Black Voters Generations Apart
| AR Articles on Elections |
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| Nationalist Politics in America (Part I) (Sep. 2002) |
| Nationalist Politics in America (Part II) (Oct. 2002) |
| It’s Race, Stupid (Jan. 2001) |
| Republican or Third Party? (Dec. 1999) |
| We Should Not Support Patrick Buchanan (Feb 2000) |
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{snip}
Yet many younger black voters seem to be shrugging off the sway of leaders such as Rep. John Lewis and former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, siding instead with Barack Obama’s history-making bid to be the nation’s first black president.
It’s a generational struggle that should serve as a warning to Democrats as they head into primary contests in states with large black populations: The black vote today is anything but monolithic.
It also suggests the influence the civil rights leaders have enjoyed as political kingmakers is waning.
{snip}
In a sign of what’s at stake, a heated dispute has erupted over Clinton’s comment that King’s dream of racial equality was realized only when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Bill Clinton’s putdowns of the Illinois senator also have offended some blacks. Altogether, the scrap between the Clintons and the Obama camp has awakened racial sensitivities in the party that is supposed to know how to deal with race.
Blacks have traditionally voted overwhelmingly Democratic and Obama is picking up their support fast, according to new polls. An ABC-Washington Post survey this week found a 21-point increase in support for Obama among black voters in the last month, putting him up 60-32 over Clinton. He led the New York senator 49-34 in a CBS-New York Times poll.
{snip}
Younger blacks don’t share the same loyalties. And some lump older black leaders with the political establishment they say Obama is aiming to upend.
One civil rights veteran who is backing Obama shares that view. Joseph Lowery, former head of the Southern Christian Leadership Council, calls colleagues who are supporting Clinton “good old boys.”
{snip}
At a speech Wednesday before the Hungry Club at the Butler Street YMCA in Atlanta, Lowery said blacks who doubt Obama’s ability to compete are guilty of “a slave mentality.”
{snip}
Clinton has lined up the support of baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron, one-time basketball superstar Magic Johnson, Motown founder Berry Gordy and Black Entertainment Television founder Bob Johnson among others. Obama has Oprah Winfrey in his corner as well as R&B crooner Usher.
Clinton has poet Maya Angelou; Obama has the rapper Ludacris—a generational split all its own.
{snip}
Georgia state Rep. Bob Holmes, former director of Clark Atlanta University’s Southern Center for Studies in Public Policy, said blacks in the South could once count on a rigid brand of machine politics in which black churches and civic leaders delivered their voters.
That machine is no more, he said. “The younger generation is more independent and make up their own minds.”
{snip}
“This isn’t the generation of slow struggle,” he said. “This is the Me Generation and if they see a viable black candidate for president they don’t see a reason why that shouldn’t be possible right now.”
Rick Dent, a political strategist who has worked for Democratic campaigns throughout the South, said older black leaders adopted a more pragmatic political approach out of necessity.
{snip}
(Posted on January 18, 2008)
Black Americans Split Into Rich and Poor
William Reed, Black Press International, January 18, 2008
{snip}
More and more there are two kinds of African Americans—the ones with education and jobs and those with neither. The problem is that the more “color blind” blacks become, the more they gravitate toward whites and away from their brethren at the bottom of the economic ladder. A majority of black Americans surveyed blamed individual failings, not racial prejudice, for the lack of economic progress by lower-income African Americans. The report said in 1994 60 percent of African Americans believed racial prejudice was the main thing keeping blacks from succeeding economically; and only 33 percent blamed the individual. This year, [according to a Pew Research Center survey,] 53 percent said individuals were responsible for their own condition. At the same time, the survey found most blacks believed racial prejudice was still a widespread problem. Sixty percent of African Americans surveyed said blacks often faced discrimination when they applied for jobs or looked for housing.
One result of shifting views on individual responsibility may be changes in blacks’ attitudes toward immigrants. In 1986, 74 percent of blacks said they would have more economic opportunities if there were fewer immigrants; today, 48 percent feel that way. Most blacks and whites who participated in the poll agreed that immigrants tended to work harder at low-wage jobs than workers of their own groups.
