Pamela Merritt Challenges the "Blackness" Police

Blogger Pamela Merritt challenges perceptions (from other Blacks) about what "Black" is supposed to mean. Love her response. Idiots like the ones she is addressing annoy the hell out of me. Worst than flies at a good barbecue.

Can we just flush the term and concept of "Blackness" down the toilet once and for all? Blacks aren't a monolith, and as such, there can be no one term to describe them.

This is why I am annoyed when someone tries to put me into a box, especially a racial one.

Related

Hear an interview with Pamela Merritt from NPR.

Gay the New Black?

Now I have heard everything, The Gay Presidential Debates? Why the Gay Presidential Debate? There are a lot of black folks who cringed when moderator Margaret Carlson compared the gay rights movement to the black civil rights movement.

Pam of Pam's House Blend get's the Gay Presidential Debates. She says, "Never in the history of American politics have presidential candidates been brought together to debate ?gay? issues. Pretty exciting stuff." More HERE. But everyone is not in agreement. The Gay Patriot has asked "Did you react so ferociously when the Blacks had their own special rights debate?" .... Why is everyone claiming this is a “first” presidential Gay Debate? More HERE

Even BET is asking questons to black viewers wondering if the Presidential Debate should focus on gay issues. On the other hand groups like The National Black Justice Coalition feel that America finally spoke up. If America spoke up there is black and white disagreement who won the Gay Presidential Debate. As an example E.J. Graff, of The Nation has a lot to say about what Democratic presidential candidates talk about when they talk about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues? Regarding the Gay Debate he says, Edwards hit it out of the park. Hillary got smartly on base, to wild--even excessive--cheers. Obama struck out. Check out his article HERE. While others were not impressed like Media Matters, that wrote, "They came, they saw, they pandered."

Yet the whole Gay Debate issue is taking another turn in black communities. As an eample, some in the black community asked even before the debate started if the “gay debate,” focusing solely on LGBT issues would likely ignore issues specific to the black gay community. More HERE Now after the debate black bloggers like Jasmyne Cannick see a lot of it as Pomp and Circumstance, she writes, " I think it’s great that Obama has addressed this issue outside of gay forums and within the Black community specifically Black churches, but I am not sure how effective he can really be in those forums when he himself Read More HERE.

Both Skepitical Brotha and Stereohyped are blogging about this issue as is Keith Boykin who says, "We've had a black debate, a labor debate, a CNN debate, an MSNBC debate, an Iowa debate, a New Hampshire debate, and even a YouTube debate. Next month Univision, the fifth most watched network in America, is sponsoring a Hispanic debate that they plan to simulcast into the Spanish language for their viewers. Only Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd and John McCain have agreed to participate in that one. But tonight, Logo, the gay channel owned by Viacom, is sponsoring a gay debate with all the Democratic candidates. Is this too many debates?

Articulate

There are some great post out there about Joe Biden's recent comments. Eugene Robinson's article in the Washington Post regarding Sen Joe "old school closet bigot" Biden is thought provoking. Eugene Robinson asks the question; What is it, exactly, that white people mean when they call a black person "articulate"?

Robinson writes, I'll leave it to Joe Biden to explain (or figure out) why he used "clean" as one of a logorrheic string of adjectives describing his Senate colleague Barack Obama. I'm not sure his initial revision and extension of his remarks -- that he meant "clean as a whistle" -- get him off the hook. Just a suggestion, but Biden might fall back to "clean as the Board of Health," meaning sharply dressed; the last time I saw Obama he was, indeed, wearing an impeccable navy suit. For anyone who missed it, Biden explained Obama's appeal as a presidential candidate by calling him "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." He was talking to a reporter for the New York Observer, who recorded the interview; an audio clip was soon posted on the Internet. There was a sharp reaction, mostly focused on Biden's incomprehensible reference to personal hygiene. The Rev. Al Sharpton, a one-time presidential candidate, said that when Biden called him to apologize, " I told him I take a bath every day."

AAPPundit: As usual Mr. Robinson's article is on point. He makes the same points that Jill Tubman of Jack and Jill Politics wrote about when she said, "To those white people who don't get it, let me break it down for you." Check out her post, and why she feels Joe Biden is the Democrats' answer to Trent Lott and George Allen. It's not just black folks who found it odd that Joe Biden has discovered a clean, articulate black man. Hat tip's to Jack and Jill Politics, Under Cover Black Man, Mirror On America, Racialicious, blackprof.com, Professor Kim, Drudge retort, The Think, and other bloggers dealing with this AWB Articulate While Black issue head on.

What would "country Joe Biden" call these people?

oops he (Biden) probably could not name these folks if you asked him. He probably has the James Brown complex. like most whites, he probably thinks all blacks talk like James Brown sang. But then again, there are a number of words black folks will always remember about the late entertainer James Brown. Those words they were so clear, it was like, James brown was one of the most articulate black men in America when he said, "Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud." at that point in Mr. James Brown's life he was one of the most articulate Black men in America. and guess what, Black folks didn't care what white folks thought.
Can you relate to that Senator Biden? Probably not...

I know it's complex stuff, man.