Now, Michael Crowley at TNR has posted an item on “The Stump” that blames black people for pushing Obama to prove his “blackness.” Give a black voter a chance.
Two months back, I interviewed about half a dozen African American women in Los Angeles who, it turned out, all supported Barack Obama. A small group, to be sure. But many of their views surprised me. They told me they liked Obama because of his biracial background, not in spite of it. They believed that the fact that he had a white mother allowed him a greater understanding of how to bridge racial suspicions and tensions. They were, despite their unanimous support for Obama, a politically diverse group. One voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and opposed Canadian style health care. Another was a young green party supporter. Yet another believed 9/11 was an inside job. Perhaps because they all lived on the West Coast, their views of race were more “diverse” than the East Coast, white/black, no one else matters discussion. I can attest that, unfortunately, after nearly fifteen years in Washington, D.C., the ubiquity of interracial dating, mating, and friendship on the West Coast now has the power to surprise me. It shouldn’t.
Certainly, there are powerful forces in the black community to define oneself in political grievance terms. But it seems to me that a lot of the pressure to “keep it real” has been deflated by the fact that so many who make that silly claim are demonstrable and obvious phonies. But that could just be me getting older.