On the topic of diverging values, the values of blacks at the top of the economic scale are different than those at the bottom. Forty-four percent of blacks polled in 1986 said they saw greater differences created by class than by race. Today, that figure has grown to 61 percent. The feeling holds for blacks with less than a high school education: 57 percent of those surveyed said middle-class blacks are more like middle-class whites than they are like poor blacks.
Overall, the survey found that there has been a convergence of values held by blacks and whites. Blacks and whites have become more culturally integrated and, therefore, less-affluent blacks feel more estranged. The survey also found that pessimism about economic prospects has grown significantly among blacks. Fewer than half of those polled, 44 percent said they expected life to get better. Twenty years ago, 57 percent had said they thought life would improve.
{snip}
[Editor’s Note: Read more about the Pew study, “”Blacks See Growing Values Gap Between Poor and Middle Class” in this AR News story.[A PDF file of the study itself can be read or downloaded here.]
]
Comments
It’s a generational struggle that should serve as a warning to Democrats as they head into primary contests in states with large black populations: The black vote today is anything but monolithic.
Yes, that new generation is so much less monolithic than the old one. This must mean the old generation votes 99% Democrat, while the new votes 98% Democrat.
Posted by St. Louis CofCC Blogmeister at 6:12 PM on January 18
Obama would be the first half-black president - but won’t be. It’s funny. You rarely see a picture of his mother. If Obama had not been raised by a white parent, the highest political office he would have achieved would have been councilman in some black majority city.
Posted by Civilized Neighbor at 6:34 PM on January 18
Several of you who have posted on this topic before have mentioned that there are two Black America’s. One that is upwardly mobile, live in safe neighborhoods, are two parent families, raise their kids to respect other people, send there kids to good schools, where parents and children love one another etc… Then you have the other Black America which is cauldron of drugs, violence, disrespect toward authority, out of wedlock birts are commonplace, hatred of Whites is rampant, especially White men and are menace to society.
This article confirms such a belief.
Posted by Wilbur at 6:40 PM on January 18
It seems that this has been the case for sometime - The ideological divide between older and younger Blacks. The article mentions older Blacks like Berry Gordy, Quincy Jones, Hank Aaron etc… I notice that a lot of older Black “leaders” tend to be backing Clinton as well. I wonder what how much they are getting under the table? Even one of the Civil Rights veterans called them “good ol’ boys.”
Young Blacks (and many young Whites for that matter) seem to be embracing Obama. It must be a generational thing.
Posted by The End Is Near. at 6:44 PM on January 18
It’s not that we disregard the opportunities that many of our older brthern provided for us, it’s that we young, educated African Americans realize that times have changed.
Many of our older brthern have become complacent in the struggle. They have been taken care of as and have become( to quote SCLC founder Joseph Lowery who I have nothing but the utmost respect for) good ol’ boys. They are now part of the system that they used to fight 30 years ago and is now corrupt. Congressmen Charles Rangel is pitiful! He is all but a whore for the Clintons!
Obama is our hope . He is progressive, inclusive, handsome, intelligent and he transcends beyond the traditionnal bi-polar debates of the left and right, Black and White , rich, poor, middle class etc… Look we young Blakcs (and our young White co-horts) realize that the American system is broken!
Lobbyists, lawyers, the elite of this country have all but sold us to the wolves!!! Such a situation must change! Barack Obama is the man who can do it!!!
VIVA OBAMA!!!
Posted by Young Black Person For Obama at 6:52 PM on January 18
It never ceases to amaze me how liberal whites expect blacks to be grateful or amicable or even deferential towards them just because they hold the “right” views on race. The overwhelming majority of blacks hate and distrust white people because of white people’s skin color, not because any given white person might hate and distrust black people in turn, and nothing a white person can say or do to exonerate himself or herself from “racism” can do anything to placate most blacks.
