
Participants in the study that Harrison, himself an African-American, directed for his master’s thesis included 240 undergraduate students at the University of Georgia, some of whom participated in the study voluntarily, while others got class credit for their involvement. While there was a disproportionate number of females in the study (72 percent), this was due to the high percentage of women majoring in psychology at UGA and was adjusted for in reporting the research.
Each student was asked to rate one of two resumes that came with one of three photographs of a theoretical job applicant (one man, one woman) whose skin color was either dark, medium or light. Harrison manipulated the skin tones of the applicants with Adobe Photoshop so facial characteristics could not be included in how the students rated the job applicants.
“Our results indicate that there appears to be a skin tone preference in regards to job selection,” said Harrison. “This finding is possibly due to the common belief that fair-skinned blacks probably have more similarities with whites than do dark-skinned blacks, which in turn makes whites feel more comfortable around them.”
Harrison refers in his paper to numerous studies that show that light skin is almost universally valued among all racial groups. Hierarchies based on light skin are prevalent in Hindu cultures in India, for example, and in Asian and Hispanic cultures as well.
“While the respondents in this study were University of Georgia students, we think we would find the same response no matter where such a study was done in the country,” said Thomas. “When you consider that probably no more than 1 percent of industrial and organizational psychologists are black, you can see why a study like this just hasn’t been done before regarding colorism in the workplace. There are real-world consequences to these issues.”
Harrison said he was surprised that skin hue was even more important than education in evaluating job applicants.
“Given the increasing number of biracial and multiracial Americans, more research similar to this study should be performed so that Americans can become more aware of the prevalence of color bias in our society,” he said. “The only way we are going to begin to combat some of the inequities that result due to the beliefs and ideologies that are associated with colorism is by becoming more aware of the prejudices we have regarding skin tone due to the images we are exposed to on a regular basis.”
Society, he said, equates lighter skin with attractiveness, intelligence, competency and likeability, while we are often given a “much more dismal and bleak picture” of those who have darker skin.
“The more we challenge these images and our own belief systems,” said Harrison, “the greater the likelihood we will judge an individual by his or her actual merit rather than skin tone.”
http://www.uga.edu/news-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=9&num=5328
Matthew Harrison Speaks on Colorism Research
Thanks for your (somewhat)response Heru. Seem to forget that I am on a Trini Forum. But memories of those “Red Men Only” UPS truck drivers in POS and other shocking events made me realise how out of touch ‘we’ are with day to day life in T&T, and why you have taken such a position.
We must admit that if Obama was raised in T&T, chances are, he would not run short on a supply of Ambi Skin Toning Cream and Hair Straightening Cream. One have to wonder how confusing the Jeremiah Wright issue was/is to many of these Red Men UPS truck drivers in POS. I guess we as Trinis can understand why Hillary won so handily of all places Puerto Rico (where so many Puerto Ricans can identify with Obama’s mixed heritage).
Maybe this article can give posters a better understanding of why you hold such positions. I can never forget Tony Brown talk of his visit to T&T and how sick we were.. They keep telling him, “You are not Black, you are Fair”. Imagine Dat!
http://www.trinicenter.com/articles/2007/240407.html
There is a darling video on Yahoo News, of a six year old boy in Georgia, saving his drowning pal in a pool. One is white, on is African American. The child did not hesitate. That was his friend.
This is where America is now. Leave it to the children. They know people. I suggest those fusing about race, look at it.
No white group pre-selected Obama to run. He simply is a brilliant young man who worked his way up. He was the keynote speaker at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.I did not see this plethora of discussion when Dindial won the governorship of Mississippi for the Republicans. Is there a reason for this> Ok Ok Selwyn Cudjoe did not write a piece on him.
I guess you would have to live here in order to understand. I feel as if we are not receiving the same news. Skin tone in the U.S. is more of an issue with southern African Americans from my experience. With that being said, if a African American has hair that is straight or more like that of a non African person, they are said to have “good” hair.
