EURWeb.com*"Dig This; this one'll kill ya," is what James Brown says as he introduces the final verse of his 1966 hit, "Ain't That A Groove."
The Hardest Working Man In Show Business says this mildly incredulously, sounding as if he is grinning into the microphone. As if, indeed, you won't believe it.
It is in the spirit of Brown's recorded quip that I say it is absolutely mind-boggling that some black folks have fixed their mouths to remark that Senator Barack Obama isn't...black enough?
I know I'm on the late show with this, but for months I'd heard the rigmarole, not really paying attention.
However, the other morning I was in the shower when it hit me: Some blacks actually say that Obama is not "black enough" to represent us as President of the United States. As if we've ever had anyone in the Oval Office exclusively represent "us." As if Obama is running for President of Atlanta, as opposed to the United States.
I understand attorneys for the estate of Rod Serling have filed suit against the very concept of a black person not being "black enough," charging Copyright Infringement on grounds that this is some right out of "The Twilight Zone."
Best I can figure it--and it is difficult to decipher--these people contend Obama's cultural background--African biological father, white mother, Indonesian step father--make him, should he become President, suspect when it comes to serving the needs of the black American public.
Obama undoubtedly had some idea that a segment of white America would take issue with him. I can just hear Obama's people in the beginning, contemplating his campaign: "B, man, I don't know...your name's gonna give us trouble. Too ethnic...."
But who'd have thought that for some blacks, Obama wouldn't be BLACK ENOUGH? In name alone, Barack Obama is ultimately way "blacker" than, say, Leroy Washington or Tyrone Jackson. For those who would find it more comforting, simply take away the O, and you got 'Bama. That's down souf (sic) black.
Black folks are something else. We'd rather dub Bill Clinton, "The First Black President" than allow Obama his God-given blackness. I realize the Clinton moniker is simply a metaphor for a community's collective affection, but can Obama's views be such that he is, as one writer said, "not one of us"?
The idea of a black President has always served as a marker for black America's notion of I-have-a-dream equality.
I'll be damned if a black candidate doesn't come along at least as formidable as the rest of the choices, and suddenly brotherman isn't...black enough.
Surely Obama's color is not reason enough for black America to throw its vote behind him.
But help me understand: Is it what Obama is about politically that isn't black enough, or simply his physical look? Let's say his skin is literally black. Real black. Wesley Snipes black. Seal Black. BLUE black. I guarantee you there'd be black people then insisting he was TOO black: "I don't know...that brother is BLACK...You see him on TV last night? Girl, He BLACK. Ooh WEEE, he black...I mean BLACK. Umph. I don't know if I trust a nigga THAT black...."
If Obama himself is not black enough, then how about his lips? Obama's got some black lips. Back in the day, those lips would have been turned away from white-only establishments.
They wouldn't be able to drink from water fountains down south. Those lips could have been lynched for parting to utter words to a white woman, let alone pressing up against her lips. No question about it, thems some black lips.
I'm not campaigning for the Senator, but if the color of his skin keeps you as a black person from considering the man--obviously, for some folk it isn't about the issues--then consider his black lips.
Lord have mercy, The Man did a job on us, didn't he?
Steven Ivory's book, FOOL IN LOVE (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster) is in stores now or at Amazon.com (www.Amazon.com) Respond to him via STEVRIVORY@AOL.COM or MYfeedback@eurweb.com