White politicians in particular who count on black votes will eventually find themselves challenged and often squeezed out by black political opportunists who realize that they can wield more power and garner more graft in political office themselves than simply in fealty to a white office holder. The white Clintons’ current quandary over how to deal with the “upstart” black Obama in the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination is illustrative: any stress they put on their past support by blacks is irrelevant to black voters in the face of a black challenger, and any attack by them on Obama, however substantive, will be perceived by these same voters as an illegitimate smear based on Obama’s race.
Posted by Zorba_the_Geek at 7:00 PM on January 18
“Now Jones is behind Obama, explaining, ‘I want to go for the gold.’” (original first article).
“The gold”, right. And when the trucks filled with gold haven’t magically pulled up in front of blacks’ houses after a year of Obama’s presidency, then what? (It might be an interesting internecine spectacle, but who wants to pay the price of admission?).
A lot of whites think an Obama victory will demonstrate to blacks that we truly accept them as partners in our society. But to most blacks, an Obama victory will simply signify a victory over whitey, and the huge numbers of blacks that are insufferable will become even more so.
Posted by H. Dumpty at 7:13 PM on January 18
Young blacks are far more racist than older ones. They have been influenced by racist music, racist DJs, and racist preachers. They have witnessed black on white racial cleansing, black on white car jacking, black on white rape, black on white home invasions and have probably come to like it.
Check out Obama’s Trinity Church of Christ website.
Posted by Elrey Jones at 7:54 PM on January 18
“In a sign of what’s at stake, a heated dispute has erupted over Clinton’s comment that King’s dream of racial equality was realized only when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
It’s amazing that it took a white sellout to make one of the most truthful statements of this presidential campaign.
Posted by GetBackJack at 8:14 PM on January 18
“Lobbyists, lawyers, the elite of this country have all but sold us to the wolves!!! Such a situation must change! Barack Obama is the man who can do it!!!” (Posted by Young Black Person For Obama at 6:52 PM on January 18).
What has Obama ever DONE (not just SAID) that shows a willingness on his part to challenge the corporate direction of this country? (This is not a rhetorical question—I am ignorant, and my mind is open. But I do have a prejudice: Considering the present nature of our political system, I doubt he could have risen to his present status, that of being an important candidate, without having already implicitly or explicitly reassured the corporations that they would continue to have their way under his presidency).
Posted by H. Dumpty at 12:27 AM on January 19
Elrey Jones:
Is that why they are FAR MORE LIKELY to date Whites and other non-Blacks?
I think you are wrong on this one.
Posted by Disgusted At What I Am Seeing at 12:35 AM on January 19
What did these liberal goofs expect. We here at AR know the real black attitudes towards whites, but the white liberals go out of their way to censor that. Basically just putting blacks in the background for photo ops, and never letting blacks wander off of the approved script.
Posted by Simmons at 12:48 AM on January 19
“It’s a generational struggle that should serve as a warning to Democrats as they head into primary contests in states with large black populations: The black vote today is anything but monolithic.”
According to the US Census, the following figures are provided for percentage black population as of 2006:
Mississippi 37.1%
Louisiana 31.7%
Georgia 29.9%
Maryland 29.5%
South Carolina 29.0%
Alabama 26.3%
North Carolina 21.7%
Delaware 20.9%
Virginia 19.9%
New York 17.4%
Tennessee 16.9%
Florida 15.8%
Arkansas 15.7%
Illinois 15.0%
New Jersey 14.5%
Michigan 14.3%
Ohio 12.0%
Texas 11.9%
Missouri 11.5%
Pennsylvania 10.7%
Of interest are the former Confederate states and the non-Confederate states, which are indented. ALL other states of the USA are LESS THAN 10% black population, some close to zero percent.
Notice first of all, no state has a majority of black persons, the highest being slightly over a third of the population.
The Democrats need not run Obama as the nominee to get the black vote in these states. They will get the black voters anyway, regardless of the nominee. The Republicans will not get the black vote, regardless of the nominee.
This article focuses on Georgia. While there are three states with roughly the same percentage black (Georgia, Maryland and South Carolina), each are less than a third of the state population. Combine this figure with a low voter registration rate and even lower voter participation rates, and the actual impact on the election will be much less than half that shown.