I’m not trying to insinuate that racism doesn’t exist, but it’s not as serious as some would imply on this board. At least it’s not where I’m from. The dominant group of a nation will determine the identity of its inhabitants. People of European decent are the majority of the population in the United States. The rules have been set for now. I believe at this time in the United States that it is presumptuous and highly speculative to imply that shade is more important than race.
Ram said:
I doubt that many T&T nationals would agree with my position on many things. Most people in T&T do not like discussing racial issues except to make general accusations against Africans and Indians for political purposes. While light-skin color preference is ripe in Trinidad and Tobago, I have spent enough time in other countries (including the U.S.) to understand it in its wider, global scope. I am aware of how race and color issues are played out in Africa, Latin America, Europe and the U.S., so my views were forged from a wide array of experiences and observations.
Some years ago, a Miss Universe contestant from Venezuela visited Trinidad and during an interview she said she was Black. This dismayed many people because she actually looked White, with long straight hair. I spent some time on the radio explaining that the context of her saying she is Black was not about her skin color, but more about her having some Black or otherwise non-White recent ancestry. In Venezuela, they refer to Chavez as Black. In Latin America, like the U.S., Black does not always reflect skin color, and although I understand how they use ‘Black ’, I disagree with them.
When Black is taken to mean White and light-skin folks, then many people can maintain their anti-dark-skin Black prejudice while pretending that they are still pro-Black. It also allows many to only accommodate light-skin folks while claiming they are redressing Black people. Light-skin folks are the first to get promoted when they wish to claim they are offering equal opportunity to Blacks. The system does not impact all people the same way so getting these definitions clear can allow for the focus to be where it should be when people use these terms. If people are promoting Brown or light-skin, mixed race folks, then it should be clear in their language too.
Colorism is a part of American society, even within Black communities, and dark-skin Blacks are also complicit in promoting it.
The difference between the U.S. and T&T is that in the U.S., Whites are the majority, they control the political system, and it is they who decided that non-Whites were Black (although being Black is not a real racial label) in an attempt to keep a pure European race. For that reason, many light-skin, mixed race folks are considered Black (an incorrect classification in my view). In T&T, Whites are a minority group and although they control the financial sector and remote control the political process, the face of the politics is mostly non-White, so most people do not see the European face behind Racism against Africans. In T&T, White racism is more covert and colour prejudice is mostly what Africans and Indians deal with on a day to day basis.
There was a time when light-skin folks in the U.S. worked to solidify their status as one superior to dark-skin Blacks when they devised the brown paper bag test to deny dark-skin Blacks access to many circles. Recently in Trinidad, certain clubs were excluding dark-skin Black people unless they were specially chosen for being the family of some minister or otherwise very influential person.
I understand quite well that Africans and mixed race people have been part of the civil rights struggle and many light-skin people are considered Black in the U.S. Because the system prefers light-skin folks, Whites have accommodated light-skin folks to imply that they are addressing Black concerns, when in reality, dark-skin Blacks are largely treated with the worst forms of discrimination.
Here is another article for consideration:
The paper bag test
By BILL MAXWELL
Published August 31, 2003
Each year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission receives about 85,000 discrimination cases, a phenomenon to be expected in a society that touts itself as a “melting pot.”
Many of these cases involve the complaints of minority groups against majority groups. We rarely expect a member of a minority group to discriminate against someone else in the same group. But that is exactly what happens among African-Americans.
More than any other minority group in the United States, blacks discriminate against one another. The discrimination, called “colorism,” is based on skin tone: whether a person is dark-skinned or light-skinned or in the broad middle somewhere.
Most African-Americans refuse to discuss this self-destructive problem even in private. According to the EEOC, though, the number of such cases are steadily increasing, jumping from 413 in fiscal year 1994 to 1,382 in 2002, a figure that represents about 3 percent of all cases the agency receives yearly.
The most recent case making news in the black press involves two employees of an Applebee’s restaurant in Jonesboro, Ga., near Atlanta. There, Dwight Burch, a dark-skinned waiter, who has left the restaurant, filed a lawsuit against Applebee’s and his light-skinned African-American manager.
