In the Middle with Barack Obama and the duality of black folk

Barack Obama and the dual souls of Black Folk

First of all, the goddess is not “up” on politics, world history or physics. Don’t expect her to enter into a debate about the Iraq War. This is the woman who thought the Hanoi Hilton was a real hotel, ok? I’m not ashamed to admit my ignorance about certain events, but I do know how to change a two prong outlet to a three prong with the grounding wire, so back off my political ignorance!

This is the first time I have taken time out of my very busy day (see preceding posts) to actually think about Barack Obama and the effect his campaign is having on America’s conscience. Let me first say that I did like Mr.Obama, but was truly put off by his wife’s comments about ‘this is the first time I was proud of my country’. Then the comments by the pastor – while some of his comments may have some truth (who can deny the horrible Tuskegee experiments, Scottsboro Nine, Emmet Till, Bull Connor and his dogs, the Little Rock Nine, ugh, must I go on?) let’s just say that while I do believe the CIA did help to incite riots during those tumultuous times, I don’t believe that the ‘white man’ invented AIDS to kill the ‘black man’. Some black folks are killing themselves w/out the help of the white man….and many of the medical personnel involved in the Tuskegee experiments were black. Just as some Jewish people were involved in the holocaust – no one race can be held blameless for the trouble in this world. Shoot, I LOVE America despite its faults – I wouldn’t choose to live anywhere else. (Do you know what the bath tissue is like in European countries – no Scott tissue, no goddess.)

Well, goddess, what’s up with the dual souls of black folk? Tell us!

Dear readers, for those of you who know about W.E.B. DuBois, know exactly what I’m writing about. From Mr. DuBois: One ever feels his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.

As black people (I can’t stand the term African-American – I am from New Jersey, folks and since my family/married name is Irish-English, whoa, do I have a problem or what!!) we are equal, yet not equal. There is still the old boys club. There are still job interviewers who see us coming and imedialty make their decision before we open our mouths. I went to a nearly all white prep school and Yale College in the 80s and in my experience….well let’s just say some folks of the “other” race are less than enlightened. (and the goddess is being VERY nice.)

This is what I see in Barack Obama. Not only is he bi-racial, he is part of the black upper class. His speeches about unity and understanding and change, I feel are a very personal cry - all of his life he has been plagued, in a very real sense with his duality…the feeling that he had to pick a side. Tell me if that came out more obviously when he referred to his grandmother as a ‘typical white person’. I don’t know about you, but what a thing to say about your blood relative!! (Remember folks, this is my personal opinion). Unfortuantely, that is how it is with many black people who “make it”. Do you go “white” , or do you go so “black” (rev. wright black) or do you hover in the middle?

I remember attending a dinner with my husband who had done some work in education about the Holocaust. We were the only black folk there, and there was this old man (80s) who talked to us. Now, the man was old and I bear absolutely no ill will toward him at all, in fact, my husband and I joke about it now. When he found out that I had graduated from Yale, he thought for a moment and said, ‘you know this may interested you that black women at Princeton….blah blah” Now, was that racist? Or was it an attempt by a man, separated by two generations, interests and race trying to make me as a black woman feel more comfortable? Who knows and you know what, who cares? The man was nice and I did him the favor of talking to him about things that I thought would interest him. Certainly we weren’t bosom buddies at the end of the night, but we did have a civil, if somewhat stilted, conversation.

I hope that I have made my point. It’s been so long since I’ve written something serious for this blog (in between answering requests for juice and Word World) that I certainly hope my words and/or my message is jumbled.

Let me know what you think.