“Clout” Proves Easy to Come by at Black Journalists’ Convention

Written by Katie Wycklendt on August 12, 2007 – 11:58 pm -

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I’m going to skip past the incredible ridiculousness of any candidate having to prove they are “black enough” (or any-other-color-enough) to earn votes in an election and move right on to what a joke the criteria for being “black” has become.

Eugene Kane wrote this morning about the National Association of Black Journalist’s 2007 convention, which featured appearances by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as they apparently each attempted to prove they are “black enough” for black people to vote for them. The headline extolled the “clout” the pair is now gaining in the black community.

So how did they prove their level of blackness?

[Obama] apologized for being late for his appearance, then added: “but you guys keep on asking if I’m black enough.”

That was a sly reference to CPT - “Colored People’s Time,” for the uninitiated.

That Barack, what a “sly” guy he is… and meanwhile…

Clinton denied any ulterior motives [in speaking in what Kane calls a "black dialect" during a speech earlier this year], explaining that she was simply quoting a spiritual in its original form, and suggested it was the result of being around her husband.

This is what black voters are looking for? A candidate who shows up late and then blames it on some sort of demeaning racial stereotype? Another who flippantly mocks an accent during her speech, while visiting one of the most racially relevant sites of the 20th century, and then laughs it off as some sort of indication that she were married to a black man? (Bill is sometimes jokingly referred to as the first black president.)

No wonder, then, that Republicans fare so poorly among this demographic — this same “clout” gaining commentary, if attempted by any Republican candidate, would result in outcry over bigotry, ignorance and racism.

Finally, Kane sticks some seemingly unrelated commentary about the need for a National Association of Black Journalists right smack in the middle of this piece about presidential candidates.

As to the predictable lament from some about the need for a black journalism association, perhaps the best answer is that more than 50 years after newsrooms first integrated, many newspapers, TV stations and radio organizations lag behind in hiring black reporters, editors and broadcasters to cover the news.

To me, this shows exactly why we don’t need the National Association of Black Journalists. The group has been around for 32 of those fifty years, but apparently if its mission is not accomplished by now, it’s no fault of their own.

Or is it? For an association so concerned with the advancement of their race, they sure stood by and let these two candidates make a mockery of what it means to be black. Kane asked Clinton perhaps the toughest, smartest question a journalist could when he brought up the embarrassing show she put on in Arkansas earlier this summer. But when she blew it off, saying “I’m in this inter-racial marriage,” “the room of black journalists laughed.”

Sounds like forward racial progress to me. Obama and Clinton have essentially suggested that being black is all about showing up late and speaking with a goofy accent. And the worst part is, the NABJ appears to have eaten it all up.

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Posted in 2008 Election Coverage |

2 Comments to ““Clout” Proves Easy to Come by at Black Journalists’ Convention”

  1. Greg Says:
    August 14th, 2007 at 3:22 am

    “This is what black voters are looking for? A candidate who shows up late and then blames it on some sort of demeaning racial stereotype? Another who flippantly mocks an accent during her speech…”

    I highly doubt that most black voters are looking for either of those traits. But I think you are giving them too much prominence. Most black voters are probably looking for a candidate who can articulate an understanding of the historic plight of blacks in America and offer policies that seek to redress the years of historic injustice. Maybe Clinton and Obama get a little bit of leniency, but that is because that have proven themselves able to stand up and give voice to the concerns of many blacks who have felt steamrolled by racism. I suspect if we examined the remarks of some Republican candidates to groups of their core constituencies, we would find a similar phenomenon occurring. IE, it ain’t just a democratic thang.

  2. Kat, Brandon's cousin Says:
    August 26th, 2007 at 11:36 pm

    I don’t know about the Clinton episode, but the Obama episode doesn’t look like a big deal to me. Heck, my other Jewish friends and I crack “Jewish jokes” all the time. A large part of being a minority culture is being able to laugh at how the majority perceives you. When Obama made that joke, it was really an invitation to the audience to laugh at the stupidity of the stereotype, not an embracing of the stereotype. Not to mention that when people say Obama isn’t “black enough”, what they really mean is “he doesn’t fit the stereotype.” Mocking the stereotype was a smart move on his part, and the only real response he could have made.

    The self-mocking vibe is a culture thing, not an insult.

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