Everywhere I go, some white person is asking some black person how they feel.
I saw one white customer quiz his black waitress at length at a chic soul food restaurant downtown, over deviled eggs and fried chicken livers, about whether she cried when Barack Obama won. She said she did, and he said he wept like a baby.
And
I saw three white women asking a black bartender at the Bombay Club, across Lafayette Park from the White House, if he was happy and what he thought about Jesse Jackson's flowing tears at Grant Park, given his envious threat to cut off a sensitive part of Obama's anatomy. "I think the tears were real," the bartender said.
And:
I saw a white-haired white woman down the block from me running out to strike up a conversation with a black U.P.S. delivery guy, asking him how he felt and what this meant to him.
And:
I heard my cute black mailman talking in an excited voice outside my house Friday, so I decided I should go ask him how he was feeling about everything, the absolute amazement of the first black president. If you don't count what Toni Morrison said about Bill Clinton, that is.
Hmm...waitress, bartender, UPS man, mailman. I'm sensing a pattern here. Is Maureen Dowd only concerned with black people who bring shit to white people? Wait? No?
It's cool that President-elect Cool has gotten everybody chatting, even if it's awkward small talk. And it's fun, after so many years of unyielding barriers, to feel sentimental.
"When suddenly CNN revealed its wall-sized announcement of the outcome, I experienced a blissful and unembarrassed rush of racialism," Leon Wieseltier wrote in The New Republic. "Only a hologram of Frederick Douglass would have excited me more."
But is it time now for whites to stop polling blacks on their feelings?
I'll have to call my friend Gwen Ifill tomorrow and ask her how she feels about that.
OK, so we have Gwen Iffill. I guess that breaks the mold. Still, Maureen may want to give it a week before she makes that call. I mean, I bet Gwen has a lot of "friends" calling her this week.
There is so much more snapping to be done here. (Dude, white folks are wishing for holograms--HOLOGRAMS--of Negroes!) But I'm a gentleman, and this is like taking a candy from a baby--a saucy, red-headed baby--but a baby nonetheless. Seriously though, sometimes it's OK to just give a pound, mutter "respect, respect," and keep it moving. When in doubt, just keep it moving.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
I can't get past "saucy." Best-fitting adjective in a long time.
Now I feel like Hannity talking about Palin. Thanks a lot.
Hello there!
I have noticed a spike in visits at my blog.
There have always been a steady crop of white voyeurs at my blog who want to "eavesdrop" on what the blacks are chatting about!! *LOL* And how do I know they are white? By the comments they make when they send me questions by email, that's how I know! *LOL*
At my blog, I have a desire to give black women CENTER stage because their voices are seldom included in the national dialogue.
Reading your post, I am a tad bit curious about WHY white people are suddenly so interested in the thoughts that blacks have about America.
I received a comment yesterday from a blog guest who was SOOOO SHOCKED to hear a black woman say that she was NOT crying or screaming that America has a biracial president...and no, he's not the first black president because his parents aren't black...as long as he has a WHITE mother, he's biracial. So okay, we have our first biracial president...as far as we know! *LOL* Remember the rumors about Bill?
She was shocked to hear a black woman say that the Obamas are not the best that the black race has to offer. They aren't! Why is THAT a shock? Why do people think the Obamas are just sooo rare and unusual in the black race?
Now that I think about it...why yes...perhaps this sudden "interviewing" tactic by random white people of black passerby has a benefit...maybe SOME will finally absorb the reality that ALL blacks do not think the same things, ALL do not live the same way, and ALL do not believe the same things about America. Hmmmm. It's a start.
Peace, blessings and DUNAMIS!
LIsa
I understand why people do this, I know they mean well (mostly), but I so hope I'm not subjected to this sort of thing. I know my brain would force my mouth to launch a sarcastic answer that is not constructive to open dialogue at all, at all.
This may be Maureen Dowd's dumbest column, and that's saying a lot.
on a roll, on a roll
Since you've said in the past you're TV-less, I'm guessing you missed the will.i.am hologram on CNN election night.
Freaky shit. I hope they cut that out.