If Obama is the nominee, it will have to be with mostly white votes. To win the election in November, he must have much more of the white vote, since there are almost no black votes to steal from the Republican Party.
Posted by Memphomaniac at 1:37 AM on January 19
””” we young, educated African Americans realize that times have changed. “”“
Posted by Young Black Person For Obama
- - - - -
I wish you would make up your minds about what you are called. In one sentence it’s “african American” and two seconds later it’s “black”. I’ve seen this hundreds of times. What gives? Also, I’ve never heard one black person refer to a white person as “European American”. You only refer to us as white. Why is that? I remember a few years back you started calling yourselves african americans because you “didn’t want to be known as a color”. Why then do all black people always refer to us as a color? I’m genuinely curious to hear your explanation.
Posted by Jus' Me at 8:34 AM on January 19
“A lot of whites think an Obama victory will demonstrate to blacks that we truly accept them as partners in our society. But to most blacks, an Obama victory will simply signify a victory over whitey, and the huge numbers of blacks that are insufferable will become even more so.”
Posted by H. Dumpty at 7:13 PM on January 18
You’re absolutely right.
Whites attitude toward Blacks is based on fear and if that constitutes racism, so be it. Of course there are many fine Black people but sorting them out is not worth the risk and could and often has, proved fatal.
The generations of illegitimacy, poor parenting or more often NO parenting, a mindset instilled by their self serving, self annointed “leaders” and by self hating White social engineers, that all their problems are the result of a phenomenon that occured and was ended more than a century ago and the expectation that all Whites have to express eternal contrition in the form of subsidies, have all contibuted to their failure.
I teach in a public school that has a 14%- 15% percent Black population and with some notable exceptions, a large number of these Black kids are non- achievers. They have no desire to learn anything and spend most of their time disrupting. The above mentioned exceptions with whom I have dealt are kids from two parent homes i.e. the dad is married to the mother and is also the father of any other siblings, all of whom carry the same last name which is the last name of the parents. How quaint!
Even when these kids speak it’s well below the five hundred million decibel level. They’re also the ones who are perceived to be “acting white” by the non- acheivers.
An Obama victory will produce the same reaction as did OJ’s verdict.
Posted by at 8:51 AM on January 19
H. Dumpty:
Not only that, but a lot of neocons are endorsing Obama. This must mean that Obama is sending out messages that the “invade the world invite the world” policy will continue under him. Pull out of Iraq now, against the war. Sure, Obama. There’s a good laugh.
Posted by St. Louis CofCC Blogmeister at 9:11 AM on January 19
Memphomaniac:
If Obama gets the nomination, there will be so much black voter fraud in November it’ll make your head spin. And if it’s enough for Obama actually to win, who will punish the cheaters? The Obama administration’s Justice Department? Ha ha. The Bush administration’s Justice Department? Ha ha.
Posted by St. Louis CofCC Blogmeister at 9:21 AM on January 19
“The gold”, right. And when the trucks filled with gold haven’t magically pulled up in front of blacks’ houses after a year of Obama’s presidency, then what?
When blacks see a black candidate, they see their messiah. They immediately believe he’s their salvation and once he’s in office, he’s going to do things right (ie, redirect all the programs and money to black issues and black people). But of course, it’s not to be. He may get more money for this and that but it’s never enough to change the black condition because the black condition is the outgrowth of being black; no amount of money can change that.
He’s then seen and denounced as a failure, a sellout, an Uncle Tom, an Oreo. His skin is black but he’s still in the clutches of the White man who’s pulling the strings. Blacks then turn to even more racially radical candidates who outright promises them the riches of the community pot. When he gets in office, he generally completely corrupt from the start. The cycle continues.
That’s why the black condition never improves under black leadership. It can’t. It’s impossible. Blacks believe all their problems are created outside their communities and that a black man can save them. They never see themselves as the cause of their problems.
