Friday, February 18, 2011

Am I Black Enough For you?

There is a huge to-do on the 'Net these days that had its genesis in Herman Cain's speech at a recent Conservative conclave. A blogger with some notoriety took offense, quite reasonably, at his conservative posturing and his condescending attitude towards his fellow American Blacks. The blogger pulled no punches, comparing Cain's antics to Minstrel shows and calling him "the monkey in the window." This resulted in a real "tempest in a tea-spoon," with Conservatives accusing the blogger of racism, using some disagreeable terms themselves.

To be Black. Maybe I don't know so much about it, as my friend Terry explained to me back in the day, holding me by my coat and dangling me off the ground. But I know that it must be a terrible thing for a Black American to be considered insufficiently Black by other Black Americans. Who are the real Blacks?

President Obama, for instance. Is he really Black? Is he Black enough? He has a White mom, and his dad was born in Africa. What does he know of our home-grown Black experience? All of that negativity, all of that shared hardship?

Well, he sure wasn't White enough for the White people, and he still isn't. If he isn't Black enough for the Black people, where does that leave him? I'll tell you where: Black. All of his life, he has been perceived as Black, treated as Black. He's paid those dues like anyone else in his situation, his situation in the mirror.

I agree with the blogger in every material way. Mr. Cain, and his Black Conservative cohorts, are a stain on Black America, having sold their souls to a movement that uses them for political capitol while not so secretly finding them deficient based on the color of their skin. For fame, or money, they kowtow to the Conservative powers that be.

These are the "Queen Bees" that I learned about in Sociology class. Sure, I'm Black, but I'm somehow better than those other Blacks. I'm a bee, sure, but I'm a Queen Bee. It's a schande. They reject their own Blackness. Maybe their question to their Conservative buddies is: am I White enough for you?

Want to see some reasonable discussion of the reality of the modern American Black experience? Check out the blogger at "We Are Respectable Negroes." What do I know? But I know that these are important issues, and I know that our current leaders are allowing the issue to fester in a swamp of misplaced emphases.

4 comments:

fred c said...

We are all pee/nong, that's my attitude. Did you see my post two pages back, about dialogs of race relations? I think it's an important subject.

Thanks for reading!

fred c said...

Anon: direct and to the point, I like it! And thanks for the negative comment. I always figure, if everyone likes you, you're doing something wrong.

Plane Ideas said...

Those who visit "We are respectable negroes" web site ..Please understand that this is just one very small sliver of what is Black..

Fred's commentary is foolish of course becuase he is a white privledged male talking about something he does not have a fucking clue about of course, This is an arrogance of whiteness Fred cannot help himself..

BTW I have a lot of respect for Fred as a human being but his views on Black folks leave a lot to be desired...

I like his perspectives nevertheless on many issues..Just sayin

fred c said...

Greg, thanks for always including a lot of kind words, and thanks for being honest.

I'd rather have a more substantive dialog with you than is appropriate here, or on CD's site. So do you think that you could send me your e-mail address? Put it in a comment, if you would, and I won't post it.

I'd appreciate it. You could help me, Greg. Evidently there are things that I say that annoy you, and that's a line that I would rather not cross.