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.

Dear Sir

I thought of posting the comment I wrote on Dr. Butch Dalisay's September 29 blog post, since I haven't really written anything "substantial" recently. At times, all we need is to come across an intelligent, well-written piece to get the wheels in our minds to turn (I could hear the rust of the iron wheels in my mind as they actually began creaking as I read "Barrack's America").


Hi, Sir. I remember my English 42 class well, even though it's been 10 years since I had it (you were my professor, and I was mighty proud to be in your class). I can still hear your booming voice and the distinctly "American" way you'd pronounce my supposedly French name the few times I was actually brave enough to speak in class; smell the old wood of which the chairs were made; picture the green of the trees visible from my seat by the window.

So much for waxing nostalgic. Truth is, I brag about having been your student once to anyone who's actually interested, and I was delighted to read this post, what with the mention of the titles of the stories and poems we once discussed in class.

I am presently working for an American company, my job description being in no way connected to Literature, I am sad to say. The interesting part, however, is that my having read American authors has helped me a lot in understanding the sensibilities of the Americans I work and regularly interact with. Funny how the demystification of a seemingly complex culture could come about so easily when one has been to "that place," if only it be through the workings of the written word. Watching the American-Iraq war would always brings to my mind scenes from Tim O' Brien's THE THINGS THEY CARRIED. "The Lottery" continually reminds me that America is not at all the glamourous world that Hollywood paints it to be (not all of it, that is).

I, too, am rooting for Obama. And I know that now, more than ever, he has a chance at victory, what with the evolution that America has undergone, the milestones its people has crossed in terms of looking deeper than skin-deep, since that historic day Rosa Parks refused to budge from her seat in the bus, since the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., since Leroi Jones changed his name to Imamu Amiri Baraka (so close to Obama's name, I must say).

I do not pretend to be an expert on American culture, or any foreign culture, for that matter--far, far from it. And so I am counting on the books on my shelf waiting to be read to educate me on the text that is the world--the same teachers I counted on when I was a student in my Literature classes.


*Pardon the grammatical errors and mistakes in punctuation. I thought of posting the comment here exactly as it was. Imagine my horror when I spotted the slips after it was published. Oh, the pressure of having the audacity to write comments on established writers'--and English professors'--blogs!