Wednesday,Jun 30,2010
Jonathan, Babangida and the Sword of Damocles
In the Sword of Damocles, the Roman politician and philosopher Cicero tells the story of Dionysius II, a king who r.... By Jideofor Adibe
Wednesday,Jun 23,2010
Attahiru Jega and the Search for a Nigerian Hero
Nigerians seem to be in constant search for public heroes - competent little messiahs who will not hesitate to put .... By Jideofor Adibe
Thursday,Jun 17,2010
The Return of Mallam Ribadu
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the one time strongman of the financial crime buster EFCC, who sneaked out of Nigeria into self.... By Jideofor Adibe
Thursday,Jun 17,2010
Too Many Captains…
Two major attributes that have been quite easy to discern about President Goodluck Jonathan are: one, he seems to l.... By Ijeoma Nwogwugwu
Thursday,Jun 10,2010
Should Suspects Be Paraded?
The above question is generating increasing furore among our intellectuals, and ‘beer parlour’ politica.... By Jideofor Adibe
Thursday,Jun 10,2010
Nigeria: A Two Party System By Legislation?
Perhaps enamoured by the seeming ease with which two dominant political parties trod the political landscape of, at.... By Joel Nwokeoma
The recent revelation that during the last US presidential election, Harry Reid, the current US Senate Majority Leader, in private conversation, described Barack Obama, as "light skinned" and "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,” made headlines across the world. Though Reid, whose off-the-cuff remarks are included in the book, Game Change, by Time Magazine's Mark Halperin and New York magazine's John Heilemann, has since apologised, the gaffe enraged much of Black America. It should be recalled that in 2007, Vice President Joe Biden, then one of the Democratic presidential candidates, also reportedly described Obama as “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy… I mean, that's a storybook, man." The Delaware Senator’s remark drew outrage and he quickly apologised. In accepting Biden’s apology, Obama said: "I didn't take Sen. Biden's comments personally, but obviously they were historically inaccurate. African-American presidential candidates like Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton gave a voice to many important issues through their campaigns, and no one would call them inarticulate." Obama’s answer was a delicate balancing act between the hurt feelings of his primary Black constituency and the need to play down the issue of race, which would not do him any good in the election. There are indications that since becoming the first African American President of the country, this has remained his strategy on issues of race. It was therefore not surprising that he accepted Reid’s apologies and played down the issue.
But how has Reid’s remarks played out in the wider Black America?
Curiously ‘colourism’, which favoured the light skinned also created identity problems for them in America: the lighter the skin, the better the acceptance by White America but the greater the problem of acceptance by the Black community – for not being black enough. The problem here is that under America’s ‘one-drop rule’, you are classified as Black if there is a drop of Black blood in your gene. This means that many who are officially classified as Blacks such as people from mixed race relationships are viewed with suspicions and never fully accepted within the Black community.
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