Ralph Nader’s attacks on Senator Obama as appealing to “white guilt” and “talking white” were a bit surprising to me; not because they did not have merit of sorts, but because Nader is a white man who has boldly raised the specter of Obama’s blackness in an open forum and did so again on ABC’s This Week today.
Let me be frank with you, all of the black folks I know (me included) have all raised this issue privately as to whether or not if Obama is elected President of the United States will that move race relations forward or set them back. Follow me now. Obviously, if a black man can be elected President of the United States that is a HUGE step forward for the United States of America. As I have said many times before, however, I am not yet convinced America will elect Obama President regardless of what the polls may say. But time will tell.
To the issue of whether or not Obama is black enough? Well, that is a hard one. Let me try to explain it to those of you who have never been black and who have never had to do the old Negro “two-step” as I like to call it. The Negro two-step is a dance that all–and I mean ALL black professionals in a post-civil rights era must be able to master and do well all of their professional careers. I live it and dance it daily as do all of my black peers who are doctors, lawyers, professors, engineers, dentists, educators, scientists, etc.
The two-step is what you do to not offend or upset your white peers and or the white power structure at your job, in your professional associations, etc., while trying to keep your self-respect and self-esteem in tact as a black person working in corporate America. It is a very delicate balance and it is not an easy dance to do.
The reality that Senator Obama lives is that he does need to talk “white” to be acceptable to the average white Americans as well as the elites. How many of us black professionals have had to hear over and over again how “articulate” we are, and how we are “not like other blacks”, etc.? Just because we are educated or dress a certain way, or speak a certain “mainstream” language. Yes, people still label the majority of blacks as incapable of being intelligent and of speaking proper English, even in the 21st century.
Let’s be candid: the only reason Senator Obama has politically surpassed Jesse Jackson and other blacks before him is because he has the ivy league credentials, the polish, the ethnic heritage (bi-racial), the ivy-league educated wife, the cute children, and the know-how to speak in what we in the black community call “code”. The whole Jeremiah Wright controversy gave white America a glimpse into the dual world that many black professionals live in America every Sunday morning.
The truth of the matter is that Senator Obama will never be black enough for many blacks and he will never be “not black enough” for many whites. The trick for him is to somehow bring America as a whole along with him and educate the masses about the very unique and very rich struggle of the black professional class in America.