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| 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?
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dtrice@tribune.com.
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Clarification/Follow-up by tomder55 on 11/22/04 1:04 pm:
I think Obama has a fine future. The White House intends to approach him to see if they can wrk together for some bi-partisan legislation.
Clarification/Follow-up by Choux on 11/22/04 2:31 pm:
Sorry CeeBee, I thought Tom made the post.
Clarification/Follow-up by Itsdb on 11/23/04 9:14 am:
>>The columnist claims 89% of blacks don't feel connected to President Bush. Why not?<<
I wish I could answer that CeeBee, it's a phenomenon I don't understand. John H. McWhorter, in this article at City-Journal.org put it this way, "As an African-American, I was raised in a tradition in which voting Republican was simply not done, and in my mature life I have—traditionally—voted Democratic or Independent." He also hints that blacks "vote as victims rather than as individuals", which plays into Democrat hands even if it's contrary to their best interests.
So I suppose if you have a victim mentality and are raised to not vote Republican then you'd feel disconnected to Bush...especially when your leadership doing everything they can to persuade you to fear him.
Steve
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
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