If Obama is elected, blacks will expect every penny to go to the ‘inner city’ and programs ‘ending poverty’. Even if Obama is able to redirect money, the infusion of money won’t have long lasting effect. Oh sure, some building will get a fresh coat of paint to cover the graffiti and make headlines in the New York Times but the people and the problems that encourage graffiti will never change and never go away.
Posted by sbuffalonative at 9:30 AM on January 19
RE: VIVA OBAMA. If “we are young educated African Americans” then why don’t “we” do more to educate “our” less fortunate brothers and sisters. Instead “we” leave the inner-cities for the white suburbs rather than attempt to raise the quality of life for “our” people. The black neighborhoods in all major American cities provide an environment whereby blacks murder, rob, rape, sell drugs & steal from other blacks. That is an economic and cultural reality. Black flight only serves to compound this problem by robbing the community of role models. Believe it, Obama will be just like a black cop who is almost always tougher on blacks because he feels he has something to prove. I wonder will it be the white or black side of the Senator that will prevail?
Posted by at 9:45 AM on January 19
“It also suggests the influence the civil rights leaders have enjoyed as political kingmakers is waning…”
Hoo, hoo. The Chickens have come home to roost.
Posted by Fr. John at 10:07 AM on January 19
When the Dems took over congress in 2006 a young high IQ black man I work with surprised me when he said “The Democrats won we better hold on to our wallets”. After a high profile crime took place in my town involving a mob of black men, I heard a young black man comment “They make us all look bad”, he didn’t excuse their behavior or blame racism.
Maybe I’m being too hopeful, but I do think there is a small minority of young blacks who have a mind of their own.
Posted by Jay at 1:49 PM on January 19
“Clinton has poet Maya Angelou; Obama has the rapper Ludacris—a generational split all its own.”
So Clinton has the support of a whore*, and Obama has the support of a thug.
Yeah, that’s some difference.
*To be fair, I don’t know that Maya Angelou was actually a whore, but she has admitted to having been a procurer of same.
Posted by CSinAL at 2:04 PM on January 19
As much as I don’t like Hilary Clinton, she shouldn’t have to be trying to convince the rest of the country she’s not a racist when she says something about Obama. Of course she’s going to make negative remarks about him. THEY’RE POLITICAL OPPONENTS. This is yet another attempt by the PC crowd to suck the objectivity out of life. It’s been said before, but I’ll say it again: God help us all.
Posted by at 2:14 PM on January 19
“Many of our older bretheren have become complacent in the struggle.
Obama is our hope . He is progressive, inclusive, handsome, intelligent and he transcends beyond the traditionnal bi-polar debates of the left and right, Black and White , rich, poor, middle class etc… Look we young Blacks (and our young White co-horts) realize that the American system is broken!
Lobbyists, lawyers, the elite of this country have all but sold us to the wolves!!! Such a situation must change! Barack Obama is the man who can do it!!!
Posted by Young Black Person For Obama at 6:52 PM on January 18”
One problem that whites have with blacks is this: you think there IS still a struggle, and we don’t. The only thing whites see is blacks struggling with their own bad behavior, which they inevitably blame on us whites. And we’re really, really tired of it. Both the bad behavior, and the blame.
I believe you are a sincere and well-meaning person. I would advise you to weigh Obama’s qualifications and experience carefully. He certainly seems to be a more likelable person than Hillary. But be wary of placing all your hopes on one man. One man alone, even as president, can not change that much - unless he makes himself a dictator, which I’m sure nobody (including Obama himself) would want.
Also realize this: Blacks in this country are pretty much on their own. Whites, ever increasingly, just don’t care about you anymore. We don’t care about your problems, which as far as we’re concerned are now mostly of your own making. We’re sick of hearing about your struggle. We’re sick of having MLK and black history month shoved down our throats. We’re sick of hearing every little accomplishment by a black person praised, especially when (like taking care of your own kids) it’s just something that we routinely expect people to do. We’re sick of being forced to say things we know not to be true. Mostly, we just want to insulate ourselves from the noise, the chaos, and the danger that always seems to accompany large numbers of blacks.
