Barack Obama Isn't Black

Somebody had to say it: Barack Obama is not Black. Not of the slave-ship, Emancipation-Proclamation, 40-acres-and-a-mule, Jim-Crow, Birth-of-a-Nation, Harlem-Renaissance, fried-chicken-and-watermelon, I-have-a-dream, Moynihan-Report, American variety, anyway. His skin is dark, of course, and he has an inspiring family story, but it's a story he shares more in common with people like me than with American Blacks. His family has lived the American dream: a poor Kenyan emigrated to the U.S., married into an American (white) family and their children went on to be successful Americans. This American story will resonate happily with the affluent children and grandchildren of poor immigrants, like me, but it bears almost no similarity to the saga of the descendents of the enslaved men and women from the opposite side of Obama pere's continent.

Stanley Crouch, an American Black writer for the NY Daily Post notes

[The Senate race between Obama and Alan Keyes in 2004] was never much of a contest, but one fascinating subplot was how Keyes was unable to draw a meaningful distinction between himself as a black American and Obama as an African-American. After all, Obama's mother is of white U.S. stock. His father is a black Kenyan. Other than color, Obama did not - does not - share a heritage with the majority of black Americans, who are descendants of plantation slaves...

So when black Americans refer to Obama as "one of us," I do not know what they are talking about. In his new book, "The Audacity of Hope," Obama makes it clear that, while he has experienced some light versions of typical racial stereotypes, he cannot claim those problems as his own - nor has he lived the life of a black American.

But Mr. Crouch warms my heart with the non-racialist conclusion:

Of course, the idea that one would be a better or a worse representative of black Americans depending upon his or her culture or ethnic group is clearly absurd. Even slavery itself initially came under fire from white Christians - the first of whom to separate themselves from the institution were Quakers. The majority of the Union troops were white, and so were those who have brought about the most important civil rights legislation.

It is unlikely that any of this will matter. Mr. Obama has dark skin, empathizes with and associates with American Blacks. They - along with many whites - will vote for him whether for the color of his skin or the content of his character, and I suspect he'll accept votes for either reason.

Update: I couldn't resist adding the NYTimes' telling "Op-Art" to this post