ஒபாமா கறுப்பரா ? ஒபாமா கறுப்பர்களின் பிரதிநிதி அல்ல…

சுமார் 80% கறுப்பர்கள் ஒபாமாவை ஆதரிப்பதாக சமீபத்தில் சி.என்.என் தெரிவித்தது. ஆனால் ஒபாமா உண்மையில் கறுப்பரா என்ற கேள்விகளும் இங்கு உண்டு. ஒபாமாவின் அம்மா கறுப்பர் அல்ல. ஒரு வெள்ளையர். அவர் அப்பா ஆப்ரிக்காவைச் சேர்ந்தவர். அமெரிக்காவில் கறுப்பர்கள் எதிர்கொண்ட ஒடுக்குமுறையை ஒபாமா எதிர்கொள்ளவில்லை. எனவே அவர் அமெரிக்க கறுப்பர்களின் பிரதிநிதியாக முடியாது என்ற வாதங்கள் இங்கு உள்ளன.

அது குறித்த ஒரு கட்டுரை : மொழிபெயர்க்க நேரமின்மையால் ஆங்கிலத்திலேயே தருகிறேன்.

What Obama isn’t: black like me

…..After all, Obama’s mother is of white U.S. stock. His father is a black Kenyan. Other than color, Obama did not – does not – share a heritage with the majority of black Americans, who are descendants of plantation slaves.

Of course, the idea that one would be a better or a worse representative of black Americans depending upon his or her culture or ethnic group is clearly absurd. Even slavery itself initially came under fire from white Christians – the first of whom to separate themselves from the institution were Quakers. The majority of the Union troops were white, and so were those who have brought about the most important civil rights legislation.

Why then do we still have such a simple-minded conception of black and white – and how does it color the way we see Obama? The naive ideas coming out of Pan-Africanism are at the root of the confusion. When Pan-African ideas began to take shape in the 19th century, all black people, regardless of where in the world they lived, suffered and shared a common body of injustices. Europe, after all, had colonized much of the black world, and the United States had enslaved people of African descent for nearly 250 years.

Suffice it to say: This is no longer the case.

So when black Americans refer to Obama as “one of us,” I do not know what they are talking about. In his new book, “The Audacity of Hope,” Obama makes it clear that, while he has experienced some light versions of typical racial stereotypes, he cannot claim those problems as his own – nor has he lived the life of a black American.

Will this matter in the end? Probably not. Obama is being greeted with the same kind of public affection that Colin Powell had when he seemed ready to knock Bill Clinton out of the Oval Office. For many reasons, most of them personal, Powell did not become the first black American to be a serious presidential contender.

I doubt Obama will share Powell’s fate, but if he throws his hat in the ring, he will have to run as the son of a white woman and an African immigrant. If we then end up with him as our first black President, he will have come into the White House through a side door – which might, at this point, be the only one that’s open.