"This is the Story of Me...A response to More Dumb questions about Barack Obama and Black Folks"

[babylonsister]

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/06/this-is-the-story-of-mea-respo.php

This is the Story of Me...A response to More Dumb questions about Barack Obama and Black Folks
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By LaKeisha Chestnut - June 9, 2008, 11:58AM



I am who I am. I am black. I am African-American. Though my ancestral heritage states otherwise. Either way, I am black. No, I don't claim to have a pulse on the black community, but I do have a pulse on what it is like to be black in America, and how some black folks are feeling about Barack Obama.

I wasn't raised in the ghetto of Mobile, Alabama. I was raised in a middle-class neighborhood where my neighbors were white and black. My great-aunt lived in an all-black neighborhood. I had cousins who lived in the housing projects. I was just fortunate enough to have this kind of education. When I read blogs that questions some people's blackness, I get a little uneasy. Because, no one can put into question someone's blackness.

When Barack Obama started his campaign, a lot of black people thought that Barack was one of us. That he wasn't "black" enough to identify with us. So many had decided to vote for Hillary because they knew her, and she was Bill's wife. As the nomination process went on, Barack's blackness came on display. Suddenly, black folks didn't see Barack as not "black" enough, they saw him as "one of us".

What we failed to realize is that Barack is everyone of us. He's not black or white, he's a human being. Just like me. Even though my ancestry is African, Irish, and Blackfoot Indian, and I am still a human being, and I am part of the human race. People question my "blackness" all the time. Because I don't listen to a lot of rap music, but I have never had anyone question my "human-ness." No one can never question that. No one can question Barack's.

The one thing I want people to take away from this blog is that it is time for all this to end. I was raised to love everyone regardless of skin color. I was raised to embrace who I am, but not let my race run me. In other words, I am going to be LaKeisha Michelle Chestnut, a woman, a mother, a daughter, a lover, and a friend regardless of my racial make-up. Barack Obama is going to be President Barack Obama regardless of his racial makeup.

[JeanGrey]

1. Well said!!

[yellerpup]

2. You bet he is!

Viva humans, all colors, no exceptions! K&R! :kick: :hug: