In.The.Black

Now that the campaign and election is over, will newly-elected President Obama be as “Black” as his campaign portrayed him to be? I hear so many people (Jon Stewart of the Daily Show and Steve Colbert of the Colbert Report) saying that racism is officially over because there is an African American in the White House. Two questions: is an African American a Black person (at heart), and do Black people REALLY consider PresE Obama one of “them?” 

I know many people expected all of the African American bloggers to write extensive blogs about the recent Presidential election. Honestly, I was very busy during the campaign period. For all of the rhetoric and mud-slinging, I would rather just sit on the sidelines for most of it. I did my part as a responsible citizen (I voted), but I that’s as far as my involvement went. What did interest me, however, was the lack of discussion within the Black community about Barack Obama’s actual heritage. As I’ve said before on my blog, I am truly “African” American. Like President-elect Obama, my father was African and my mother American, making him and me African American (vs. being Black). There are few times I make the distinction because I’m not sure how many people actually care. LoL. But… I did want to note that people were so quick to deem him “Black,” when he probably has very different cultural associations and a different upbringing. Add to that his Caucasian heritage on his mother’s side, and I’m left wondering how much he actually identifies with the Black people as a whole. I know that sometimes I feel distanced from other Blacks because of my direct roots in Africa. I just wonder how PresE Obama feels. Little is known about his personal tastes and off-camera personality. When he drops the façade for the cameras, does PresE Obama eat traditionally ethnic food, or does he opt for other (probably healthier) dishes? I mean, will the American public ever catch a glimpse of the first African American President eating chitterlings (if you don’t know what that is, you should read the rest of my blog and get a glimpse of Southern Black culture). Maybe PresE Obama’s family likes to eat cornbread and collard greens??? I wonder if Michelle Obama knows how to cook a pot of collard greens or black-eyed peas. LoL. Lawyers can cook too, ain’t no shame!

And please, everyone, don’t misunderstand my line of questioning. I’m thrilled to death that a person of color has been elected to the most important office in the US as Commander in Chief. I just want people to realize that sometimes African American does not necessarily equate with Black. With some trepidation, I mentioned this topic to my friends. I was playfully accused of everything from self-hate to promoting interracial segregation and everything else. It is not my intent to siphon out small groups of Black people and begin dividing the demographic. I liken the situation to Polish Americans or Europeans that come to the US. Perhaps just by looks, these people are “White,” but most of them hardly consider themselves so. They are usually identified by their country of origin and then by their country of citizenship (Polish American or British American). They have a different cultural heritage, a different outlook on life, and a different way of going about things. So, the question I pose to anyone who may stumble across this: Will Obama be “Black” in the White House, or are there millions of disillusioned Black folks across our country?

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