Borack and "The Black Best Friend (BBF) Zone"
Leave it to Plain(s)feminist to get me writing again.
Her post "On Rev. Jeremiah Wright."
Got me typing..
I've been thinking a lot about the fragile area of esteem that was first occupied by the great Joe Louis when he became the first modern, widely respected and openly admired Black American celebrity. Over the years the heavy weight was put upon the sturdy, humble backs of folks like Jackie Robinson, Nat King Cole, Sidney Poitier and Colin Powell.
In this very narrow area, even the most racist of folks will embrace a black pop star, actor or four star general as good enough to be given respect and admiration. This "Black Best Friend (BBF) Zone" has adapted over time, but it has a social trigger capable of snapping back at those who dare attempts to inhabit it.
In the 50's Nat King Cole was a thought of as a "gentlemen," good enough to be on TV, but only until his friendly embrace of a guest's hand, one that happened to be a white woman, stirred up the ever present fears of black sexuality and deeply offended the American public.
Despite Oprah's unquestionable success, she still exists within this zone. While cultivating an almost cult-like following among white women, she still caused a great rift with her supporters when she choose to support Borack Obama over Hillary Clinton. Perhaps her audience connected with her as a woman, but did not allow her to also inhabit a black identity.
In Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing" John Turturro's character Pino explains both his love of black superstars and his acceptance based on the diminishment of their blackness:
"It's different. Magic, Eddie, Prince are not n*ggers, I mean, are not Black. I mean, they're Black, but not really Black. They're more than Black. It's different."
Now Borack Obama, has fallen into an almost inescapable whirlpool, stirred by the words of his long time adviser and church leader the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Whether or not his words have any truth to them, they are angry, loud and black and they are openly definable by white ears as more of that "black racism" that Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hanity and the rest of angry white America defines whenever they start a sentence with the phrase: "the only problem I have with black people is.."
This is that same embrace of a white woman's arm, the same uproar when when Mohamed Ali had the gall to exhibit an ego, the same shock felt when Malcolm X stated that that yes, if attacked by an armed man, he would not hesitate to defend himself with arms. Had these actions or words been expressed by a white person, would they even be noticed much less trigger disfavor?
Those who embrace this reaction do so without recognition that they are judging differently based on racial preference using on a different scale, exercising a severe double standard. These voters are now seeing the dream of the "black, gentlemen candidate" as horribly tainted. Somewhere deep inside, they feel betrayed, "I thought he was a nice black man, is he just another one of those people?"
While the "crazy" and "angry" statements of Rev. Wright are played over and over again, cementing themselves in the voting publics' mind, many will never compare them to the similarly violent and angry daily rantings of conservative talk radio stars and religious leaders who hold similar posts of prominence and advisement to many current politicians who don't have to wear and weather rhetoric that doesn't come from their own mouths.
I think once the fragile area of esteem is tainted in the white publics eyes, it will take a miracle for Obama to survive these words that he did not say. I don't think Geraldine Ferraro understood that Black Americans only get one chance to fit the mold, to live up to impossible standards. It's really very easy to stir up a "fear of a black planet" in the mind of a white voter. For Obama, its going to be a very hard road from here on out.
In this very narrow area, even the most racist of folks will embrace a black pop star, actor or four star general as good enough to be given respect and admiration. This "Black Best Friend (BBF) Zone" has adapted over time, but it has a social trigger capable of snapping back at those who dare attempts to inhabit it.
In the 50's Nat King Cole was a thought of as a "gentlemen," good enough to be on TV, but only until his friendly embrace of a guest's hand, one that happened to be a white woman, stirred up the ever present fears of black sexuality and deeply offended the American public.
Despite Oprah's unquestionable success, she still exists within this zone. While cultivating an almost cult-like following among white women, she still caused a great rift with her supporters when she choose to support Borack Obama over Hillary Clinton. Perhaps her audience connected with her as a woman, but did not allow her to also inhabit a black identity.
In Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing" John Turturro's character Pino explains both his love of black superstars and his acceptance based on the diminishment of their blackness:
"It's different. Magic, Eddie, Prince are not n*ggers, I mean, are not Black. I mean, they're Black, but not really Black. They're more than Black. It's different."
Now Borack Obama, has fallen into an almost inescapable whirlpool, stirred by the words of his long time adviser and church leader the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Whether or not his words have any truth to them, they are angry, loud and black and they are openly definable by white ears as more of that "black racism" that Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hanity and the rest of angry white America defines whenever they start a sentence with the phrase: "the only problem I have with black people is.."
This is that same embrace of a white woman's arm, the same uproar when when Mohamed Ali had the gall to exhibit an ego, the same shock felt when Malcolm X stated that that yes, if attacked by an armed man, he would not hesitate to defend himself with arms. Had these actions or words been expressed by a white person, would they even be noticed much less trigger disfavor?
Those who embrace this reaction do so without recognition that they are judging differently based on racial preference using on a different scale, exercising a severe double standard. These voters are now seeing the dream of the "black, gentlemen candidate" as horribly tainted. Somewhere deep inside, they feel betrayed, "I thought he was a nice black man, is he just another one of those people?"
While the "crazy" and "angry" statements of Rev. Wright are played over and over again, cementing themselves in the voting publics' mind, many will never compare them to the similarly violent and angry daily rantings of conservative talk radio stars and religious leaders who hold similar posts of prominence and advisement to many current politicians who don't have to wear and weather rhetoric that doesn't come from their own mouths.
I think once the fragile area of esteem is tainted in the white publics eyes, it will take a miracle for Obama to survive these words that he did not say. I don't think Geraldine Ferraro understood that Black Americans only get one chance to fit the mold, to live up to impossible standards. It's really very easy to stir up a "fear of a black planet" in the mind of a white voter. For Obama, its going to be a very hard road from here on out.
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