Eugene Robinson: "Forgive me if I am neither shocked nor outraged"

[babylonsister]

Harry Reid's comments were crudely put, yet true


By Eugene Robinson
Tuesday, January 12, 2010


Skin color among African Americans is not to be discussed in polite company, so Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's newly disclosed remark about President Obama -- that voters are more comfortable with him because he's light-skinned -- offended decorum. But it was surely true.

Color bias has always existed in this country. We don't talk about it because we think of color as subordinate to racial identification. There are African Americans with skin so light-hued that only contextual clues speak to the question of race. I remember once looking up some distant cousins on my father's side. They were so fair of hair and ruddy of cheek that I thought I'd gone to the wrong house, until one of them greeted me in what I guess Reid would call "Negro dialect."

Forgive me if I am neither shocked nor outraged. A few years ago I wrote a book about color and race called "Coal to Cream," and the issue no longer has third-rail status for me. What I would find stunning is evidence that Reid's assessment -- made during the 2008 campaign and reported in a new book by journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin -- was anything but accurate.

Advertising is a reliable window into the American psyche, so look at the images we're presented on television and in glossy magazines. The black models tend to be caramel-skinned or lighter, with hair that's not really kinky -- which is how I'd describe mine -- but wavy, even flowing. A few models whose skin is chocolate-hued or darker have reached superstar status, such as Alek Wek and Tyson Beckford, but they are rare exceptions.

Skin color could hardly be a more conspicuous attribute, but we don't talk about it in this country. That's been a good thing.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/11/AR2010011103066.html

[Captain Hilts]

1. We take many prejudices into the voting booth. We like lighter, taller, Protestant, male....nt

[frazzled]

2. Eugene Robinson has hair?

Heh, I'm sure Eugene's hair used to be kinky ... but I wouldn't say he had much hair at all these days!
I adore Eugene Robinson: his smile alone is infectious, but his sharp mind combined with his magnanimous spirit are even better. I'd love to see pictures of his hair in earlier days.

[Jennicut]

3. I love him too.

He is one of my favorite journalists out there.
And I agree with him about this. As much as I can't stand Reid, the more I think about it the more it seems an observation, not racism.

[goclark]

6. I wish he had his own show

He is a class act and I agree with him on the Color Issue.


I'm African American and COLOR is simply one of the way we describe a friend, family member. It's just true.

Things like... "You know him, he is light with curly hair or she is really pretty~,she's about Tyra's color or, " He is so fine, he looks just like Obama!"

Or "He is fine about the color of Will Smith."

Part of that is because we do come in so many shades and different kinds of hair texture that we have to use the descriptions to get to the person being described. : )

For example ~ if we were to describe Paris Hilton what would we say--- " She is a rich blonde wantabe star ." We don't have to describe her skin color because it is not important for us to know what the skin color is ~


I think Reid should get a pass, if anything, he described him the way that a AA would describe him.



Chris Rock did an entire movie on HAIR and how AA women will go to any $$'s to have long flowing hair.


The good part is that " I'm Black and I'M Proud" by James Brown was a defining moment in our history.

Most of us are no longer trying to "look White" we are simply PROUD of being Black.

Obama certainly added to the Pride!

[DevonRex]

I just mentioned that show on Frenchie's thread. I could totally

relate to the hair show because I have Robert Plant hair.

[Jennicut]

10. I wish he had his own show too.

For now, I can catch him on Keith on occasion.

The thing is, I am white. I like people for who they are and always tried not to look at color first, though I do respect the differences between everyone. My closest friend in college was a 6'4 black guy. He was the nicest guy on earth, a year older then me, and we just became instant friends on one of my first days at college. He lived in a dorm close to mine. Needless to say, everyone freaked out about our friendship. His friends, my parents. We just both couldn't understand it. I did come close to dating him but we did not want to ruin the friendship. But it disappointed me greatly when my Mom launched into her rhetoric about how being an interracial couple is so hard in today's society. I guess it was not that long ago, 1996. I thought by 1996 my parents would be more open minded, but no.
It makes me very happy that my own two daughters never really think about the President's race. They know he and his children and wife look different then him but they don't really care. To be 4 and 5 is to notice differences but to not really care so much about them.

[frazzled]

11. What's interesting though is that white people come in a lot of colors, too

From porcelain to ruddy to olive, but the distinctions don't seem to carry as much symbolic weight. It's not that the distinctions aren't sometimes made in describing people--they just lack the meaning. It's not totally a spectrum of fair=good (because fair can be "pasty") to swarthy=bad (sometimes swarthy can equal tall, dark, and handsome). I have one kid who is a porcelain-skinned redhead; another who is olive-skinned with black hair. It's not that the traits are not noticed ... but it certainly hasn't become the marker of identity that skin color has in the black community. That is the legacy of race, for sure. It's going to take another few dozen generations for the entire spectrum of color to become less relevant.

[goclark]

22. You are so right~

Now we can only hope that it all just won't mattr in5/10/20 -- hope 5 years from today.

[Bette Noir]

17. He has hair, if you see him from behind.

And I agree with everything you say. I was disappointed that Gene didn't get the open slot in MSNBC's lineup last year-- Ed's not my type.