Posted by CSinAL at 2:20 PM on January 19
Jus Me:
It should not be such an issue as to what term we (Black Americans , African Americans etc… ) call ourselves. The more important message is whatI stated. The fact that you can read a post and decide to focus solely on what term(s) I used in describing my race is about as myopic as one can be. I think there are Whites like you who just look for trival excuses to find faults with Black and other minorities.
9:45am:
First of all, you don’t know me and you do not know what I do.
Secondly, one could ask why don’t the more affluent and educated Whites go into Appalachia, south Boston, the numerous rural counties in the south and northeast and pockets of the midwest where there are a LARGE NUMBER of Whites who are poor, undereducated and disenfranchised and assist them?
Posted by Young Black Person For Obama at 2:31 PM on January 19
“Obama is our hope . He is progressive, inclusive, handsome, intelligent and he transcends beyond the traditionnal bi-polar debates of the left and right, Black and White , rich, poor, middle class etc… Look we young Blakcs (and our young White co-horts) realize that the American system is broken!
Posted by Young Black Person For Obama at 6:52 PM on January 18”
This reads to me as: blah blah.
Since when was Obama progressive? He’s a one time senator…oh!..he’s black, that’s how. Anyone can give lip service about any government being “broken” or “messed up” at anytime in history. It does not mean that one actually understands what is truly happening or what is “broken” and how to improve it. And this tripe of a black African transcending race(what reason would there be?)is a contradiction of reality, also as is this pseudo hand-holding mentality. Southern Whites will not vote for Obama.
Posted by at 2:40 PM on January 19
Somebody out there tell me how Obama (a closet anti-American racist) can be elected in this country? There are not enough Mugabe’s or genocidal Bolsheviks to elect him without some white support. Now go to the website of Obama who attends a so-called church called Trinity Church of Christ. It is a racist church and not anything that resembles our melting pot or even America. It is pro-African. Let them go back to Africa. And let us educate any brainwashed or mentally ill white person who would be even considering voting for this Mugabe / Farakkan type of candidate. Obama is evil and so are his followers.
Posted by Elrey Jones at 3:30 PM on January 19
I am not concerned about what young blacks do, as long as they stay out of my neighborhood. What irks me is brainwashed young whites voting for Obama because it makes them feel good. Obama is an affirmative action phenomenon. As one of the rare blacks with an IQ of 110 (thanks to a White mother and relatively intelligent Kenyen father) he was handed everything by marxist Whites who wanted to feel good about themselves. He is a garden variety marxist without an original idea and no experience in anything. Joe Biden’s mother summed him up when she described him as, “clean”. A succinct term meaning acceptable and unthreatening to middle class white liberals. I guess those liberals don’t belong to Obama’s white hating church.
Posted by Flamethrower at 3:12 AM on January 20
I’d like to hear about what some of his Harvard Law classmates have to say about him, although they would never be brave enough to say what they thought (if they were even able to have a coherent thought about a black person that wasn’t automatically suppressed). My guess is most of them thought, my God, this guy is an absolute idiot. I know he was editor of the Law Review, and I know law school is a bitch, so I just figured he was really smart. I assumed that Harvard wouldn’t sink so low with affirmative action as what I saw at my own law school, which was truly disturbing, but naturally unspoken. After all, Harvard has a reputation to protect. But I’ve seen Obama on TV and I’ve had moments where I thought, my God, this guy might be dumber than GW Bush. And actually, Harvard probably does sink as low as you can possibly go with affirmative action. And gives them A’s and makes them editor of the Law Review, and makes all the whites look up to the great black DUMB hope. It’s so twisted. But was I seeing things when I saw a man that was dumber than a box of rocks? Everything told me he couldn’t be that dumb. Is he?
