There was a strong response to the item below on Twitter and sites I posted it on - below is my tweet response -
All - I'm sorry if the post "Why Isn't Obama White?" came off as offensive. First, let me say Alternet and Daily Kos had nothing to do with it - it was a user-submitted blog by me alone. So in case their owners don't like the post, I've taken it down for now and I will hesitate before re-posting it, if ever. I'll see if @markos and @joshuahol reply to put it back up (if they even notice this tweet) until then, I'll err on the side of caution.
However, I will leave the post up at my site (LarryNocella.com) for the record, because I know that my intent wasn't to offend, and people can read and decide for themselves. I'm bummed that what was intended as a meditation got angry responses.
Let me say this - Yes, I know Obama self-identifies as black. I was just meditating on the language and how we discuss race. I apologize if my writing was a poor choice of words, but please understand I reread and reread the piece until I felt it was clear I was just discussing the language.
Even so, I added the paragraph: "Let me pause to state that being African or black is not in any way a negative thing, and being described as such is in no way an insult." It seemed almost condescending but I wanted to be sure.
My goal was just to ponder the way we discuss race and point out its inconsistencies and how vague it is. I tried to point out at every turn that I am aware racism is alive and well. I am aware of white privilege, but to describe me as completely clueless is dead wrong. If you look back over my writings, you'll see that I've spoken out against racism, bigotry, homophobia, Islamophobia, sexism, etc. in every possible way. Here's a link to a couple about race:
http://larrynocella.com/blog1/?s=freddy+d
For what it's worth, since I see the Obama badge on some of your icons - I worked on Obama's 2008 campaign making phone calls. I hated it but I felt his election was vital and I'm proud I stuck it out for his historic win.
Two final thoughts: One, I thought of Lewis Grizzard saying "Anytime you mention God at least five people will threaten to kill you." No one has threatened to kill me yet (thanks) but I've always felt that way about race, too. I stepped into this hot topic on my own.
Two, I am not the first person to have this thought of Obama's identity. Like myself, it appears they're just pondering the issue. Here's some examples -
http://tedx.castilleja.org/2011/10/think-inside-or-outside-the-box/
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/01/black_plus_white_equals_black.html
Anyway, peace to all of you. Thanks for reading. Hopefully it will work out better next time.
Larry Nocella
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Below is the original post -
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If I was like too many writers and desired fame over insight, I'd title this essay something pointlessly inflammatory such as, "Calling Obama Black is Racist!" This would result in lots of clicks and angry, poorly-spelled replies.
I'd go on the boring talk TV shows and defend my generalized assertion against more accurate specifics. In the end we'd have a lot of noise and nothing learned, but plenty of free advertising for "Brand Me" and tons of "content" to provide a framework for the ads.
I felt the above preamble was necessary because 1.) I wanted to point out a common scam of hacks and 2.) I wanted to let you know I have no interest in that game and 3.) whenever one brings up "race" it's wise to be cautious.
Which gets me to the topic I want to meditate on today: Obama's heritage and the way people refer to it.
People overwhelmingly call President Barack Hussein Obama black when he is actually half-black and half-white. Since his election, a cliched way to describe him, surely included in hundreds of sentences being written about him this very moment, are the words "our first black president." Your favorite search engine can return 210+ million results of that exact phrase.
That makes me suspicious. I don't trust cliches and never have. Their repetition hides them behind a wall of reflex, allowing unhealthy thoughts to grow. You could say I'm a cliche-ist. You could also admit you're a dork for saying that.
Like all of us, Obama's parents compose him in 50-50 proportion, so he could just as easily (and just as correctly) be described in the vernacular taxonomy as white and instead be "our forty-fourth white president."
So why is there an obvious tendency to call him black? At first glance, it reminds me of the bigoted notion that any portion of blackness in a white person's ancestry stains his or her so-called "purity."
Let me pause to state that being African or black is not in any way a negative thing, and being described as such is in no way an insult.
Even so, what irks me about constant references to Obama as "our first black president" is that those using it may be giving in (willingly, unconsciously, or at the least, linguistically) to the bigoted idea above: that Obama is 100% black, simply because he is 50% black.
Oh that's absurd! It's just shorthand for his 50-50 ancestry! yells Whitey B. Blanca from the back of the room.
I would like to think that, Mr. Blanca, but again, if that were the case, you would expect a verbatim internet search on "our forty-fourth white president" to come up with more than a tiny fraction of those calling him our first black.
Is the phrase born from a denial of racism? As in, "We did it! We elected our first black president! Therefore, racism has been eradicated! Mission accomplished! U-S-A! U-S-A!"
Could be. The all-too-common script for complaints of racism follow this arc: black person claims there is racism, white person immediately claims there isn't, hasn't been and by the way does have one black friend.
But there's even more reasons to be wary of the phrase's usage. "Our first black president" can be a winking reminder from one racist to another that they are supposed to hate this guy, no matter what he actually does. Remember to hate him even if he tries to get you cheap healthcare!
It could be bragging by the Democratic party: "Look at us, huge segment of the voting populace, a.k.a. blacks, we elected the first black president! The RepubliKKKans are still waiting for Juneteenth!"
Is this all too much thinking? To use a cliche, making a mountain out of a molehill? Maybe. But better to guard against complacency than claim it doesn't exist. Someone once said "The unexamined life isn't worth living." Borrowing that wisdom I'd like to point out that the unexamined cliche isn't worth using. Listen to how silly people sound when they describe their ultimate apathy with the common (and utterly incorrect) cliche, "I could care less."
So I'm glad we thought through this. As we draw to the end, I have the same feeling I always do after a good long meditation: my butt's asleep. And I feel like something was accomplished. Even if that something was just tidying up in my head.
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Larry Nocella writes the blog ROFL: Random Outbursts From Lar! at LarryNocella.com. He's the author of the novel Where Did This Come From? The world's first CarbonFree(R) novel according to Carbonfund.org. The book is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook. It is also available for reading online. P.S. You don't need a Kindle to read Kindle eBooks. Download the FREE Kindle app for PC, Mac and smartphones. You can then purchase Kindle books or download free ones. Enjoy!