I was at a large, semi-fancy party this weekend, and there were two early-twenties black people there. I stood nearby while no less than three old, white, liberal ladies came by and said "This week must mean so much to you!" or something to that extent. One of the women corralled the two for probably 15 minutes of straight "Your lives must be so different now"-style chatting.
For me, it was pretty entertaining to listen in on these old women, for the two twenty-somethings, it must have been one of the most annoying hours of their lives.
Seriously? Ya'll hatin' on Maureen for telling the truth about odd white people behavior? For real?
I had a bit of fun reading the column. It read to me like Maureen commenting about the true nature of the world she inhabits - largely devoid of black people, and having to go out of the way to find some to talk to on such an historic occasion.
Its a moment of self-reflection. One could hope 4 years from now that these black-people chasers (or longers for holograms thereof) will have some actual black friends to call up and talk to.
QT
So it's wrong that I suddenly perked up at the possibility of dead people holograms? Given Douglass's commentary on Lincoln, I'd love him to provide some perspective just now.
i think dowd is entitled to the tiniest little break on this. i've lived in NYC for nearly ten years, and i don't know many black people. the ones i do know casually from the nabe (not the hood) do tend to be in the (ahem) logistics industries. i haven't asked them how they're feeling because that would be gay - but it's not hard to figure out that they've been feeling good for a week or so.
also, you'd think by listening to them that most of the white liberals around here have presided over the signing into law of the civil rights act - an act which they themselves personally wrote and steered through congress. accompanying this somewhat enervating mood is, however, a sense of goodwill to all men. i think that's what dowd was reaching towards.
the hispanic dudes are also all over it too.
let's hope it lasts through christmas.
My fiancee says it best:
I am begging you--BEGGING you--not to take MoDo as the paradigm for all white folk. Honestly. It would never even occur to me to go up to any African-American and quiz them as if they were the magical spokesmodels for their race.
That is just so...MoDo.
Please--we're not all such jackasses. Honest.
Hologram for Frederick Douglass? Is this necessary?
I thought dead black leaders could appear as ethereal beings to give guidance and encouragement to living black leaders (Fred Hampton's Ghost: "Barack, you must go to the South Side of Chicago, there you will learn from the community organizers who taught me.").
This might be bullshit, but its what my FedEx guy told me last week when I asked him how he felt about Obama's triumph. I tried to confirm with the black maintenance guy in my office building but all he would say was:
"F^CK YOU CRACKER!"
I'll try again with the black dude that delivers my dry-cleaning.
Oh calm down. It's a joke. I kid the NY Times columnists!
Yeah, I try to avoid this sort of behavior. Like even when black people unpromptedly start telling me how excited they are, I'm like, "oh, the Phillies winning the World Series must've finally gotten to you."
I'm kind of surprised none of my white liberal friends have asked me anything like that.
I don't mind the silly questions so much though cause if there's anything I think Barack can do for brown people is to show white people we aren't monolithic.
OK, OK points well made and taken.
But for real, this is a story from my recent life (I swears):
I went home last Friday night and one of my apartment-house neighbors, a very dashing young African-American guy, was sitting out having a smoke and a drink, chatting on his phone.
I overheard him say "Yeah, I got to change some shit in my life, I mean since Obama got it it's been changing stuff for me--"
And without even thinking, as I walked back from my mailbox, I reflexively gave him a "fist-up" greeting and he replied "YEAH!" with a huge smile.
This white fool felt good that evening, and that was only one of many reasons. ^_^
The way I see it, white folk have MoDo, black folk have Shelby Steele. I don't know which is more of an embarrassment, frankly.
These silly Tigger-like white people who bounce into other people's personal space mean well. They're out in droves right now because they really are very, very happy.
Guys, this is satire served very dry. Come on...
MoDo isn't the baby here, she's more of a spirited doyenne teasing you playfully
Maureen Dowd is acting like the stereotypical Manhattan limosine liberal. Probably the type who brags that she has drinks with her gay interior designer ,is nice to her maid at Christmas and thinks she is down with black culture because she knows the words to "Respect".
I just hope the person who kept the waitress at his table for fifteen minutes made up for it with the tip!
