Is He Black Enough? Part Two
18 August 2007 12:11 am by Guest post
(Part One, for those who missed it.)
Expert guest post by Michael
Fauntroy
 |
Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, awash in money, energy, and hope,
has the political equivalent of a nagging cold that may ultimately be its undoing.
He can’t seem to shake it no matter what he does and far too many media
observers can’t seem to leave it alone. Nothing Obama has said on the
campaign trail – with the possible exception being his recent talk of
potential military action in Pakistan – has gained as much attention in
the Black community as his response to “the question”: Is he Black
Enough? I’ve
written before that the question is stupid and discussing
it gives it more credence than it deserves. As a Black man who lives a Black
life, I have yet to encounter anyone who spends much time on it – not
in the barbershop, the grocery store, on the subway, in a restaurant, or church.
Most Black people I know are just happy that a serious, accomplished, though
inexperienced, Black man is running a credible and potentially successful campaign
for the most important office in the world.
Obama’s comments on the subject at the National
Association of Black Journalists convention last week gave new attention
to the question. He knew he would be asked about it and, according to one report,
he joked about the issue at first, poking fun at a stereotype of blacks always
being late for appointments: “I apologize for being a little bit late,
but you guys keep asking if I’m black enough, so I figured I would stroll in.”
He would later get serious on the matter, wondering why, given his physical
appearance and issue positions, he should be faced with this question. (Michelle
Obama, his wife, decried
the issue at a Chicago event two days later, contending that it sends a
confusing message to children that must be stopped.)
The curious truth is that Barack Obama presents a quandary to many African
Americans. He is undoubtedly Black, but his life doesn’t have the same
back story of rank-and-file African Americans. For example, he can’t trace
his heritage to the slaveholding or the Jim Crow South. And Indonesia and Hawaii
aren’t regular stops along the way for Black kids on their way to adulthood.
Also, he is undercut in the Black community by the same attributes that make
him so attractive to Whites: his comfort with Whites and his ability to make
them comfortable with him. Some African Americans view with suspicion the quickness
with which White America has embraced him. The irony there is that it may not
be he, but White America’s response to him, that raises questions about
his racial authenticity. That is a shame, but not surprising; Black America
places a very high, and often unfair, burden on those who seek “mainstream”
achievement. The greatest slur one African American can deliver to another –
“he or she is trying to act White” – is used against some
Blacks who seek success outside the Black community.
So why, given his success so far, might this issue derail his presidential
aspirations? Obama will not win the nomination without significant Black support
and while he has strong support from Black America, so far, he hasn’t
quite dominated as hoped. The road to the Democratic nomination goes through
places like South Carolina in which African Americans have a disproportionately
large roll to play in who wins the primary. Though about 30 percent of the population,
Blacks comprise nearly half of the Democratic voters in the state. This seemingly
built-in advantage has not resulted in Obama pulling away from the field in
the Palmetto State. Indeed, most recent polls of likely voters show him trailing
New York Senator Hilary Clinton, in some cases by double digits.
The expectation upon his entry into the campaign was that he would wipe the
floor with his opponents in the Black community. That hasn’t happened
to the extent that some hoped and may be traced to “the question.”
Michael
K. Fauntroy is an assistant professor of public policy at George
Mason University and author of the recently published book Republicans
and the Black Vote.
