Biden, Others Miss Point

Malena Amusa

Biden, Others Miss Point

Sen. Biden.jpg

Comments made by Sen. Joseph Biden D-from Delaware about Sen. Barak Obama and ultimately, black Americans may have ruined his presidential aspirations.

According to Biden, who this week announced his run for president, Obama was “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.” He said it straight-up, with no fumbling or jumbling of his words. He was “quoted accurately,” he said.

What’s worse is that Biden, who’s known for his purple prose in Congress, unapologetically defended his racist comments, calling Obama a phenomenon on Comedy Central’s Daily Show.

This is the same man who said last year the Indian population in his state was increasing rapidly — “you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.”

This is also the same man who was thrown off the campaign trail in 1988 (when he faced Rev. Jesse Jackson, another well-spoken and bright black man) for stealing part of a British politician’s speech.

But what’s ultimately concerning is the inability of media to frame Biden and people like Michael Richards, star of Kramer-Gate 2006 in the same picture. What Biden said burned of a destructive mentality that sees smart black people as exceptions as opposed to the rule. Or that don’t associate the number of successful blacks people with their blackness. In this day and age, there are few Firsts. So to say Obama is the first smart black public figure is not only historically ridiculous, but also a painful un-memory of people like Ida B. Wells, Sojourner Truth, Fredrick Douglas, Marcus Garvey, Dred Scott, WEB Du Bois, Gwendolyn Brooks, and many others, both big names and small that truly reveal the resilience and intelligence of our communities.

With too few leaders, and not just black leaders, holding Biden accountable, what could we expect from him as the powerful man in the nation, if not the world?

Posted at 9:25 AM, Feb 02, 2007 in News | Permalink | View Comments

Comments

Does your remark about accountability mean that you found Obama's own response insufficient? Did Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton let him off the hook? That's entirely possible, but I'm a little confused about who you are criticizing -- beyond Biden himself, of course.

Are you just criticizing the media for not pursuing the story? From what I've seen, Biden's racism entirely dominated the day's coverage of his announcement, from the Drudge Report to the New York Times. So if you're not criticizing the extent of the coverage, you must be criticizing the quality of it. I agree with you that the quality of the coverage left something to be desired, but could you explain what exactly you felt was missing?

Obama's response was mild mannered at best and indicative of his desire to avoid alienating white voters by going off on Biden. Remember, Obama is more a colorblind man than a race man. Those supporting him --Jackson and Sharpton--
realize this, and act accordingly.

As for the national media response to Biden, it was effusive, but things that tend to overwhelm the mainstream media often lack the rigor of critical contextualization.

Reporters talked with Sharpton and Jesse who dismissed Biden due to his inaccuracy, instead of calling him out for his searing dismissal of the mainstream contributions of black people and his hapless repackaging of age-old racist stereotypes.

I think that difference is subtle, but important.

He just got caught thinking out loud. His sentiments are very common amongst white people, particularly those who rarely ever mix with black people.

What Senator Biden probably meant by the term "articulate" was that Obama had never been caught plagiarizing a paper in law school and was therefore never forced to drop out of a campaign for a political office.

Obviously it's a measure of respect for a standard he wishes he could have set for himself.

LOL. I think you may be right!