Is saying anything really necessary? I find this whole idea of asking black people how they feel ridiculous. Let see, they voted overwhelming for the first black president of the world's most powerful country and overcame 500 years of white people's bulls**t. I am pretty sure every African American in the country as well as those who are ex pats, and those who will come here 100 years from now will be proud of this moment. As any teacher will tell you...There are dumb questions.
@tokenasia
---------------------
You are to say that black peeps have Shelby Steele!
The guy said that Barack couldn't win it because there were not enough guilty white people! LOOOL.
What a baffon!
Glad you picked up on that column, TNC. Ridiculous. It wouldn't have been so bad if Dowd had just acknowledged that she lives in a ridiculous world. And better yet, if she had acknowledged that that's the world she chooses to live in.
The hologram line sounds much worse if you didn't see the CNN holograms on election night.
But a lot of ridiculous stuff is out there, too. I read a blog on theroot thanking white people for their votes. As you've said, I wasn't doing anyone any favors. And Lisa wants everyone to know that Barack Obama is biracial. Who cares? We all know 99% of Americans don't make that distinction. And if they did, she'd probably be "mutli-racial," not "black." So in Jesse Jackson's words, "the point is moot." I'm just rambling.
But has anyone asked Billy Dee Williams for the "official" black reaction? (Is BDW about to get booted from his position of honor by POTUS?)
Where I work (military defense contracting) I'm the token white liberal, and all my black colleagues come up to me to talk about the election and how freaking happy we all are. I've also had some surprising discussions on socialism and white affirmative action for people like Bush and McCain... maybe all of a sudden black folks are more comfortable talking to me about some things?
OMG, has this election stripped you people of your sense of humor? MoDo was _making fun_ of those white people in her column (the whites running around to black people "you must be so happy this week!") Are you effing kidding? MoDo is the least sentimental of sentient beings.
C'mon folks, you really don't see the self-satire in MoDo's column? She's making fun of the fact that most white folks, herself included, don't know any black folks socially and are reduced to making awkward conversation with strangers. I thought it was pretty obvious, especially given that she may be the world's snidest individual.
I thought the Tigger comment was, um, spot on. White folks of the liberalish political persuasion are thrilled about this election outcome for all kinds of reasons (mine are predominantly ideological: I would not feel the same way about a President Keyes, say) and want to share the joy. They assume, probably not entirely without foundation, that black folks are likely to feel similarly. However, this is a fundamentally ridiculous thing to do, even without the weird racial/class overtones. Am I wrong in thinking it's mainly harmless?
Some random thoughts -
OK, the "this must mean so much to you" must be getting old, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say it beats being asked for your opinion on OJ or mostly likely any other previous issue for which you have been chosen as spokesperson for all black people.
This is not a white thing. During time I have spent in parts of Asia I was annointed spokesperson for both America and white people. That is pressure. In pre-gentrification Harlem I remember feeling like a spokesperson for the mayonaisse industry. Seriously, how do you explain why a turkey sandwhich is some much delicious-er with mayo? Much easier to say "I never thought this could happen" than to explain the brilliance of vegetable oil and egg yolks.
Its a great opportunity for hilarious mischief through misinformation. Tell them you're upset with McCain's loss, its meaningless since you haven't gotten over the way T-O was treated in Philly, this pales in comparison to your emotions after hearing the verdict in Kells' trial. Watch the puzzled looks.
MoDo is clearly trying to point out the absurdity of the Limo-liberal class, but her effort was very ham-handed.
Yeah, I think people ought to cool out for a bit. I'm with gracchus on this one: seems like MoDo's column was dripping with satire.
She might not be funny. But I think she was mocking the week's past events. Because, if she's anything like me, I'm going to pop a blood vessel if I see another TV camera posted up in a black church asking folks what Obama's victory means to them.
"C'mon folks, you really don't see the self-satire in MoDo's column?"
How's that any different from any of her other columns. She's only in on the joke half the time.