Posted by Mark at 12:24 PM on January 20
””“Jus Me:
It should not be such an issue as to what term we (Black Americans , African Americans etc… ) call ourselves. The more important message is whatI stated. The fact that you can read a post and decide to focus solely on what term(s) I used in describing my race is about as myopic as one can be. I think there are Whites like you who just look for trival excuses to find faults with Black and other minorities.”“”
Posted by Young Black Person For Obama at 2:31 PM on January 19
- - - - - -
I read your post and wasn’t impressed by it. You speak of “many of our older brthern have become complacent in the struggle.” The way I and many others see it is that the biggest struggle and obstacle for black people is - black people. Having said that, I was truly curious, since you were here, to learn why people, black and white, use the term “african american” in one sentence and “black” in the next sentence when talking about the same exact people in both sentences. It wasn’t a put down it was a legitimate question. I still don’t have an answer. I see it on news shows and politically oriented shows, etc.etc.
You see, blacks and white liberals make these rules that we’re all supposed to abide by in order to be sensitive toward their chosen ones, but then they don’t explain the rules or how they make sense. If you don’t have or don’t want to give me an answer then just say so, don’t try to marginalize me as a “white” just looking to find trivial faults with minorities.
No, it wasn’t the main point of your post but I’m curious as to the answer to this legitimate question. That’s all.
Posted by Jus' Me at 2:08 PM on January 20
Jus’me:
I do not speak for all Black people, therefore I cannot answer your question precisely. I know that I tend to use the term Black. It strikes me as being more definitive and symbolic than African American. Black covers , the carribean, Africa, Surinam and Blacks throughout the world.
To me the term African American fails to do this. You can be White and be an African American. You can be Black and be a European American. That’s why I prefer the term Black.
I do now realize that your question was sincere and you were not trying to be obnoxious. I apologize.
Posted by Young Black Person For Obama at 9:28 PM on January 20
Sbuffalonative: Your post was brilliant.
The black mentality is to always believe outsiders (meaning Whites) are responsible for their problems. A big part of black pathology is the incredible lengths they will go to to avoid taking responsibility both on an individual and communal level.
Posted by at 12:50 AM on January 21
Young black person for Obama:
“You can be Black and be a European-American”,,,,,
How exactly do you figure that? Just curious?
Posted by at 12:52 AM on January 21
””“I do now realize that your question was sincere and you were not trying to be obnoxious. I apologize. “”“
Posted by Young Black Person For Obama at 9:28 PM on January 20
- - - - -
No apology necessary. I appreciate the dialog. I think the terms “black” or “white” to describe different people are legitimate and in no way derogatory toward either. It’s when one group demands to be called “whatever-American”, but refuses to acknowledge others in the same manner that I have a problem. And I truly don’t understand the interchangeability of the term “black” and “african american” in such a nonsensical way.
Personally, I don’t think any of us should be hyphenated Americans. We should all be “Americans” by now, but unfortunately, I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
Posted by Jus' Me at 10:30 AM on January 21
12:52am
If you are Black person who was born in Europe and move to another continent such as North America you are a european American.
It’s like a person who was born in Virginia and moves to Colorado. They are still a native Virginian.
Posted by Young Black Person For Obama at 2:06 PM on January 21
Older black leaders sing the blues, not rap.
Posted by Flamethrower at 7:48 PM on January 21
“Clinton has poet Maya Angelou; Obama has the rapper Ludacris—a generational split all its own.”
In a properly-run universe, Maya Angelou would spend 40 hrs/week in a cubicle cranking out uplifting doggerel for Hallmark Greeting Cards. But — probably because she’s older, and from an earlier generation of blacks — at least she “works clean” and can keep a civil tongue in her head.
Ludacris, on the other hand (according to his Playboy interview) holds the world record for making more references to his own testicles than any other rapper.
Wonder if Obama will mention that? Wonder if Obama will mention his own testicles? Or maybe grab them in public?
It would certainly put to rest speculation in some quarters about whether he’s “black enuf.”
Posted by Right-Wing Rocker at 6:43 PM on January 23
Young Black Person,
A black born in Europe is still a foreigner and not European. So wake up. And what the hell are you on my site for anyway?
Posted by Elrey Jones at 9:51 PM on January 23
If Barack had come from the previous generation of blacks, I’d be considering him. But he isn’t and I shiver at the prospect of him in the *white house*.
Posted by Dark-Star at 3:28 PM on January 24