Barack Is A "Clean" Black Person
In what appears to be an attempt to compliment Barack Obama, Senator Joe Biden, a Democrat from Delaware said this of the presidential hopeful: "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."
When asked about the comment, Barack Obama very appropriately confused Senator Biden for Senator Hillary Clinton. "...you'd have to ask Senator Clinton, uh, Senator Biden what he was thinking." "I'm not going to parse his words that carefully."
Barack doesn't want to parse apart Senator Biden's words, so I will do it. When making a comment like the one Sen. Biden made of Barack, it is implied in the comment that you are surprised that as a black person he has the said characteristics. A comment like Sen. Biden's speaks volumes about how her really perceives blacks to be...dirty, inarticulate, stupid, and ugly. And to say that he is the FIRST mainstream African-American who has these qualities is even more offensive, especially to the black politicians who came before him and who currently work in politics.
Sen. Biden said that he was quoted accurately but his comments were misunderstood. Please, Senator Biden, help us understand... Oh, and Biden maintains that he's a huge fan of Barack and is very excited about his candidacy.
I believe Barack can let this comment just roll off of him, because it isn't really about Barack. It's about how Senator Biden perceives his black constituency and the rest of us black people fighting for our rights in this country. Very troubling.
Examples of other problematic things for non-blacks to say about black people:
Oh look at that little black baby, his mother keeps him so clean.
She's pretty for a black girl.
That black man was so proper and very articulate.
My biggest pet peeve is being called "articulate" by some non-black people, and having this perceived as a compliment. Barack issued the following written statement in response to Sen. Biden's remarks: "I didn't take Sen. Biden's comments personally, but obviously they were historically inaccurate. African-American presidential candidates like Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton gave a voice to many important issues through their campaigns, and no one would call them inarticulate." Now, about that "clean" comment ...
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Unbelievable. What a ninny Biden is. And he thinks that his foreign policy expertise- which implies at least a basic level of understanding of people- is his strong suit! I wonder where he thinks his "areas in need of imporvement might be!
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I can see how this can be upsetting, but at the same time I believe in choosing one's battles. Sen. Obama did a very smart thing in my opinion by not letting the Biden's comment get to him (at least not visibly).
The statement implied many things about Biden's attitudes and stereotypes, but it doesn't outwardly say anything. We as black people just have to let small crap like this roll off of us and remain focused on the mark.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all about the elimination of negative attitudes towards African Americans, but I believe that progress can be made more efficiently from the top down.
I'd rather graciously accept the compliment and show what I'm worth than to give every white person who offends me a piece of my mind... because you just know the press is waiting for Obama to do just that.
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This is why I love watching "THE VIEW" They dissected this yesterday - and it was pretty interesting to watch.
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