Could it be…himself?????
CNN decides to investigate the possible impact that the Greatest Black Superhero On Earth will have on the black community. Because they’re in the midst of studying the black community in America, the obvious thing to do is to consider how Barack Obama will make white people feel.
But there are others who warn that an Obama presidency could hurt African-Americans. They say that an Obama victory could cause white Americans to ignore entrenched racial divisions while claiming that America has reached the racial Promised Land.
Paul Street, author of the forthcoming book, “Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics,” says Obama risks becoming an Oval Office version of talk-show host Oprah Winfrey. She and former Secretary of State Colin Powell are African-American figures whose popularity allows some white Americans to congratulate themselves for not being racist, he says
“They’re cited as proof that racism is no longer a significant barrier to black advancement and interracial equality,” says Street.
“This isn’t new. Go to the 19th century and Southern aristocrats would point to a certain African-American landowner who was doing well to prove that whites are not racist.”
Barack Obama did not face the Two-Headed Tunisian Tiger to be felled by mere “Oprahfication”. The conqueror of the lost city of Blacklantis is not to succumb to the pleasures of abating “white guilt”!
Street’s commentary is actually right on - racists and those who fear they’re racist often grab on to My Black Friend™ to prove that they’re not racist, ignoring the fact that racism is a systematic form of oppression and prejudice, not simply refusing to let the landscaper get a drink of water.
Unfortunately, that’s about as good as it gets. CNN’s airing a two-night special starting tomorrow called Black in America. To show you how seriously they’re taking this, they’ve got a promo video up showing an interview with Chris Tucker. Because the best way to show progress in Black America is to interview a guy who’s worked exactly three times in the past ten years. Detective Carter shall lead the way!
By the standard of what’s about to come next, that interview looks like Sidney Poitier and Cornel West discussing the works of Paul Laurence Dunbar.