Obama is an Authentic African American

One of the insidious rituals any high-profile African American must endure in order to establish his or her credibility with some other African Americans is show that they are "down with the brothers and the sisters."

See, you can't just be a Fortune 500 CEO, politician, civil rights activist or journalist who happens to be African American. In order to be fully accepted and embraced, you are required to show your "ghetto card" at the entrance of the black gates of Black America. Otherwise, you are forced to stand outside, proving your worthiness to the masses as if you are a sinner trying to convince Saint Peter that you are good enough to get to heaven.

This may be surprising to many of my white readers, and my black readers may get offended and accuse me of airing our dirty laundry, but this type of silliness has been seen time and time again. And as it relates to U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's decision to run for president, some are already demanding that he prove himself to the peeps.

While preparing for a segment in which I discussed his presidential chances on CNN's "Paula Zahn NOW," I read the transcript from a San Francisco radio show where a co-host said that Obama has to work overtime to get blacks to trust him because he doesn't have a "hood" experience. The other co-host went on to say that because Obama didn't grow up impoverished on the streets of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas or in the northern slums of Chicago, New York City or Boston, he can't truly identify with the black experience in America.

Because his mother is white and his father is Kenyan, and because he grew up in Hawaii (that's still the United States for the map-challenged folks) and Indonesia, his blackness is somehow under review.

No doubt this comes as a surprise to some, but this is the kind of nonsense that is pervasive in black communities nationwide, and yes, there will be those folks on the campaign trail and who call into radio talk shows and make similar statements.

On one hand, Obama has to convince skeptical white voters that he can do the job, even though he is an African American, because of their biases. On the other hand, he must convince skeptical black voters that he isn't some white creation who appears to be black, but if elected, will crush the aspirations and dreams of black folks once in the White House.

Don't think for a second that I'm making this up. I've already started receiving the e-mails and phone calls on my radio show on WVON-AM in Chicago, so there are some nut jobs who have taken this position.

This is offensive because anyone who has ever sat down and listened to Obama can tell that he fully understands what it means to be African American — because he is!

Now, for the people who question his race, I wonder how many of them will claim Obama as one of their own if he wins the White House? These are likely the same people who screamed with joy when that talented and fine sister, Halle Berry, won the Academy Award.

Was she questioned, considering her mom is white and her dad is black? Are these the same folks who clapped loudly when Mariah Carey took home Grammy after Grammy, but refused to admit that her makeup is similar to that of Obama? Could it be that these brothers and sisters claim Tiger Woods as one of their own when he is winning major golf championships, even though he considers himself a "Cablanasian," a combination of Caucasian, black and Asian?

We have reached the day when black folks are going to have to quit forcing others to pass a black test to establish their worthiness.

Every black person in America doesn't have a "hood" experience. They all don't have the same story of their father leaving them as a child, having to grow up in a single-parent home in a public housing complex, their brother on welfare and sister twice pregnant by the age of 18. We all didn't belong to the Crips or Bloods and didn't have to fight our way out of the gang in order to go to college. No, we all didn't grow up in the black church, singing "Precious Lord" and memorizing the speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We shouldn't assume that every black person had to work three jobs to pay their way through college.

Segregation no longer limits where we live, work and play. So if Jim Crow is dead, why do we allow the system to continue to pervade our minds?

The day has come when we judge a black man or woman for who they are, where they stand on issues and what they believe in. If Obama offers a political agenda that speaks to the needs of African Americans, good. If he chooses to offer one that is broad and more universal, that doesn't make him any less of an African American (truth be told, Obama is more African American than most of us can claim. At least his father hails from the Motherland, while his mom is an American).

There is too much work to be done to raise the collective black community in the areas of education, economics and healthcare. And worrying about whether Obama or anyone else is black enough to do so should not be a part of the dialogue.

Roland S. Martin is the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives On Faith." Please visit his Web site at www.rolandsmartin.com. To find out more about Roland Martin and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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