Question Details	Asked By	Asked On
Condoleezza Rice, Part 2	CeeBee2	11/22/04
Dawn Turner Trice Impact of Rice's 'first' fizzles among blacks Chicago Tribune Published November 22, 2004 A good friend was at an airport in Nashville last week when she learned that President Bush had asked National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to become our country's next secretary of state. Like Rice, my friend is a 50-year-old African-American woman who grew up in the segregated South, was very well educated and had opportunities that exceeded even her parents' grand dreams. While still in the airport, my friend promptly typed an e-mail message to me on her Blackberry. In short, it said: As a black woman, why am I not excited about Rice's historic achievement? If confirmed, she will be the first African-American woman to hold that post. Why am I not jumping up and down in the aisles? Well, part of the reason a number of us aren't giddy with excitement is because Rice, however brilliant, however accomplished, is in lockstep with a president whose policies many African Americans--if you consider the 89 percent who voted against him--don't support. So it's no wonder why some blacks haven't felt the spirit to jump up and down as a result of the nomination. What I think is probably more interesting--and something I sensed within myself and in the e-mail--is that we still want to jump. We still want to experience that giddiness, that sense of pride we've felt in the past when people who look like us achieve some momentous first or some other measure of greatness. And we're disappointed when we don't. Why do we want to jump? Well, why does any group want to jump? Why do we as Americans find ourselves cheering for our countrymen in the Olympics when all we know we have in common with a particular athlete is that we live under the same flag? The answer is connection. When a person with whom we feel a real connection accomplishes something, their achievement makes those common cells of our DNA tingle. We feel exuberant and uplifted. And while there are these inspirational veins that run throughout the body of the larger community, there are others that pump this feeling of excitement in a much more contained and localized way. Catholics felt a great sense of pride when one of their own became president. The Latino community, I am sure, feels it when one of their own favorite sons or daughters takes their place in positions of leadership and power. This connection doesn't come without a price, though. As we tie our hopes and dreams to those on the rise, it's hard to disentangle ourselves whenever they fall. The African-American community long has been lifted by tying itself to its champions, leaders and heroes. In a multimedia world, which often shows the black community in its worst light, we have stars and rising stars, from Oprah to Obama, that supply their own light and shine brightly. And although we have learned the hard way that pinning our hopes on these bold but breakable human beings can be demoralizing when they fall, we are more willing than ever to do it again. So why aren't we jumping up and down for our sister Condoleezza? Despite what many may think, it's not simply because she's a Republican. While most blacks didn't announce it, the black community tied its heart to Rice's predecessor, Colin Powell. He is a fiscal conservative who, despite his party's platform, supported gun control, abortion rights, affirmative action and separation of church and state. As a diplomat, he worked hard to put Africa on the map. As Powell soldiered on in various Republican administrations, he may have marched with a different political party than most blacks are associated with, but we never felt he was walking away from us. In the black community, we expect something in return from our leaders. And I don't mean in the way that, say, a Halliburton expects a little something-something from having a friendly face in the vice president's chair. We expect our leaders to be role models for our sons and daughters. We want to be able to say, "You, too, can reach great heights and break through with hard work and perseverance." But if your children became all they wanted to be but forgot where they came from, would you be jumping up and down? ---------- dtrice@tribune.com.
Clarification/Follow-up by Yiddishkeit on 11/23/04 11:57 am: Tom- [concerning your comments] Hard work and perserverance allows ANYONE the opportunity to go forward with whomever they choose to support or work with. The majority of the African American community chose to support a Democratic ticket. Nobody is questioning Condoleeza's work ethics, education, or the hardships of her black heritage. It's very simple most blacks are not supporting of a Republican administration. Bobby
Answered By		Answered On
Yiddishkeit		11/22/04
The bottom line is that Condolezza (even if she was ghost white as a sheet) will remain within GW's policy guidelines and do as she has been briefed. As for GW he could paint himself pitch black, perform like Al Jolson, and hand select five more African Americans to his staff and the Republicans still wouldn't put a dent in the Democrats eighty-nine percent black community suppport. Why? Well perhaps blacks feel that Rice has sold them out and if so I can relate to that, because ironically I feel the same way about non-black Republicans. For the record I'm a white man of part European Jewish heritage with brown hair and blue eyes, some Irish and Cherokee Indian mixed in as well. In our lifetime, if you and I are so fortunate, we will witness the abolishment of corporation slavery. In conclusion, I feel the same way that Dawn Turner Trice does, in that George W. Bush doesn't represent me personally and neither does Condoleeza Rice. Bobby

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