Quote:
Originally posted by Kimmie1913
I know I am a little late on this one but...
I agree with TonyB06 when he said "...but it appeared the author was, in a nuanced way, trying to scrub away, de-emphasize Obama's blackness, and to somehow offer this as at least a secondary reason for Obama's rise among white voters."
To me, the article subtly asserts that Blackness is related to upbringing and social class. It brought back memories of my childhood being told that I wasn't "really" black by White classmates (intended as a compliment) or somehow less authentically black by Black peers (intended as an insult) as a result of a middle class upbringing and the ability to articulate in standard English. I guess to me it is one thing to say he stands in opposition to the false stereotypes of Black Americans that have become old hat these days and another to say he is Black in some sort of way that is different from the rest. A more model minority, if you will, than the rest of the ragamuffins.
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You are on to something. Doing a second read of the piece, the author does seem to imply that "blackness" and social class are tied together, in the wider society's eyes.
I do think that Mr. Obama's seen as a "more model minority" than Pookie, Ray Ray, Man-Man and them. In this context, Pookie would be somebody like Rev. Al Sharpton.
And as an aside, it also brought back the not-black-enough memories I went through, but I digress.
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