Am I Black Enough for Ya???? (excerpt)

....In a March 7, interview in the lowly Torrance, CA newspaper The Daily Breeze, former Democratic Party vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro made a statement that has set an ill wind to blowing. In reference to the candidacy of Democratic Presidential front-runner Barack Obama, Ms. Ferraro stated that, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," she continued, “He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." This statement about the possible first “Black” man to be nominated to challenge for the presidency, has blown the doors wide open to discuss the race factor in Obama’s run for the White House.

The Obama campaign itself has tried to down-play race as a factor in his run for the White House. Mr. Obama has not ascended to the heights of power the way other “Black leaders” have, which is to say he has not been a lifelong crusader for civil rights, voting rights or even squatters rights for that matter. Because Obama was not groomed and mentored into his position by the “old guard” civil rights movement power structure, many powerful Blacks are opposed to him becoming the first Black President. They claim that he is not Black enough.

Barack Obama was born of an African father (a Kenyan national) in America (the state of Hawaii) and he looks like any “Black” man you might meet. So that surely means he must be an African-American. Cased closed. Well not so fast. The question is whether he has a sufficient amount of “Blackness” to satisfy Black voters and powerful Black people who might endorse him. Ay, there's the rub. What then does it mean to be Black?....