Is he or isn't he?

It seems that a fairly significant number of people perceive Obama's candidacy to be a question of whether or not he is "black enough" to represent the USA's black community.

On account of the fact that one particular blog post of his has generated some colorful (pun not intended) reactions, a former teacher of mine suggested that I google the phrase "Obama not black enough" to see just how out-of-bounds this "problem" has become.

So, I typed in the phrase and had to scratch my head at what I saw (or read). Clearly, far more people than necessary seem to be concerned about the "authenticity" of Obama's "blackness." Many are questioning this and have made it the weapon with which to attack both his credibility and his candidacy.

I was browsing through newyorker.com last night and found a consequential article on Obama. This particular portion caught my attention:

"The election of Obama—a man of mixed ethnicity, at once comfortable in the world and utterly representative of twenty-first-century America—would, at a stroke, reverse our country’s image abroad and refresh its spirit at home. His ascendance to the Presidency would be a symbolic culmination of the civil- and voting-rights acts of the nineteen-sixties and the century-long struggles for equality that preceded them. It could not help but say something encouraging, even exhilarating, about the country, about its dedication to tolerance and inclusiveness, about its fidelity, after all, to the values it proclaims in its textbooks."

The question, I believe, is not whether Obama is representative enough of America's black community (and its rich history) for him to deserve the country's votes; this should not be the measure of his character--as a person and as a leader--and his capability to be president. As in any election, a candidate's experience in command and reform, the good intention behind every well-laid plan and strategy for his country's progress and welfare--these should be the yardstick with which competence should be gauged.

And the beauty of his being "a man of mixed ethnicity" is that Obama does not merely stand for the African-Americans, but the whole diversity of cultures making up "twenty-first century America," as well.

That his rise to the ranks stands for man's ideology of true freedom and equality is an event that is just as important.



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On Barack Obama and James Baldwin:
Click here to read.