Well, I was the middle-aged white guy trying all last winter and spring to convince the Blacks in my Philadelphia office that, yes, the U.S CAN elect a Black man president. There isn't a Black person living on my slightly upscale northwest Philadelphia (Chestnut Hill) block, but the 8 or 9 Obama-Biden signs have not yet come down -- we are still celebrating! Now I suspect that Black people are really happy about this election, and I am happy to celebrate for them and with them, but listen to this carefully: I have not been happier at an election outcome since 1964 (and I was only 8 years old then). I am celebrating Obama's election for ME. For ME as a White person, for ME as a Jew, and for ME as an American. Also -- and this is very much to the point -- for ME as a SMART person, an intelligent person, a patriot whose parents served in World War II and who cares about where this country is going, a person who is grateful at the prospect of finally having a knowledgeable, intelligent, thoughtful, historically-minded, globally-minded, patriotic, caring, rational, education-oreinted, deliberate, GROWN-UP in charge!
Oh, is his skin dark? WTFC!
-DPicker
Haven't read all of the comments, but has anyone noted that Maureen Dowd is a fucking idiot ? It's a disgrace that this shit - along with Kristol - makes the cut in our "paper of record."
Maureen Dowd pretty much sucks. Has for awhile. This is just the most recent of her condescending, pointless columns, somewhat well-meaning but patronizing to the core.
Couple of responses:
Dpicker has apparently been reading my thoughts. In fact, I suspect he's my slightly older doppleganger. Thanks for speaking so eloquently for us, D.
Reality Man, naw, I think she's in on the joke. However, my assessment of Dowd is that she's only about as half as clever as she thinks she is.
This, on the other hand, puts her ahead of David Brooks, who may be about a 10th as clever as he thinks he is. I mark Brooks as a guy who became a rightwing intellectual because he was too stupid to make it as a leftwing intellectual. But that's just my ideological bias shining through.
I've said it before and I'll say it again-- we need Chappelle to be doing sketches on this shit.
"Omigod, Tyree, Lysol, and I are SO happy that Obama won!"
And call me a cynical cracker, but the "You must be so happy!" comments to me have within them a little bit of "Thank us, dark people. Thank us for your happiness!"
"I'll have to call my friend Gwen Ifill tomorrow and ask her how she feels about that."
I'll bet her "friend" Gwen lets that stoopid call go to voicemail.
"I mark Brooks as a guy who became a rightwing intellectual because he was too stupid to make it as a leftwing intellectual"
You don't have to be too smart to make it as a leftwing intellectual. Take Glenn Greenwald or Frank Rich. (Well, maybe that's unfair; they're not really intellectuals in the first place. But we're talking Times columnists, so it's not that unfair.) But look, all you have to do to be a leftwing intellectual is uncritically buy into a bunch of assumptions about various rights that people supposedly have, and then write with varying degrees of articulateness about how the conservatives don't care about those rights enough and how the liberals do, and argue with other leftwing intellectuals about which politician is more likely to give everyone universal healthcare. And maybe if you're a useful leftwing intellectual like Ezra Klein you can at least write constructively about what sorts of policies will deliver people the goods that they supposedly have rights to. If you're not so bright, like Greenwald, you just bloviate about how the bad guys are wrong without ever offering any actual argument as to why what they're doing is wrong. That takes little to no intellect at all, just a lot of stamina. Then if you actually are a talented leftwing intellectual, like say a John Rawls, you make some substantive arguments as to why people have these rights to healthcare and freedom from poverty in the first place. And that does take a ton of talent. But those guys are all in philosophy departments, or doing political theory, and don't get much press in the nonacademic world. So it doesn't take much smarts to be a standard public leftwing intellectual.
Thank you, Gracchus. I'm honored.
Gramsci, I think you are missing the point entirely. Since I am thrilled for ME that Obama will be my President, and since Obama did not win a majority of White voters (although more than Bill Clinton did, and about 77% of Jewish voters), I am thanking YOU, and all the other "dark" voters, for MY happiness!
=DPicke
"But those guys are all in philosophy departments"
Anywhere but, in point of fact. Rawls is dead, and there's not much bringing up the rear. Analytical philosophy drained American philosophy of its Deweyan potential. Just as likely, if not more likely, to see quality public intellectuals from econ, poli sci, literature, law, sociology or religious studies.
Gramsci,
I second the motion on Chris Rock. Myself, I'd like Tracy Morgan to do a follow-up guest editorial on SNL, and all the NBC affiliates to run it for days.
