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Nels
Veteran Poster
Username: Nels
Post Number: 785
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 - 02:24 am: | 
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With his stellar and tactical entry into the big leagues of politics, Obama's presence will (very likely) and finally force the United States to address what many have been trying to unaddress for many years, and that is - "why is he considered black" only in America?
It seems like America will now have to face the One Drop Rule and Hypodescendency head on. As such, the real emergence of multi-racial and multi-cultural so-called "black" America will finally take shape. What is interesting is that his emergence may accelerate the coming split between blacks of dominant African ancestry and blacks of identifiably mixed ancestry. Oh, the fun has just begun and ironically, it will come at the hands of an undisputably identifiable person of "recent" African ancestry.
Well, I guess those "chicken bone" niggas who have hijacked the word "African" for their own benefit had now better start thinking about what they're going to call themselves next. Finding their next "identity" will be a real challenge. But then again, they might just turn to the buffoon sitcom networks and BET to find that ever-elusive nugget of self worth, their new "belonging". Yes, it's the blackest of the black who really don't want to be called black. What a dilemma. |
Nels
Veteran Poster
Username: Nels
Post Number: 786
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 - 02:26 am: |
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Title correction:
"Barack Obama's Presidential Candidacy will finally force America to..." |
Tonya
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 4432
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 - 06:15 am: |
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(You might have a point)
A deeper shade of racial bias
By Mike Seate
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, February 12, 2007
Just in time for Black History Month comes some disturbing news: Light-skinned employees tend to earn more than their dark-skinned co-workers, according to a recent Associated Press story.
This all came to, ahem, light after Joni Hersch, a Vanderbilt University law and economics professor, looked at a government survey of 2,084 immigrants and found that the recent arrivals with the lightest skin earned an average of 8 percent to 15 percent more than darker-skinned immigrants.
"On average, being one shade lighter has about the same effect as having an additional year of education," Hersch said in the story.
Ouch. That stings, but the news shouldn't surprise many black folks.
My mother, for example, often complains that dark-skinned black folks are still scarce in national politics, business and other high-profile jobs such as TV news anchor.
One glance at local TV news broadcasts will back up that assertion. Any black person lucky enough to sit behind a news desk in this town better have light skin and straight hair.
It's almost like the old house-Negro versus field-Negro conditions from slavery days. Darker-skinned reporters are sent out in the fields -- I'm sorry, I meant field -- to retrieve the news, while the far less offensive house help gets to work the nice, warm desk.
Hersch dug a little deeper into the world of melanin-based discrimination. She found that while quite a few cultures around the globe maintain biases between the dark and the light, the most bias against darker-skinned folks takes place right here in the good old U.S. of A.
Hers is an interesting observation to emerge at a time when Barack Obama, a mixed-race Illinois senator with an African father and white mother, is mounting a presidential bid. His candidacy is being taken very seriously by Americans of all colors, which should be considered good news to anyone.
But, after what Hersch discovered -- and many black folks long have suspected -- you have to wonder whether Obama's run for the, ahem, White House, would be garnering so much support if he looked more like dark-skinned African actor Djimon Hounsou.
I would like to think a few shades of skin tone wouldn't make much difference in how we elect our politicians. But as Hersch has discovered, color still counts more than we'd like to admit.
Mike Seate is a staff writer for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He can be reached at (412) 320-7845 or e-mail him at mseate@tribweb.com.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/today/s_492863.html |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 7282
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 - 01:32 pm: |
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Color tone like gender is, indeed, a factor and just as a black presidential candidate can't be too dark, neither can a female candidate be too
feminine. Hilary Clinton has her work cut out for her because she has to strike a balance between acting too agressive and being too lady-like. Obama has his work cut out for him, too, but he doesn't have to worry about regulating or adjusting his skin color. It is a constant that got him where he is, and as such, is an advantage. |
Nels
Veteran Poster
Username: Nels
Post Number: 787
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 - 10:13 pm: |
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Cyn --
"It is a constant that got him where he is, and as such, is an advantage."
Agreed. |
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