[Bullet1987]

4. Eugene gets the Captain Obvious Award on this one

Of course it's true. That's the problem. No one is asking the tough questions on this skin tone issue. WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?? WHY is it harder for dark-skinned models to appear on magazine covers (mostly women)? WHY would it be harder for a dark-skinned candidate to be taken seriously as opposed to a light-skinned candidate like Obama? What is the root of all of this?

[LiberalFighter]

5. I have prejudices against assholes regardless of their skin color.

If a person of African ancestry is an asshole screw him. If a person of European ancestry is an asshole screw him. If a person of any other remaining ancestry is an asshole screw him. If a person is closely related and is an asshole screw him.

My definition of an asshole is the same regardless of skin color.

Skin color doesn't really determine ones education, values, etc. But upbringing does. If skin color was the determining factor then there shouldn't be any great minds unless their skin is white.

[GoCubsGo]

8. That's how I see things, too.

Either you are an asshole or you are not an asshole. Outward appearances are irrelevant. The only difference: I don't consider being closely related to an asshole to be a reason to write someone off. They may both have the same upbringing, but there are a lot of outside influences that may only affect one of them. As many, many people here at DU have noted, there's only so much one can do to change another's mind.

[LiberalFighter]

12. The right circumstances has to exist to change the mind of that type of person.

You can choose your friends but you can't choose your family.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

15. What you describe, however, is not prejudice.

The whole point of prejudice is how you react to someone that you don't know - in other words, you don't really know if they're an asshole yet. You just know their gender, their color, and their appearance. Prejudice is whether or not you react differently according to that limited information.

Being prejudiced, in your case, would be whether or not you're predisposed to think a person of seemingly African or European ancestry is an asshole with very limited information. When you see a picture of white person, what are your (honest) first thoughts? When you pass a black person on the street, what goes through your mind? That's prejudice. We all do it - either in a positive or negative context - but we all to some varying extent come to some kind of conclusion about a person before they get to know them. If you're open minded, that conclusion can be easily changed. If you're not, it's written in stone. And that's really the crux of the problem - whether or not you can work through your prejudices to find the real person - the sum of the education, values, and upbringing you describe.

[femrap]

7. I guess it was unnecessary for

Harry Reid to mention that Obama had the most important body appendage that would get him elected.

:evilgrin:

[Karenina]

18. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

:spray:::rofl::spank::rofl:

[femrap]

24. I'm glad someone

understands....rarely do people get my 'humor.'

Thx.

[rasputin1952]

9. My repy to the Commentary:

It is a sad testimony in the US that we even consider race above character. Regardless of "race", we are all part of one race, the Human Race, and should be treated as such. The definitions between people should be that of character, nothing more. Every "race" has it's bums and creeps, no single "race" is devoid of them. However, the vast majority of people are good people trying to make it in a world that often scorns them, regardless of "race", religion, gender or any of a myriad of other divisive "items". A person's color does not define them, but the reaction to that color defines the individual. Some day, I hope in my lifetime, we will find that if we have to "judge" someone, it will be on character, (or lack thereof), alone.


When I read the replies, I saw that so many people are so lost in their own personal disillusionment, their own personal prejudices and their own personal hells...:(

[Cha]

14. Brilliant.

The whole thing but I want to take note of this..

"A person's color does not define them, but the reaction to that color defines the individual."

[flamingdem]

13. Robinson is hot nt

[Bette Noir]

16. I love Gene. Everything he says is true.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

19. Didn't Spike Lee cover this issue in "School Daze?"

The light-skinned "Wannabe's" and the dark-skinned "Jigaboo's?"

Two wars and 10% unemployment, and the Senate Majority Leader should be spending his time on this?

[Karenina]

20. My two disagreements with Eugene

I don't think Harry was AT ALL rude. Did I read the descriptor "Inartful" somewhere? Although not a word, the coinage is more accurate and silkily spun. Personally, I feel even that is too harsh for an old codger simply stating the obvious in his gushing enthusiasm. Artless? No harm, no foul.

CONTEXT MATTERS. Were one to ask any of my ESL clients what point I consider primary, they'd spit out "Context is EVERYTHING" like a mantra. I'll be using this little dust-up as an object lesson to reinforce that catechism.

Then there was this: "Skin color could hardly be a more conspicuous attribute, but we don't talk about it in this country. That's been a good thing."

It has NOT been a good thing. No, indeed it has NOT. The lack of discussion has fueled colourism. Everyone just denies it now.

[Number23]

21. Rec'd. Thanks for posting this! Fantastic read.

[FrenchieCat]

23. All one has to do is look at CNN's stable of Black reporters on the TeeVee.....

as that will tell you everything you wanted to know about how the media serves
this society.

[Karenina]

25. A point I will be making to my ESL students

as I again walk them through this "CONTEXT" thang. BBC is on board and I'm waiting to see who else picks it up...
One of those "teachable moments." :rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Forkboy]

26. Every time I see Eugene Robinson's name I think of this one instead....

Oxbow is super sweet! :)

Here he is in a more normal setting, reading from his very cool book, FIGHT: EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT ASS KICKING BUT WERE AFRAID YOU'D GET YOUR ASS KICKED FOR ASKING



Ok, sorry to interrupt. Carry on. ;)