Big doses of sharp wit may well be the best medicine for everyone: the bouncers, the bounced, and the embarrassed on-lookers.
Asher, well I was being glib and facile: thanks very much for taking such substandard bait. Perhaps I should have said "on a like-for-like basis." You no doubt would have shot that one down, too, but you would have had to work a little harder.
Dowd hasn't broken the mold by referencing Gwen Iffill. She brings news to white people.
My favorite media moment was Contessa Brewer telling Eugene Robinson the day after election that she was happy for him.
We're happy for you, too, Contessa on the basis that Obama's half-white.
Dpicke,
I wasn't accusing you of the "Thank us" sentiment-- I was talking about a tone in some of the anecdotes that MoDo mentioned, a tone that has a "little bit" of what I described. If these other people had felt the gratitude YOU felt, I just feel like they should say, you know, "Thank you" instead of "You must be so happy." I mean, why tell people what they MUST be feeling? Why can't I, as a white person, just offer what I feel, stupid or not (i.e. "I'm ecstatic he's taking over from Bush!! Are you ecstatic? 'Cuz I'm over the moon!")
That makes me wonder how many times Alan Keyes has been approached with such comments. That makes me laugh.
And lay off Asher, gracchus. He's a good kid, and ruthless toward typos.
And let me add that I think Frederick Douglass's hologram would have locked, not popped, at the end.
"Anywhere but, in point of fact. Rawls is dead, and there's not much bringing up the rear. Analytical philosophy drained American philosophy of its Deweyan potential. Just as likely, if not more likely, to see quality public intellectuals from econ, poli sci, literature, law, sociology or religious studies."
Yeah, that's why I said "or political theory." Like a Tomasi or Macedo or whatever. And gracchus, I don't quite get the like-for-like basis comment, but let me say, it doesn't take much to be a right-wing intellectual either. Although you do have to be damn bright to figure out how the Republicans continue to be viable. But yeah, most right-wing intellectuals are like, "duh, big government's a bad thing, obvi, haven't you ever, like, seen the Laffer Curve?!" And that's pretty much it. Oh well. We get the intellectuals we deserve. If we all boycotted cable news, The New Republic, and a bunch of other magazines, we'd eventually see a better brand of intellectual. It's just market forces.
Whenever I'm asked to opine as the spokesperson for my race, ethnicity, gender, etc., I respond by pretending that my fist is a mic and using a pompous, Ted Baxter-like tone. That usually ends the conversation without me having to explain that the question is stupid.
when i read the column initially, i was sure it was satirical... then i saw dowd on msnbc or comedy central or somewhere else on the television and was concerned that she seemed to be taking it a little more seriously than i did. i'm swinging back toward assuming satire yet remain not entirely convinced.
forget modo, THIS captures it way better ...
http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html?uc_full_date=20081105
Yeh, eff MoDo for asking the "black help." I emailed a grumpy Left-wing African-American novelists who earns 130K a year here in Philadelphia and asked him, "You proud of your country now?"
Maureen has got to fill space two days a week. That is all.
Hey, I'm a white dude and I have actual black coworkers to talk about this. I talked to two guys at work about it, but these are guys whom I talk about politics with, anyway.
My whole office is political, though. I'm in the planning department of a big city, and we had to have a memo from the higher-ups telling us to make sure we kept the Obama posters and buttons out of sight of the public counter.
I would hope the UPS guy et al. were considerate enough to refrain from asking if their questioners were feeling better now that someone competent was in the White House, but I would understand if they didn't.
Gawker was on this:
http://gawker.com/5081100/maureen-dowd-seizes-opportunity-to-talk-to-black-people-for-the-first-time
Strangely enough, as a military officer, most of the black men I know (other military officers) were for McCain, so I have only been able to have that conversation of all-around congrats with a few people. Most of the time I am standing up for our new President-elect, making the case that he won't completely fuck up foreign policy, that he is, in fact, a smart guy who understands the realities of power and personally recognizes the difference between his rhetoric (which is idealistic) and his real foreign policy situation (which is realistic).
Semper Fi,
PTR
The Tigger comment was great.
On a less silly note, these folks: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15531.html are celebrating going back to giving mediocre white people the best jobs without guilt. Seeing a lot of that around.
