Is Barack Obama Black Enough?

Let me start this off by asking the very same people that question Barack Obama's ethnicity by asking them a question. Has there ever been a black president, and if so what was his name? This is not to endorse Barack Obama as the only solution to the Presidency, or to discredit anyone else running because I have not done all the research there is to be done as of yet. One thing I am confident in stating however, is that there has never been a Black President before, so I ask my fellow African Americans, why are all the questions about how black a presidential candidate needs to be and the such now? What is exactly black enough and by what means were these standards created? A lot of people will try to give me the line that Bill Clinton was the first Black President and quantify this by stating that to this day Bill maintains an office in Harlem to be down with the brothers and sisters. Contrary to popular belief, if you look at Bill Clinton's or any other past president's birth's certificate I can guarantee you that Negro, African American, or Black is just an empty check box on the standard form. Bill Clinton may be a smooth talker, handy with a saxophone, and comfortable at the barbershop, but rest assured, a "brother" Bill Clinton is not.

Al Shartpon made the statement, " Don't assume that just because someone is your color that they are your kind!" when referring to whether or not he was putting his support behind Barack Obama. Why use terms such as this in an attempt to undermine this man. Wouldn't he be better served stating that the jury is still out, but he must talk to the man and study his politics in more detail before making a commitment? Why play upon his skin tone as it relates to his candidacy? Does anyone question Sharpton's blackness, and why he would wear a perm in 2007? What makes him feel that he is a viable solution to representing blacks and our political agenda? When I look around my neighborhood the only people I see wearing permed out hairstyles are the pimps and the pushers. What is that saying about him? Is he attempting to pimp the black community and push foolish ideologies into our communities that keep us oppressed and needy instead of enabling and empowering them for growth? Where are his messages on how to accumulate the wealth and knowledge that he always screams should just be given to us because of the trauma and destruction our forefathers faced? Why is he not begging our people to stay in school, start our own businesses, take control of our own communities and lives to make it better for us all?

Barack Obama may not be black like me, talk like me or walk like me, but make no mistake about it, he is blacker and more viable than any other "black" candidate to previously run and that means Jesse and Al. We need to get out of the mindset that the ideal black presidential candidate will bring about radical change in government and ostracize others while placing blacks into the forefront of power and rewriting history. The idea of turning the tables upside down after hundreds of years of oppression may seem plausible and myopic, but this is a false ideology perpetuated by some prominent people that stand the most to gain by continuing this rhetoric and divisive game. The true black candidate will be one that can garner and demand respect from all communities and look out for the good of all people not just one particular race or class. We need to understand the fact that America is just not built like that and there will be no reparations! Consider the fact that African Americans only make up 12% of the population as a whole. You can not work for just one group of people's needs and not others! Has this fact not been a rallying point by candidates in so many other elections?

I am not asking anyone to blindly follow Barack Obama to the presidency, but please dispel this notion that is based off an imaginary blackness gauge and not the true issues which primarily center around the ability of a candidate to lead and make the right decisions for all. Remember the great Martin Luther "The King" Jr envisioned a day when a man would be judged by the content of his character and not the color of his skin! It is a sad day when we have more whites seeming "publicly at least," to grasp this notion better than those that were and still are on the tail end of judgement based off the color of their skin.

Where's the Black Candidate?