Joseph Wanzala wrote:
> Obama is well situated to transcend the racial divide in the US
> because he is accessbile to people of all races and classes, he is
> perceived differently by whites and generally more favourably than
> they would perceive an 'African American' - and vice versa. It is
> precisely the fact that he is *not* African American in the
> traditional that gives him a special cachet and crossover potential.
At the risk of having my head taken off, I'll go further than this to say that of the folks of black hue that I have met in the U.S., I would distinguish three groups: 1) those who have recently immigrated 2) those who have grown up in mostly segregated communities in the U.S. and fashioned their sense of self in terms that were made in the black community 3) those who have grown up in the U.S. in integrated regions. I would say, again anecdotally, that the likelihood of a black man/woman believing themselves to be fully human is strongest in 1 and weakest in 3.
Perhaps what Obama presents is a man who is absolutely convinced of his dignity and humanity. A very rare thing in the U.S. in a black man.
Joanna