Geraldine Ferraro is scared to death . . .

EffieBlack

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Wed Mar-12-08 09:53 AM
Original message

Geraldine Ferraro is scared to death . . .

Edited on Wed Mar-12-08 10:06 AM by EffieBlack

Much of what happens in this nation's politics is affected by race. However, race is only mentioned, discussed, analyzed within the context of black candidates and black voters. Therein lies the problem.

For example: this country has elected 43 white presidents. Until now, it was not even considered a remote possibility that a black person could be elected president, i.e., you HAD to be white in order to even be considered for the presidency, i.e., being white was a distinctive advantage for any presidential candidate.

That is a fact. But it never came up in past presidential campaigns. Politicians did not run around doing interviews proclaiming that George W. Bush wouldn't be where he was unless he was white or insisting that he should consider himself "lucky" to be white. George W. Bush and his predecessors were never defined in terms of race nor were their campaigns, successes, and failures analyzed within a racial framework. They have been treated as "people" who are not confined by, defined by or advantaged by their race.

Now here comes Barack Obama. From the minute he stuck his big toe into the ring, his race was the topic of discussion, analysis and polling. Is he black enough? Will white voters vote for him? Is he too black? Will black voters vote for him? etc., etc.

And now that he has demonstrated that white and black voters will vote for him, we are now being told that his being black is an ADVANTAGE - i.e., being white is a DISADVANTAGE. Only an ignorant observer or a blatant racist would ever believe that suddenly, after 200+ years of black people being effectively excluded from the political process, the fact that ONE BLACK MAN is actually winning primaries means that he is winning because he is black.

There are many reasons that people win primaries, none of which has to do with race. And there are many reasons that black voters vote for candidates, most of which have nothing to do with race. Otherwise, how else to explain why black voters did not flock to support the candidacies of Alan Keyes, Al Sharpton, Doug Wilder and Carol Moseley-Braun?

In fact, truth be told, it is WHITE voters who have consistently voted in blocs along racial lines. Black voters vote for white candidates all the time, in large numbers, even when black candidates are running. On the other hand, white voters have always voted in large numbers AGAINST black candidates. This is the first election cycle where we have seen a shift in this dynamic.

So it is galling to hear people like Ferraro claim that Barack Obama is where he is because he's black - not because there is no truth in it but because white candidates are not viewed through the same lens. If his being black is a defining characteristic of who he is and why he is winning, then being white is and always has been a defining characteristic of white candidates, yet no one has bothered to mention it.

This attitude is all too typical and revealing of a mindset among some white people who have enjoyed the privilege that their white skin confers, without question and without protest. Yet the minute that it appears that this entitlement is no longer exclusive - that some of the obstacles that have held blacks back and guaranteed white privilege are being torn down and white people will actually have more competetition from qualified black people - some white people scream bloody murder about "reverse discrimination," Obama wouldn't be where he is if he weren't black," etc.

Most blacks - including me - who have benefitted from affirmative action are used to this dynamic. We know full well that we are completely qualified to be where we are - often more qualified than the white people who take it as a given that they should be here, too - yet are consistently faced with this snide, smug, and arrogant questioning of our right to be here and accusations that "you're only here because you're black." In reality, we know that we would have been here A LONG TIME AGO if we WEREN'T black.

Does anyone really believe that Obama is the first qualified, brilliant, inspirational, politically-skilled black person to come along in American history? Of course he's not. But until very recently, no matter how qualified, how brilliant, how inspirational, how politically-skilled a black person was, there was no way on earth that he could EVER get to where Obama is - while the George W. Bushes of the world just marched right in and pulled up a seat, fully confident in THEIR right to be there. The fact that Obama is where he is has nothing to do with his being black. It has everything to do with the fact that Americans have taken baby steps toward removing some of the obstacles that have kept people like Obama from taking a seat alongside the mob of white people of varying (and often most meager) talents and skills who think they have every right to do anything they want to in life.

Ferraro's comments reveal a deep-seated resentment, entitlement and fear that this room no longer has a "RESERVED FOR WHITES ONLY" sign on it and that she and all of the other mediocre white folks who took it as their due that they would ALWAYS have an advantage over any black person are now operating on a different, more (but still not completely) level playing field.

Maybe she's done us all a service. It's a message and an attitude that people need to see, know and understand.

Geraldine Ferraro is scared to death . . .

For a Lady I Know by Countee CullenShe even thinks that up in heavenHer class lies late and snores,while poor black cherubs rise at sevento do celestial chores.

For a Lady I Know by Countee Cullen

She even thinks that up in heaven
Her class lies late and snores,
while poor black cherubs rise at seven
to do celestial chores.