Transfixed Chris Matthews ‘Forgot’ Obama Was Black
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I was resigned not to join the cacophony of voices debating President Obama’s State of the Union address, but Chris Matthews, God bless him, pulled me in.
The MSNBC commentator – one who is certainly no stranger to foot-in-mouth syndrome – apparently trying to praise Obama’s eloquence, appeal to both parties, whatever, framed his reaction thusly: “I forgot [Obama] was black tonight for an hour … I said, ‘Wait a minute. He’s an African American guy in front of a bunch of other white people. … It was so broad-ranging, so in tune with so many problems, of aspects, and aspects of American life that you don’t think in terms of the old tribalism, the old ethnicity. It was astounding in that regard.”
So, Matthews was apparently anticipating Obama detailing the state of hip-hop music, Al Sharpton sermons and soul food cookery.
I’m guessing that as a politician for the past decade, this might not be the first time Obama has been surrounded by old, white men, or the first time anyone has pointed this fact out.
Matthews’ remarks are certainly reminiscent of Joe Biden’s characterization of Obama very early in the presidential campaign as “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy” – but since that time, Obama has proven a thousand times over that 1) he is a capable and impressive public speaker and that 2) by commanding a convincing majority of young, old, white, black and Hispanic voters, that he is adept at addressing the needs and concerns of all Americans, and not just blacks.
I’ll leave you with that – and hopefully, in the few minutes it took you to peruse my account of Matthews’ gaffe, you will have briefly forgotten that I’m just some dumb blonde girl.
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A quick look at the facts reveals that this is really old news. We’ve been asked to celebrate several milestones of mixedness to prepare us for this alleged post-racial moment. Two milestones are virtual miscegenation in the form of a computer generated “image of the new Eve” as “the new face of America” on the cover of a November 1993 issue of Time Magazine and the model of digital pastiche on the cover of Mirabella in September 1994. Another milestone is the “check all that apply” option on the 2000/2010 U.S. Census as an opportunity to refute the need for future race based government initiatives. Then there’s the public presentation of race as a figment of the social imaginary per PBS in its 2003 three-part series entitled, Race: The Power of Illusion.
The latest milestone is the election of President Obama, whose image in the national imagination is interpreted as one of racial transcendence instead of an invitation to frank deliberation about the complexities and contradictions of race in America. Rather than simply declaring that racism and race are either wrong-headed or unnecessary, perhaps we can use Matthews’s guffaw to explain that we must contextualize race and racism, use logic to understand how conflicts and inequities emerged, and then make progress through honest communication. Perhaps then we will see that Obama’s image is better interpreted as a prologue to interracial dialogue rather than as a post-racial epilogue.
for more see: http://www.marciadawkins.com