In the suit, Burch alleged that during his three-month stint, the manager repeatedly referred to him as a “black monkey” and a “tar baby.” The manager also told Burch to bleach his skin, and Burch was fired after he refused to do so, the suit states.
Colorism has a long and ugly history among American blacks, dating back to slavery, when light-skinned blacks were automatically given preferential treatment by plantation owners and their henchmen.
Colorism’s history is fascinating: Fair-skinned slaves automatically enjoyed plum jobs in the master’s house, if they had to work at all. Many traveled throughout the nation and abroad with their masters and their families. They were exposed to the finer things, and many became educated as a result. Their darker-tone peers toiled in the fields. They were the ones who were beaten, burned and hanged, the ones permanently condemned to be the lowest of the low in U.S. society. For them, even learning – reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic – was illegal.
When slavery ended, light-skinned blacks established social organizations that barred darker ex-slaves. Elite blacks of the early 20th century were fair-skinned almost to the person. Even today, most blacks in high positions have fair skin tones, and most blacks who do menial jobs or are in prison are dark. Believe it or not, popular black magazines, such as Ebony as Essence, prefer light-skinned models in their beauty product ads.
For many years, entrance to special social events operated on the “brown paper bag” principle, which I will explain. Until quite recently, black fraternities and sororities, for example, recruited according to skin tone. Spike Lee’s film School Daze satirizes the problem, and Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple makes it a biting subtext.
In his 1996 book The Future of the Race, Henry Louis Gates Jr., chairman of the Afro-American studies department at Harvard, described his encounter with the brown paper bag when he came to Yale in the late 1960s, when skin-tone bias was brazenly practiced: “Some of the brothers who came from New Orleans held a “bag party.’ As a classmate explained it to me, a bag party was a New Orleans custom wherein a brown paper bag was stuck on the door.
“Anyone darker than the bag was denied entrance. That was one cultural legacy that would be put to rest in a hurry – we all made sure of that. But in a manner of speaking, it was replaced by an opposite test whereby those who were deemed “not black enough’ ideologically were to be shunned. I was not sure this was an improvement.”
Gates was overly optimistic. The brown paper bag test remains in black culture in various incarnations, as the Applebee’s case and the EEOC’s statistics confirm. We separate ourselves by skin tone almost as much as we ever did. If, say, you check out the “desired” female beauties in rap videos, you will find redbones galore.
Back to the Applebee’s case. A spokesman for the chain issued this statement: “No one should have to put up with mean and humiliating comments about the color of their skin on the job. . . . It makes no difference that these comments are made by someone of your own race. Actually, that makes it even worse.” Although the chain denied the allegations, it paid Burch $40,000 to settle the suit.
Now for the irony of ironies: Applebee’s has added a protection, along with cultural sensitivity training, against skin-tone discrimination to its antidiscrimination policies.
In other words, the company must protect African-Americans from other African-Americans.
Discrimination from whites and other groups remains a big problem for blacks. But colorism is just as serious, if not more so. Colorism saps our strength from the inside. It weakens our power and ability to fight the outside forces that keep us marginalized in larger society.
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/08/31/Columns/The_paper_bag_test.shtml
Who devised the Paper Bag Test, also called the blue viened society? Those African Americans who were close to “passing”. That was in response to pressures within the society that resulted in stratification. “House Negroes” usually with some of the planter’s blood thrown in, got more priviledges that “field Negroes”.
Within the last thirty years or so, as Africa comes into its own, people are beginning to realize that much of what we call Africa’s contribution to world civilization, did not emerge in Egypt, but further south, among the Nuba, and in west Africa among Yoruba descended peoples. Trade route carried these achievements to Egypt, Greece and Rome.
Those who still hold on to skin tone as some sign of supremacy among African originated peoples, are demonstrating how ignorant of Africa’s achievements they really are. Of course, when Europe wants to show the worst of Africa, they photograph in the glaring sun, which makes the faces much much darker.
