I realize that I had not done a post in 2009. I was going to do a New Year's Resolution post, but resolutions are kind of out of style, and my resolutions for this year are kind of personal. I also realize that my last few posts have been a little on the sarcastic side. While I plan to keep those witty ones coming, I want to use this post to reflect on the inauguration of Barack Obama.
Now, I know that millions of people have blogged about this same topic with various points, compliments, and maybe even insults. My original intent was to publish a post about the inauguration on Wednesday, but now I see why I have waited.
Today, I attended a Brown Bag discussion at my university where one of my professors was giving a talk about Barack Obama. Obviously, he discussed Obama's inauguration, but the thesis of his presentation was about Obama's book Dreams From My Father. The professor's main goal was to project the idea and concept of bi-culturalism in Obama's work and to interpret Obama's journey in self-identity as a Black man.
At the end of the discussion, a woman of mixed heritage, like Obama, discussed how she felt disappointed by the fact that media referred to Barack Obama as African-American throughout the inauguration coverage without acknowledging the fact that his mother is white. Later on, a friend of mine mentioned this same issue, and so now I want to provide my response to that.
I have to admit, in my wanting to claim Barack Obama (and Michelle Obama) as a product of Black progress, I felt offended that people would try to minimize such a huge moment in Black history. But then, I reflected upon my emotional response to their sentiments and realized that in my desire to only see the black side of Obama, I am belittling and minimizing the experiences of biracial/multiracial people. That is not what I aim to do at all, and so even though I did not actually say anything about my monopolizing Obama's blackness to these individuals, I want to apologize for my short-sighted response.
Now, please don't get it twisted. I take pride in Obama's election, and I take pride in the Obama family living in the White House as a Black family. While I understand Obama's genetic and cultural heritage, I feel that because a significant part of his heritage and self-identity is Black that he represents, and if not represents, understands my struggles/issues/concerns as a Black person. In his book, Dreams From My Father, Obama does not deny his white lineage. At the same time his identity struggles have been based on the conflict between his outer appearance and his genetic reality. Biologically, race does not exist. Genetically, there are more differences between fruit flies than there are between humans. But socially, race exists and it matters. When people SEE Obama for the first time, they do not SEE his white mother. They SEE his brown skin. That is the reality of our society.
With all that said, the fact that people are even engaging in this conversation proves that we are NOT in a post-racial society as the media so often inaccurately report. Race still matters, and it should, but in a way that celebrates culture, not in a way that ignores and/or erases culture.
