No Permanent Majorities In America
Cartoony Politics in Canada
Being President 101
Failure To Blow Election Stuns Democratic Party Faithful Mourn End To Losing Tradition
Hope Is On The Way
The Future Is Upon Us
Illinois Outdoes Itself
Environmentalists Disregard Public Safety
There's Something About Harry
The White Collar Lament
What Good Can Come Of This?
Dummies
If The Shoe Fits Hurl It
Obama The Magic Negro-Gate
How Can Obama Fix So Much That Went Wrong?
Crazy Like A Fox
Out With The Old
Remember The Empty Chairs At Holiday Tables
Who Are The Real Nazis?
The Gaza Rules
Harper's Weekly
The Mortgage Thieves Return
Bringing A Bit Of Fairness To The American Workplace
Bye-Bye 2008: Things I Want To Forget
The Fierce Urgency Of Now
How Many Government Workers Does It Take To Change A Light Bulb?
The Perils And Joys Of Self-Esteem
The Future Of Civilization
'Hunk' Obama Can Help Nation Fight Obesity Epidemic
Moral Clarity In Gaza
Obama's Tax Cuts Leave Logic Behind
Talking About Sex-Ed That Works
The Time Is Now
Et Al Ad Nauseam: 2008 And All That
The Generational Theft Act Of 2009
Pay Rod Gives Democrats Fits With Senate Choice
'Tis The Season To Be Jolly. Or At least Try
Gaza: The Dove'S War
Hamas Rockets Blew Away Gaza Opportunity
Season's Readings
Old Acquaintances
A Social Trauma For Obama: Youth Crime
Sensitivity And 'Gran Torino'
A Question For My Friend Alan Dershowitz
The Unsung Hero Of Obama'S Victory
Red Ink Did Me Good
Barack in Limbo
A Hard Year Ahead
Ask Not For Plum Political Appointments
Eric Holder And All Political Prisoners
Mideast Overshadows Obama's Prospects
A Clean Start
Year-End Odds And Ends
Team Obama Dabbles In Drama
The Gamble in Gaza -- Interview With Aaron David Miller
Cal Thomas-Bonus
A Respite From Reality
One Nation, One People-God Bless Us Everyone
Dr. Leavitt's Scary Diagnosis
Teaching Economics
Richardson's Exit And The Vetting Process



From Victim To Victor In Black America
Suzanne Fields 11/14/2008
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The presidential couples, Laura and George W. Bush and Michelle and Barack Obama, standing in front of the White House, looked buff and comely in their ease and smiles. The president and the president-elect in their dark suits and blue ties and Laura and Michelle in different shades of red suggested cordiality with dignity. (If one couple looked more tanned than the other, only a churl would have imagined that an insult.)

The picture will enter the history books testifying to a new image of race in America. The victory of a black man as president changes perceptions of political possibilities. Cultural images may not follow quickly. America basks in the euphoria of an election promising a "post-racial era" and maybe new possibility for black children. It should do that, and we all hope it does, but it won't change the reality of their lives overnight. A nation's culture is not only more complex than its politics, its timetables are more difficult to manipulate. Voters point the direction they want the country to go. Cultural habits follow more slowly.

"We've had an African American first family for many years in different forms," Karl Rove observed on election night. "When 'The Cosby Show' was on (the television schedule), that was America's family. It wasn't a black family. It was
America's family." Nice sentiment, but no cigar.

"The Cosby Show" was watched by blacks and whites for different reasons. The fictional Huxtables showed whites a black-middle class family that looked like "people like us." The show was an updated "Father Knows Best," reflecting white mores of the times, with a dad who was a doctor and a mom who was a lawyer.

Middle-class blacks could identify with the Huxtables, too. But this was in the 1980s, when many other blacks, not so fortunate as the family on the screen, blamed everything bad in their lives on racism, including the poverty of single mothers and high-school dropout rates. Black leaders of that day rarely touched on issues of personal responsibility. Angry critics in the black community saw "The Cosby Show" as a fairy tale to assuage white guilt rather than a tale encouraging black aspirations to the American dream.

Barack and Michelle Obama are real-life models of black achievement, but they may remind poor blacks of how different their lives are from the lives of the well-off. The president-elect's staff is talking about which expensive private school (the favorites with tuition as high as $30,000 a year) their daughters will attend. Washington public schools, among the worst in the country, are probably out.

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Obama Turns Pages of History
By Daryl Cagle - MSNBC.com * Posted 11/5/2008 12:00:00 AM
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Obama Turns Pages of History
© Copyright 2008  Daryl Cagle - All Rights Reserved.

Posted By: rhamilton  on Saturday, November 15, 2008

i hate to bring this up---but Barck obama is half white---remember??

Posted By: Marilyn White  on Sunday, November 16, 2008

I hate to reveal to rh that most, if not ALL of the so-called white people in this country have black blood and black relatives. This comes about due to the ravaging of the black slaves by the masters when resistance could mean severe beatings or even death.

Posted By: KlarkKent  on Sunday, November 16, 2008

I cannot agree more whit what is said in this article. Suzanne Fields, I will say what others should be telling you - you’re a hero. A hero for standing up and saying what not only should be being said but pointing out that others need to follow in the footsteps of greatness in order to raise the community as a whole out of the gutters of poverty.



While reading your words they seems to echo my own and how many other Americans feel. I could go on and on as to how this and many articles like this have showcased the ugly truth that needs fixing - but I find this neither the time nor the place for such a heated conversation. I normally am not one to 'subscribe' to articles or author but I will in this case  cause I believe as you do that change is happening but it must be met by our own efforts.

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