Day 261: Maybe the President Should be Blacker

I happened to be watching a YouTube video of Keith Olbermann doing an editorial piece about prejudice in our country his claim is that rather than being eradicated, it has only been tamed. I agree with him on that point, but then he said this, “. . . our society still emphasizes our differences rather than our similarities.” Again, I believe he’s right on the money, we don’t like to talk about it, but we are still fighting our racist roots and homophobia. What I take issue with, is the implied fact that differences are necessarily a bad thing.

We have a black President, a true African-American in his heritage. There have been comments made on both sides of the aisle regarding Mr. Obama’s more benign traditionally black characteristics. He is light skinned, doesn’t have a typical black dialect, is clean and well-spoken and whatever else we’ve heard fellow politicians and pundits comment on. It seems to me like we are trying to whitefy the President. (I realize I just made that word up, but it works for this. Just make sure to use three syllables in the pronunciation, not two.) Why is it so important to us that he not be different? Can a President we view as truly black not be a capable leader? Darker skin, different dialect and . . . what, he’d be unqualified because he looks and speaks the way we expect black people to? Do you think Armageddon will happen if he one day shows up in baggy jeans?

We are a nation of differences and what unites us is not our similarities, but the very existence of the differences we now strive to ignore. We are Italian, German, Irish, Latin, Asian and Indian. We are black and brown, and yellow and white. I know so many people who strive to promote their ethnic heritage. They are American, yes, but they are proud to bring their Italian or Chinese or whatever culture into their lives, they don’t feel they need to apologize for it. Yet we expect minorities to almost apologize for their differences. Speak English but make sure it’s our approved English, don’t act too gay, don’t be too black or too Hispanic or too anything.

Our similarities are wonderful and they do bring us together in countless ways, but we learn and grow because of our differences. I don’t want a world of Ame’s I want you to be you (except for a maybe a handful or so really annoying people I’d totally like to change, oh and most of the ignorant mountain folk and Southerners and probably more than a few Ann Coulter-esque devotees, but everyone else should go on being themselves). We love rainbows and yet we seem to want to take the color out of the world and the variety out of cultural and sexual differences we don’t like. Without homosexuality who would the Christians rail against (okay, everyone else)? Maybe we should stop trying to avoid what makes us different and work instead on making ourselves okay with not being the same.