So I take back anything I ever said or suggested about you being a poor replacement for Yglesias. Whereas you have a sharp, nuanced understanding of what class-based affirmative action would look like, Matt seems to have lost his mind on this issue:
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/11/classy_2.php#comment-819196
Interesting PatricktheRogue. I wonder if she had anything like that in her satire?
"Well actually I voted for John McCain, I love cantankerous old war veterans regardless of race."
"Well actually I voted for Bob Barr, I want me an AK-47!"
"Well actually I voted for Cynthia McKinney, Revolution!"
"Well actually I voted for Alan Keyes and yes he was running."
Asher, here's the thing, I don't actually disagree with you on the fact that the general level of public discourse in the U.S. is pretty low. The New Republic is a waste of space and the Nation is sloppily edited, and often sloppily written. The NYRB is somewhat better but taps the same people all the time, not all of whom are brilliant. Where we differ, I think, is that I'm more willing to forgive the hacks on my side their faults...
I had a black professor who enjoyed asking his white art students what they thought of Tina Turner (bear with me), or Martin Luther King or some other black person. his point, after inevitably stumping the subject because white people rarely get asked such things, was to impress upon us that the nation's issues belong to the NATION, and were thus shared among us. I was reminded of this by Howard Dean in the 2004 primaries when he said in a debate "I'm not just going to talk about race when I'm in front of Black audiences, I'm going to talk about race when I'm in front of White audiences." People should ask WHITE PEOPLE how it makes them feel too, because really this for everybody, and no SHIT Black folks are happy.
PS: love this blog, Mr. Coates!
Yeah, gracchus... I mean, take the NYRB. Ronald Dworkin is a brilliant man. But every article he's ever written in there assumes that you take his point of view. It's all, "if you elect a Republican, he will appoint conservative judges and you just might lose your abortion rights, and you're reading this NYRB so we know you don't want that," or, "Louisville sent white kids to schools they didn't want to go to to help make things more racially balanced, and the Court said it was unconstitutional, and this is RIDICULOUS, how DARE they, they are betraying the spirit of Brown!" Like I don't need Ronald Dworkin to inform me that the Republicans are interested in overturning Roe. Or to tell me that liberals like affirmative action. It's a monstrous waste of intellectual resources. I would like Dworkin to explain why overturning Roe would be a bad thing, or why affirmative action's a good thing, since I think he's bright enough to at least make a decent argument, but he doesn't even try; you have to look it up in his books, and even those... like the last one of his I read starts more or less as follows: "I, Ronald Dworkin, think equality is the sovereign virtue in life and that no one has a right to the talents they're arbitrarily born with, or the fruits of the situation they're arbitrarily born into. Guess what that leads to? A Rube Goldberg insurance scheme for stupid people to insure them against being stupid!" And I'm sitting there like, that sounds fun - but don't you want to give an argument for why equality's the sovereign virtue? It is the title of your book after all.
I'm with Dpicker. Glad if Obama's election makes some Black folks feel extra happy... but more happy for myself as a smart, engaged, torture hating, constitution loving, liberal Democrat that Obama won. I'd feel just as happy if he was Asian, Native American, or even, gasp, white.
I don't think you guys understand how hard it is to resist this urge. I live in Brooklyn, every day on the way into work I pass an elderly black man or woman wearing one, two, three Obama buttons. Walked past an old gentleman today (over a week after the election!) wearing two of those great chinatown bootleg ones. I had to stop myself from shaking his hand and going on about how happy I am that he won and bragging on how long I was backing him. In my defense, black folks are the only ones still wearing the buttons and showing support, I'm just happy we won! Maybe a little pleased I was a part of it, too.
No lie, my friend was rocking a custom screened Obama shirt back during the primaries, only to start wearing it inside out over the summer 'cause he thought Obama was passe. Williamsburg types, you know?
Wow!
I'd find those questions insulting. I think the unspoken assumption is that 'we' should be thankful to white people for voting for Obama. Ummm, no, hopefully white people voted for Obama out of self-interest as seeing having McCain/Palin in there would be pure stupidity and maybe we really should have a president with some intelligence, common sense and integrity.
