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Tuesday, 06 February 2007 15:14 |
 | | Roland Martin |
CHICAGO ÇƒÓ One of the insidious rituals any high-profile African-American must endure in order to establish his or her credibility with some other African-Americans is show that they are "down with the brothers and the sisters."
See, you canët just be a Fortune 500 CEO, politician, civil rights activist or journalist who happens to be African-American. To be fully accepted and embraced, you are required to show your "ghetto card" at the entrance of the black gates of Black America. Otherwise, you are forced to stand outside, proving your worthiness to the masses as if you are a sinner trying to convince St. Peter that you are good enough to get to heaven.
This
may be surprising to many of my white readers, and my black readers may
get offended and accuse me of airing our dirty laundry, but this type
of silliness has been seen time and time again. And as it relates to
U.S. Sen. Barack Obamaës decision to run for president, some are
already demanding that he prove himself to the peeps.
While preparing
for a segment in which I discussed his presidential chances on CNNës
"Paula Zahn NOW," I read the transcript from a San Francisco radio show
where a co-host said that Obama has to work overtime to get blacks to
trust him because he doesnët have a "hood" experience. The other
co-host went on to say that because Obama didnët grow up impoverished
on the streets of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas or
in the northern slums of Chicago, New York City or Boston, he canët
truly identify with the black experience in America.
Because his
mother is white and his father is Kenyan, and because he grew up in
Hawaii (thatës still the United States for the map-challenged folks)
and Indonesia, his blackness is somehow under review.
No doubt this
comes as a surprise to some, but this is the kind of nonsense that is
pervasive in black communities nationwide, and yes, there will be those
folks on the campaign trail and who call into radio talk shows and make
similar statements.
On one hand,
Obama has to convince skeptical white voters that he can do the job,
even though he is an African-American, because of their biases. On the
other hand, he must convince skeptical black voters that he isnët some
white creation who appears to be black, but if elected, will crush the
aspirations and dreams of black folks once in the White House.
Donët think for
a second that Iëm making this up. Iëve already started receiving the
e-mails and phone calls on my radio show on WVON-AM in Chicago, so
there are some nut jobs who have taken this position.
This is
offensive because anyone who has ever sat down and listened to Obama
can tell that he fully understands what it means to be African-American
ÇƒÓ because he is!
Now, for the
people who question his race, I wonder how many of them will claim
Obama as one of their own if he wins the White House? These are likely
the same people who screamed with joy when that talented and fine
sister, Halle Berry, won the Academy Award. Was she questioned,
considering her mom is white and her dad is black? Are these the same
folks who clapped loudly when Mariah Carey took home Grammy after
Grammy, but refused to admit that her makeup is similar to that of
Obama? Could it be that these brothers and sisters claim Tiger Woods as
one of their own when he is winning major golf championships, even
though he considers himself a "Cablanasian," a combination of
Caucasian, black and Asian?
We have reached
the day when black folks are going to have to quit forcing others to
pass a black test to establish their worthiness.
Every black
person in America doesnët have a "hood" experience. They all donët have
the same story of their father leaving them as a child, having to grow
up in a single-parent home in a public housing complex, their brother
on welfare and sister twice pregnant by the age of 18. We all didnët
belong to the Crips or Bloods and didnët have to fight our way out of
the gang in order to go to college. No, we all didnët grow up in the
black church, singing "Precious Lord" and memorizing the speeches of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We shouldnët assume that every black person
had to work three jobs to pay their way through college.
Segregation no
longer limits where we live, work and play. So if Jim Crow is dead, why
do we allow the system to continue to pervade our minds?
The day has come
when we judge a black man or woman for who they are, where they stand
on issues and what they believe in. If Obama offers a political agenda
that speaks to the needs of African-americans, good. If he chooses to
offer one that is broad and more universal, that doesnët make him any
less of an African-American (truth be told, Obama is more
African-American than most of us can claim. At least his father hails
from the Motherland, while his mom is an American).
There is too
much work to be done to raise the collective black community in the
areas of education, economics and healthcare. And worrying about
whether Obama or anyone else is black enough to do so should not be a
part of the dialogue.
ï
Roland S. Martin, editor of The Chicago Defender newspaper, is author of "Speak, Brother! A Black Manës View of America."
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