I am not convinced by arguments that Hillary Clinton is not getting fair-treatment because she is a woman and I don’t think Barack Obama is getting ill treatment because he is black. These issues cut both ways, after all, and for many race and gender are primary reasons for supporting one or the other of these candidates.
I don’t know the exact etymology of the word ‘uppity‘, but I’m sure someone has written a dissertation about it. I’m not a expert but I take it to mean ‘not knowing your place’. And if I’m right, there really isn’t anything a black man could do that would be more ‘uppity’ than running for president. After all, they’ve made whole movies about the absurdity of a black president. The strange and vaguely miraculous thing about Barack Obama is that he seems to transcend this construct. It’s this transcendence that Black Entertainment Television founder Bob Johnson was referring to when he complained bitterly:
“That kind of campaign behavior does not resonate with me, for a guy who says, ‘I want to be a reasonable, likable, Sidney Poitier ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.’ And I’m thinking, I’m thinking to myself, this ain’t a movie, Sidney. This is real life.”
In Bob Johnson’s version of ‘real life’ black men wear bling, sell drugs, and rent hos. At least, that’s the version of ‘real life’ he’s been selling black youth on his cable network for the last 28 years. But no gold-toothed tilt-capped gangsta is going to come anywhere near the Oval Office, and that means a brother with such ambitions can’t really be keeping it real. He’s gotta act ‘white’ like the Dr. John Wade Prentice character played by Sidney Poitier.
With a few notable exceptions like Bob Johnson, the black community is sophisticated enough to understand the challenges that Obama faces. They understand why he ‘doesn’t act black’ and they also understand why he isn’t talking to their issues front and center in his campaign. It’s all part of ‘passing’, and getting both ‘the suits’ and Joe and Jane Six-Pack to feel comfortable about a black president. It might almost seem Manchurian if Barack Obama was not raised by his white mother and Ivy League educated.
Yet, no black candidate, no matter how smooth and talented, can avoid a certain amount of injured race pride in the white community. We’ve owned that Oval Office for over 200 years and some whites are not all that keen on giving it up. What they don’t want to see is any gloating. Gloating is putting ‘uppity’ right up in whitie’s face. So we get little protests like Richard Cohen’s:
“Obama is nearly as good as he thinks he is.”
Or Gail Collins’:
“…people here worry that Barack Obama is getting show-offy.”
Attaturk takes this as racial code for ‘uppity’, which it may well be. But it’s also, perhaps, the same kind of resentment students always feel about the smartest kid in the class. How do you say it?
“[Obama] wanted to explain that he was too good — too patriotic! — to wear a flag pin on his chest.”
Barack Obama thinks he’s better than you. Never mind that he is better, he doesn’t have to rub it in all our faces. That’s another form of ‘uppity’.
And then there is Saint John McCain. McCain has a decision to make. He can keep dissing his racist, bigoted supporters that are willing to go after Obama’s pastor, his father, his middle name, his race. It will be like six or seven Sister Souljah moments a day as Johnny tries to swat away the hate. Or, McCain can just go over to the dark side and let all that hate do the work that his charisma cannot. What he can’t do is take the high road and then not actually take the high road. If he tries, he’ll lose on both fronts as talk radio listeners come to believe they can’t say anything without getting denounced and the rest of us can’t believe his base is so intolerant and full of hate.
And then there is the press. They like Obama and they know an inspiring story when they see it. But they didn’t pick this guy. Who does he think he is winning this nomination over the Establishment candidate? I think there’s a word for that. Starts with a ‘u’.
