Is Barack "Black Enough?"

The last couple of days, one of hottest political discussions has been whether 2008 Presidential candidate Barack Obama is "black enough" to be elected to office next year. Now, I'm not talking about skin-tone, because clearly brother Obama is light-skinned and "those" guys haven't been popular since the El Debarge-era. But, the question of Obama's blackness has been made by people who have stereotyped an entire race. In other words, they question his ability to connect with the "other" blacks, the uneducated, the hip-hoppers and those who don't conform to "the man's" standards. You see, Obama is young, articulate and handsome. White folks like him because is doesn't appear threatening. To some of them, he's a "good" black. Black folks are behind him, happy to see the first brother since Jesse Jackson give a serious run at the White House. But in the same breath, some blacks are concerned Obama isn't black enough (doesn't have a hood pass) to get the amount of support he needs from the black community.

To give a brief background, Obama is the son of a Kenyan father and white mother. He is married to a sista and attends church in his home of Chicago. So his blackness is authentic, to me at least. But still, because he has seemingly joining the Oprah and Michael Jordan club of celebrities who have massive crossover appeal. And like Oprah and sometimes Jordan, he's already dealing with those who are concerned that, because white folk like him, he'll forget about the blacks whom he'll undoubtedly need if he can seriously contend for the White House.

A co-worker of mine put it like this.

I could write a book on this, but it boils down to people like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, who are nothing but relics of the Civil Rights movement, realizing that Obama doesn't need them to get elected, and if he doesn't need them, like past Democratic candidates have needed them to pander to the black vote, then will they have a place at the table?


I agree totally with this. Often times, we as black people can be like crabs in a barrel.

When someone is trying to get ahead, some of us reach up and pull him or her down so they can't reach their goal. I, and many others liken what Obama is now having to go through to Bill Cosby. Cosby is widely beloved by whites and blacks. The Cosby Show was groundbreaking in helping eliminating stereotypes about how a black family should act and what they should look like. But Cosby sometimes loses favor in our communities simply because he speaks the truth about what's going on in the hood. It's not what he's saying, it's the fact that it's him saying it and some don't think blacks should air out its own dirty laundry.

Like I said before, Obama is bright young political mind, with a realistic shot to make history and become president. So, it's sad that simply because he doesn't "suck up" to the traditional black leaders and doesn't say the things the way and when some think is appropriate, that he has to go through unnecessary criticism.

Now, if that constitutes Obama not being black enough and losing some support from the black community, then we're in a sad states affairs.