Comments on: Stripping Obama of His “Blackness” by Rambling Raven

By: 'Cilla

'Cilla — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:52:06 +0000

Wonderful,
wonderful…

By: Susan

Susan — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:03:20 +0000

Great column Raven.

By: Linda Chavis

Linda Chavis — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:53:58 +0000

BRAVO

By: Lashonda

Lashonda — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:47:06 +0000

I love this. it was very well put. I have to agree with some of the other post. I get comments even from my friends. I have a friend who works in customer service at my job. She had to listen to one of my calls and she said “OMG, I am listening to your call and you sound like a white girl”. I know that it is a joke amoung my friends at work that my tone and words change when I get a call, but in a professional setting it should.
Back on Mr President(forget the elect) there is going to continue to be so much said about this man and his family. I even saw a website “impeach Obama” how do you even start such hateful crap as that before the man has even served one day. I really pray for him and his family as they go through this transition. I do not think any other 1st family will have as much fanfare getting into the White House as this family does.

By: Dera

Dera — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 04:57:00 +0000

You rock! Very well stated. I wonder what Miss Ann had to say after that speech. Dera´s last blog post..Black Republicans. Who Needs Them?

By: PatriciaW

PatriciaW — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 03:25:11 +0000

Well said. He can't allow this. We can't allow this. We have to refuse to be marginalized or deemed not good enough or less than by way of folks making Obama anything other than African-American. PatriciaW´s last blog post..President-Elect Barack Obama: A Great American Story

By: APOOO

APOOO — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:20:38 +0000

Perhaps, one day I will write about how some black folk don’t think he is black enough. LOL!!

Bring it on…lol. And, as always, today’s post was another great food for thought.

By: Anne

Anne — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:30:48 +0000

Terrific post! I thought this point was especially good: “We come in a variety of hair textures and skin tones because very few of us have only black ancestry. We are a rainbow of people. Yet there is a common experience that binds us, often it has been our collective treatment by white society.” Thanks for putting all that thought into your wonderful post!

By: Raven

Raven — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:10:34 +0000

Thanks once again for all the feedback. I was a little worried that I didn’t get my point across. It is the collective experiences that make us a community. And unlike some other groups we have always had folk in our community(in fact in our very families) with racially mixed backgrounds, as well as a multitude of skin-tones, hair textures and facial features. Without meaning to, Mr. Obama will make race a part of the American conversation. Perhaps, one day I will write about how some black folk don’t think he is black enough. LOL!!

By: Tinu

Tinu — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:27:40 +0000

I mean, it’s fine to me for Obama or any other b-racial child to claim both of their ancestries. To the outside world, I look and sound like an American, and I am proud to be called one. But I also come from two people who were born in West Africa. That’s every bit a part of my culture – not that I know the struggles bi-racial descendents face, just that we share some of the same core identiy issues.

For example, I’m constantly combatting the stereotype that black people don’t or won’t speak proper American English, particularly through people who read my writing or hear my voice before they see my face. IE- I sound like television reporter, so I am not one of *those* black people.

My first protest is always, American English isn’t even proper English! It’s not like we invented the language.

Second, black people helped reinvent English, and so, being part of the defining body, *however* we speak, it’s unfair to exclude any shorthand of communication as not being English, or only under the patois or Ebonics heading.

Third, I strongly resent the insinuation that doing Anything “properly” is automatically not “black” enough. So I understand exactly where you’re coming from. It’s OK with me as a black person any way that Obama chooses to identify himself, and I can’t help whatever box someone tries to put him in. But I’ll definitely defend against their poor reasoning for doing so.