Obama is not Black like me?Really?
Why not?
"He hasn't experienced the same struggle or history that I have".
Moses was raised by the established dominant culture of his time.
He learned the ways of thinking and acting of this foreign culture.
For a time, he even thought that he was a member of this culture.
But things changed when he learned the truth about his ancestry.
He was one of the oppressed.
The oppressed would have none of it.
He didn't have to be a slave like them.
He couldn't understand their struggle. (But they could never truly understand his.)
After some legal troubles, Moses had to skip town.
Moses married a sista' named Tzipora from Ethiopia.
The headlines of the time were shocked that Moses would marry a daughter of Ham and not one of the daughters of Shem. But the press (Bible) noted her beauty (Num. 12:1)
( http://www.biblefellowshipunion.co.uk/2004/Sep_Oct/MosesEth.htm )
Moses berated his brethren for their materialistic ways and their lack of discipline and gave them a law (from God) to live by.
In the end, Moses lead his people from bondage.
But Moses wasn't really one of them because he hadn't gone through the same struggles as them?
I know, I know.... America wants the rags to riches story.
America wants all Blacks to be from the hood.
But I'd prefer it the other way.
I wish that no one knew what the hood was like.
I wish that Slavery, poverty, oppression, racism, hate and jealousy were just things that we occasionally read about in history books.
I'd prefer that no one could relate to my hard times.
(When my great aunts and uncles tell me about picking cotton to buy school clothes, I can't relate. When they tell stories about the back of the bus or separate drinking fountains, I can't relate.
It's called progress.)
Why do we always have to be ghetto to be truly Black?
Yes I can relate to wishing the world was perfect and that crime, poverty and bigotry didn't exist, but are you saying that Obama will lead and separate his people out and away from the mainstream like Moses did with the Hebrews when they left Egypt?
ReplyDeletei think it's a bit simplistic to say that black people who don't think that obama is "black like me" is using a ghetto standard to measure him by.
ReplyDeletetake me, for instance, i am African American (AA), meaning that i am a descendant of African slaves brought to what is now the USA) and voted for him, but i make a distinction between his kind of blackness and mine. the truth is that he is biracial, but if he feels a special connection to Black people, and African Americans in particular, and wants to label himself as such, great. however, that doesn't necessarily make him African American, does it? . Black maybe, but not AA. i must admit that i am disappointed that the first president of the USA with salient African ancestry is not African American, as we were here first. i don’t think it’s wrong to feel this way. if biracial people and kenyan immigrants can feel proud that he is one of them, why can’t I be sad that he isn’t more like me?
i am aware that immigration has forever changed America and that the needs of African Americans will fall by the wayside. if the articles i have read are correct, Blacks immigrants and their children fare better than AAs in terms of educational and professional achievement, which means that there are problems particular to us as a group. i am also aware that these immigrants and their children aren’t particularly concerned about AAs, and are more interested in themselves and people from their respective groups, so we AAs must find solutions to our own problems. black Americans of all groups can work together, but whether we like it nor not, there are important group differences.
I agree with you 100%. Although Barack is an African American in the truest and genetic terms, I think to suggest that he has not endured some of the same experiences and struggles that those of us with slave blood flowing threw our veins is inappropriate at best. Frankly, I find some historical irony in all of this that the first man of color to be POTUS is in fact of free African heritage. Irony? Might even be poetic justice.
ReplyDelete"Why do we always have to be ghetto to be truly Black?" I hear you on this one! I get so mad when I hear folks characterize themselves as "ghetto" as if that is some badge of courage or honor. It is in reality only an excuse. And I learned a long time ago that "Excuses are the tools of the incompetent. They build monuments of nothingnes and those who dwell upon them are seldom good for anything else.
@Curious - Psychological freedom. Is Obama the leader? Probably not.
ReplyDeleteIt would seem that the whole idea of different types of Blackness now create a whole new set of barriers for all to overcome.
@Dormilona - But what is so different about one type of Black or another? Wasn't (isn't) this divide and conquer philosophy used to control the masses in order to benefit the few?
African immigrants seem to even out perform other immigrant groups known for intellectual acumen. This would suggest a cultural reason for failure and not the genetic reasons that many believe.
@SjP - I think that you noted the "Free" mind set earlier. This would seem to support the academic differences between native A-A's and newer imigrants.
@ UGJ, yes and no. I believe the mindsets between native AA's and Black immigrants is different - but not necessarily "academic" in the truest sense. There is no doubt that they do not share the same historical frames of reference that native AAs do - but they have a frame of reference for their particular situation. I also think that newer Black immigrants do not have the same reference points as those that are second or third generation US residents. Then you have the fact that regardless of being native AA or immigrant, America views everyone with "black" skin as Black with no concern or recognition of these frames of reference. This I think makes this issue and discussion so much more complex than what can adequately be discussed in the blogosphere.
ReplyDeleteSjP - More complex for me as an induvidual but we, as a whole, should at least be able to come up with some workable ideas.
ReplyDeleteDon't disagree with you on that one!
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