Kevin Jackson on Understanding The Black Experience

The conservative Republican takes issue with a liberal reader who argues that U.S. President Obama can help him "rediscover the black experience": "He warned that 'whites would never see me, as I see me.' Touting Obama as the poster child for blackness is a ridiculous notion. Further, the idea that Obama can teach me 'blackness' is equally ridiculous. Unlike me, Obama is only half-black — as much white, as he is black. Obama’s formative years were spent mostly in the white world. He was raised by his white grandparents in [an] upper middle-class lifestyle. He attended expensive, mostly white, private schools in his youth, his education culminating with Harvard. Like Obama, I am a product of a father who abandoned me. My story departs with Obama in that my father spent most of his adult life incarcerated, bouncing in and out of my life mainly by phone. When my father wasn’t incarcerated, he was strung out — chemically dependent — his drugs of choice being alcohol (a vice he inherited from his father, making me a carrier as well) and crack cocaine (an acquired addiction). Surely a father like this qualifies me for the black condition? My father’s abandonment of his family necessitated my mother’s move back with her parents — another all too unfortunate circumstance of the black condition."

Mr. Jackson continues his commentary: "While my family was living what I deem the black experience, the person for whom I supposedly should be showing deference was living in Indonesia, then Hawaii — attending private schools. Because of the kindness of my grandparents’ employer, like Obama I was provided the opportunity to attend private high school. I would earn essentially a full-ride to Southern Methodist University, and also received a National Merit Scholarship, the Minnie Stevens Piper Scholarship, and a co-op scholarship from SMU. No silver spoon kid here. The house I grew up in still belongs to that wealthy white family, inasmuch as most blacks’ homes belong to the banks. No big payday when my grandfather died, and I provide a little extra to my grandmother who is still alive at age 88."

More commentary from Mr. Jackson about the black American experience: "What I learned is there is no black experience. There are only the limits to your experiences that you allow in your minds. Obama does not define me as a black man. I did not feel any more proud of Obama becoming president, than I felt for Bush. Sadly, I was less proud. Finally, I don’t need validation from whites on how to see myself. Frankly I don’t care what whites (or anybody) thinks about me as a black man. I know how I see me. I like what I see-flaws and all. So, I stand before you America — A proud American…who happens to be black!"

Booker Rising response: President Obama, the poster child for American blackness? Hahaha! Now, that's funny. Had that reader said Mrs. Obama - whose family history has Barry leaned upon to shore up his American blackness credentials - I'd agree. But Barry? The vast majority of black Americans are the descendants of slaves, and have relatives who went through Jim Crow. The only way Barry can ever experience that long trail of American history is as the descendant of slaveowners and Jim Crow beneficiaries. I.e., his white half, because his black half is East African and thus foreign. The quintessential black American does not have a white mama, get raised by white folks, or partly grow up in Asia. In fairness, it should be pointed out that Mr. Jackson looks more mixed than does Barry. However, I do not agree with Mr. Jackson's contention that because his daddy was in and out of jail, that makes him an authentic black American. The vast majority of black folks never see a jail cell nor are hooked on drugs.