Aren't they saying that the person in question is trying to pass as being of a different culture? Tho I am not sure you need to speak a certain way or listen to a certain type of music to be "black."
Unlike Tony, I do think that American blacks have a culture, which has given us blues, jazz, Langston Hughes and Tupac Shapur to name a few contributions that come to mind. I don't think you need to go to Africa to find a culture that is black, and because of slavery most American blacks cannot identify a certain country their ancestors are from. So you get people like Oprah Winfrey getting blood tests to find out what they can. To my mind it feels a little racist for one black to say that an educated black does not sound black, or that real blacks don't write poetry (or play golf for that matter) but I think that's his own culture he is putting down. Or maybe this is the equivalent of an Irish-American saying you aren't a proper Irishman if you don't take a drop every now and again -- not sure. Maybe it's an issue of all the subcultures blurring together for people who can't be bothered to see the difference? > I think you are wrong, Mary Jo. > > It is racist in the other direction, too. > > You are saying there are no cultural similarities for whites? > Or are you saying those cultural similarities are inclusive, and not > exclusively white? > > Why, then, is it often a putdown for blacks to say to another "you > sound white", or "you are white"? The very argument you are saying is > being made against Obama? That he is culturally too "white" for some? > > Either there is a cultural identity to being white, just as there is > to being black, or all of the people you mentioned are glaring > hypocrites. > > Which is it? > > > On 4/11/07, Mary Jo Sminkey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Just had to reply to this, because it is just SOOO wrong. The reason > it is different to say this is that being black has a cultural, racial > identity with it. It's not just about skin color. Just saying you are > white is not a cultural identity. If however, you said I'm Irish, and > proud of it, no one would object. Nor would they object if you were > proud to be Hispanic....or for that matter, proud to be an American. > But saying you are proud to be white is saying you are proud of your > skin color at the exclusion of all else...and THAT indeed is racist. > > > > This is also why there is some objection in the African-American > community to Obama. He may be black in terms of skin color, but he > does not share the same cultural identity that blacks borne in this > country do. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Macromedia ColdFusion MX7 Upgrade to MX7 & experience time-saving features, more productivity. http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion?sdid=RVJW Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:232300 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