How long are intelligent non-whites going to continue allowing these games to be played in their children’s minds? And livers? (its where the deadly residue of the skin-lightening and hair straightening creams end up). Now I must go watch Hillary concede to Obama. Bye.
Heru’s knowledge and perspective on this topic are obviously superior to most of us on this Blog.
There is nothing I can disagree with. This is why I agree with Tiger Woods that there is a new demography emerging in America- Mixed Race. There are many other Americans who agree and have publicly said so, e.g. Maria Carey. Barack Obama is emerging as a member of this demographic.
Heru thinks Heru knows more than what Heru does. True Heru has many facts in connection with the subject, but is missing the point that the African Gene is the dominant gene. A person of African decent primarily has to be at least eight times removed from that African gene in order to be considered non African politically and socially in the United States.
If none of knew of Obama’s history, then not one of us (at least in the U.S.) would have ever have thought that he had a White mother. That is why if Obama were not a senator or a person of any significant amount of power would be regarded as just another Black Guy.
Light skin is not the same as White and never was. I’m vexed as to how one could ever confuse the two. Perhaps it’s cultural. I’m not sure. I can tell you that from the common shared experience of African Americans who are multicultural and a composite of multiple political, social views that we range from a varied hue of color.
There has always been race mixing in the United States. Only recently has there been a push to acknowledge Bi-racial people as that rather than one or the other. That significantly impacts the African American community by weakening its numbers politically, but socially nothing has changed because if you look like an accepted norm than that how you are treated regardless of what you say. If one has an accent, then maybe it is harder for them to be racially stereotyped, but then they just become foreigner.
Light skin was in style in the 80’s. During the 90’s there was resurgence in African pride that continues to today and into the future with plans for the re-unification of the Diaspora in many circles.
The root of the paper bag test and self hate amongst African Americans can be traced to the language that they speak. There are more negative connotations in English in relation to the word Black than there is White. Somehow, primitive minded Europeans decided that they were White and everything associated with the meaning of that word including pure, angelic, good, clean, etc…And other people of the world who were less White were both less people and less every positive thing associated with them in their mind linguistically application of the words culturally reinforced.. Their objective was clear in regard to their perspective on other groups of people from that point on. Perhaps it happened during the final push of the crusades after the “negroid” Moors were pushed out of Europe finally after centuries of rule. At any rate, my point is that words and the use of those words in which we use to describe ourselves impact our social perspective unconscionably.
In American Culture through it’s application of English at America understands it, Obama is Black. His wife is not dark skin, but she is Black. The same goes for their children. Michael Jackson is Black. Colin Powell is Black. Dr. Cornell West is Black. Lena Horn is Black. Halley Barry is Black. David Justice, Bob Marley, Harry Bellefonte, Thierry Henry, Sade, Lenny Kravitz, and many more biologically mixed people are Black.
Heru said in regard to Senator Obama,” He is light-skin, mixed race and not African or even Black”. I say he is just as Black as all of those listed above. He is definitely African or did someone forget that his father is from Kenya? Let us not forget what was originally posted that sparked this whole senseless conversation.
Heru Wrote: “Some years ago, a Miss Universe contestant from Venezuela visited Trinidad and during an interview she said she was Black. This dismayed many people because she actually looked White, with long straight hair. I spent some time on the radio explaining that the context of her saying she is Black was not about her skin color, but more about her having some Black or otherwise non-White recent ancestry. In Venezuela, they refer to Chavez as Black. In Latin America, like the U.S., Black does not always reflect skin color, and although I understand how they use ‘Black ’, I disagree with them.”
I am pretty sure she meant African.
What about her cultural influences (foods, music, spiritualism, etc.) that might of had a role in her upbringing? If it’s all about looks, then you owe this forum a clear understanding of what is the African look?
Is this woman African, does she have that distinct African look or is she mixed? Link below.
http://www.bellazon.org/liya_kebede.html
From the sublime heights of Obama’s stellar achievement, the Trini minds have reduced this tothe ridiculous. I am out of here.Read today’s Newsday piece, based on the lecture at the Central Bank.