I'm originally from Africa, and there is a parallel to this type of questions that I get here in the U.S. I call them 'know your place' questions. They seem very innocent but the unspoken assumption is that I am the saved while the questioner (almost always white) is the savior. Normally I get;
"Wow, you speak English so well" (talk about condescending, English is one of my 2 naitonal languages)
or my favorite
"Aren't you glad to be here, what with all the problems in Africa?" (Africa is a big place and not a country, just don't tell Palin that)
I used to answer such questions, nowadays, if I sense someone is being condescending, either unconsciously or not, I give a slightly sarcastic answer or a non-sequitur. Its gotten to the point when people ask me where I'm from I brace myself.
I had a complete stranger walk up to me and state "You must be happy Obama won". My response "I'm happy the non-psychotic candidate won. You must be very sad that McCain lost.". She was perplexed at my response, but why would she assume that solely because of the color of my skin she knows all thats going on in my head (So I turned the assumption around and assumed that since she was white she must have been in the tank for McCain, same stupid logic she was using). I was actually conflicted because I was rooting for John Edwards in the primary
My problem with Dowd is perfectly illustrated by this: I do think a lot of the time she is in on the joke, and attempting satire. But her execution is just poor. It isn't that funny, and you can't always tell where exactly she is coming from. I don't really think she's stupid. But, as a columnist in our "newspaper of record," she should be an excellent writer, top-tier, and she isn't.
Baiskeli, yeah, the idea that anybody, let alone north of 40% of the American population, thought that McCain was a safe pair of hands for several thousand nuclear bombs is a pretty scary thought. If I lived in Utah or Idaho, I'd be tempted to stop my fellow Caucasians in the street and ask "What WRONG with you people? You have a death wish or something?" Strikes me as a valid question....
Dowd's weak sarcasm aside, this kind of projection works in all directions.
A few years ago, I had two separate Boston strangers tell me George Wallace had it right, as they tried to start conversations based on my southern accent and pale skin. Not exactly the image I wanted to project, so it didn't sit too well.
But shortly after that, a boston cabbie asked out of the blue if I was from Alabama, then proceeded to tear up telling me about marching on Selma. We had a great conversation sharing our views and thoughts on the country. At that time I figured I'd enjoy the positive associations when they come; they're too few, for all of us.
Odds are 9 out of 10 that the random black guy next to you supported Obama. pretty good odds if you just want to reach out and share your excitement about something. definitely better than chatting up some other random stranger. and even still better than assuming some out-of-town white boy is a closet racist.
As for me, I'm just glad we finally voted for the smart guy.
Guys, this whole piece was tongue-in-cheek. She's making fun of white people for their awkwardness.
I for one, as a white person, have tried to avoid this. I walked into the office after voting with an Obama button on my overcoat, and one of the (black) security guards and I started talking. He said he'd figured I was for McCain (I work on Wall Street). Forget how we got there, but I basically said that I didn't talk politics when we shot the shit in the morning because I figured he was sick of white people talking to him about Obama. Biggest laugh I've ever heard.
Try to have a sense of humor, everyone. It will do you some good. Getting outraged about everything all the time has to be exhausting. This article employs a device known as "satire".
I can't believe you all are taking this column at face value--I though it was hysterically funny. She is describing all the boomer liberals who think they are so progressive when they have a conversation with their mailman.
"What WRONG with you people? You have a death wish or something?" gracchus
No.
First: I don't think nuclear war was ever likely to happen no matter who is President. I think "you don't want him on the nuclear button" is just scaremongering nonsense.
Second: I'm Anti-Choice, pro-trade, and believe in a lower corporate tax.
Third: What the last eight years taught me is that undivided government is not a good thing. I'll admit 1994-2000 wasn't too bad really. If I'd had hope one House of Congress was going to go Republican I might have voted for Joe Schriner or something because McCain ran an offensive/horrible campaign.
Scaremongering, perhaps, but in any event I'm sincere. Nonsense, however?
McCain from his public policy statements expressed enthusiasm continuing, or even extending an adventurist foreign policy are not. While I doubt he'd deliberately provoke a nuclear conflict, accidents do happen, and McCain has in past expressed a desire for a more aggressive posture toward both Russia and China, both nuclear-armed powers.
