[lbo-talk] My soul is made of uranium hexafluoride (was: Sub-prime crisis in Kansas City)

[Joanna]

Dwayne Monroe wrote:
> Listen, I get the point about straddling worlds and assuming different
> masks and all that.  The thing is, I no longer believe the black mask
> (no pun intended, DC comics fans) is as authentic as many suppose.  I
> mean, one of my cousins is convinced that the way to be 'authentic' is
> via emulation of Tupac, with a little cholo tossed in.  We all agree
> he's a jackass.  But how is his presentation any less constructed and
> conditional than the ones we celebrate and write poems about?
>   
Exactly. I think those who feel themselves very clever by diagnosing 
"white righteousness" as the driving force behind Obama's campaign are 
missing the point.

That point being that it looks like a lot of this country is really sick 
and tired of identity politics. I certainly am.

Is Obama black? Well, fifty years ago, he would not have been able to 
ride in the front of a bus. So, yeah, sure. Otherwise, I'm not sure what 
this question is asking.

I most certainly care whether he has any sympathy or understanding of 
minorities, the working class, and the oppressed, but I don't think his 
"blackness" is any guarantee of that -- any more so than Condolezza's or 
Clarence Thomas's, etc.

What interests me deeply is this new public attitude that race 
doesn't/shouldn't matter. And we're not talking bubble land (bay area or 
NYC); we're talking Iowa. That's as a good a first step as I've seen in 
a while.

Joanna