McCain's reaction to the (possibly manufactured)Georgian crisis seemd fairly belligerent. At a slightly lower level of existential threat, the man has joked about bombing Iran.
This is all added to an apparent ignorance of some of the hot zones of the world (he seems unaware of the difference between Sunni and Shia Muslims for example), his self-admittedly hot temper and a fondness for taking risks, some foolish.
Frankly, this strikes me as a recipe for legitmate conern, even if it doesn't concern you. On foreign policy/use of military force, he's not a safe pair of hands. The foreign-policy realists in your own party pretty much agreed with me, judging from what I read before the election.
Meh, will never know so it doesn't really matter now. I just don't feel apologetic about my vote though.
Yet I will admit to being pleased that, so far, most Obama supporters have been quite nice to me. The main exception to that is a few white liberals on a science fiction board I occasionally visit. Lots of thinly veiled "you must not black people or gays" innuendos. I've never encountered that here and I really appreciate it.
I ususally like Mo Dowd--tho she isn't as spot on as Frank Rich--but this piece rebounded a generalization off the slam dunk election elation, and spread it like a tablespoon of frosting on an entire cake.
I had this nagging question: Don't white people interact with black people on any kind of a consistent basis, particularly in more progressive urban areas? Do we always have to have a deeply motivational reason to converse?
Yes and no.
I am always interacting with people of diverse backgrounds because that's what I've always done, that's where I live and work, and it would bore me to hear only one avenue of thought. Let's be honest, though because to ignore or deny the historical magnitude of Obama's election as the first black man in America to reach the level of the presidency is to pretend the rhinocerous in your living room is just a cocker spaniel.
Aware of the largess of this historically,whites--not the Palin rural hillbillies, but most of the electorate who voted for Obama or at least respected his accomplishments and lauded his character--whites, unable to feel what is is like to ascend from slavery to leader of the free world, could only query of blacks what they were experiencing so that they could at least feed off of it and experience a sense of pride in their country. This is real patriotism for them, not some jiveass flagpin, so to that extent, there was a shared excitement that was visceral in every CNN camera shot here and around the world. It was a huge moment and peole felt it like they have other major milestones.
Even if you were to take this column at face value—rather the phenomenon itself, let's say—I just want to point out something.
I've lived in the small-town South my whole life, so I can speak to that; de facto segregation is going strong here. I'm white, I'm pretty young, and I voted for Obama. I've had black coworkers, mostly, and a handful of black friends I can go months without seeing.
Life is like that around here.
While these overtures from white people might be annoying, I'd like to think it's better than silence and tongue-biting. There is too much tension, even these days. I speak generally, of course, but also for myself. I have good intentions, but around black people I can't help but be aware that I'm around black people, that there's a very real chance I'm going to say something dumb.
I guess this is what I'm trying to say: I wish that everyone, blacks and whites and all, could talk more. That's the only way we'll begin to talk freely and understand each other. And this election makes for just another step.
I'm white. After a couple of African-American missionaries came to my door, I almost said something like - hey, isn't it great, we have a black president? But the words didn't come out of my mouth. At first I was sad that I couldn't get them out because I longed for connection, and then I thought I was glad I didn't make a fool out of myself!
I get that this can be condescending, insulting, and such. But I also know that there's a part of me that hopes for more intimacy, more closeness, more just plain old human to human connection across racial lines because something just might be different. It's a vulnerable part of me. It's a part of me that doesn't want to offend, does not want to be rejected. It wants to be respectful, but it has a child's kind of eagerness, not the smarter more careful restraint of a wise adult aware of the implications of just rushing in.
While there are good reasons to be suspicious of that childlike eagerness, I want to be careful with myself to not wholeheartedly agree with the stupidity of white folks rushing in saying foolish things to their black friends or random black people they meet on the street. I think there's something genuine and deeply human in that desire for connection. I don't want to mock the essence of that.
Perhaps us white people need to talk amongst ourselves more about our feelings of hopefulness, about our eagerness, about the freedom that now feels possible for us, too, now that a bi-racial man is in power, to deconstruct the cost racism has been having on our lives, and to give our African-American friends some space. I would love to be a part of that kind of conversation.