gruzchiki spb…

gruzchiki spb…

he lost because he and his family were shady, bumbling buffoons who tried one trick too many

Anonymous(es),
Ford “grandmother” issue is not one. Apparently Vera’s own children haven’t decided whether or not she was “White.” So I know you don’t know.

Surely you mean that Ford has to be married to a Black woman to win statewide office in TN, and not in general.

I work my day job at an HBCU. They know I’m affiliated with JR there. After the campaign, three of the women working there sat down around me and all said that he (JR) should have been married. They never said that it had to be a Black woman, one addressed that point in fact (that he didn’t have to be married to a Black woman, though I’m sure she knew the potential effects).

Thing is, not many African American women here were talking about, if they’d heard about them at all, rumors of Ford only dating White women, etc. However, some people tried to float some rumors early in the general election. Nothing got traction until the Call Me ad.

Ford enjoyed overwhelming support among African American voters. They (we) had already decided who they would support very early, and those undecideds who broke for Corker as a result of the ad were most assuredly not African American.

This Booker rising is nonsense.

IF he aspires to higher office, Senator, maybe Governor, down the line, possible VP candidate – then he must get married, and it must be a Sista. Married and with children by the next time he runs for office.

IF he decides that he’s through with public office, and is going to go corporate…then he can have all the White women he chooses.

But, he’ll not go any further without being married.

You can be divorced…means that you took the leap and got married. But voters, those ‘ family values’ folks, wanna see a 35+ year old man married, with family.

Most African American women have grown up having the image of white women as the standard of beauty constantly thrust in our faces. So when a successful brother leaves his a good black woman for a random white chick we feel dissed, plain and simple.

To those of us who are still seeking someone, like many of my beautiful, successful friends are, that dissed feeling can turn to outrage. And yes, I beleive it’s a rage powerful enough to affect a vote.

Anyone who thinks it is ridiculous that an issue like this could come into play really ought to remember that most of America felt Clinton rightly deserved to be forced out of office. Over a bj. So black women aren’t the only ones who make political decisions based on a politician’s personal life.

I agree with Christopher – my husband and I were just discussing this, actually – Ford needs a wife if he expects to get anywhere politically. And he needs a sister.

Nothing against interracial marriages on a case by case basis, my husband is mixed – but can you imagine Tennessee’s reaction to Harold Ford Jr. with his bottle blonde wife and mulatto kids?

He really ought to know better.

To the thought that racial politcs is fading, I beg to differ. That said, I think the game is changing rapidly. Thanks for all the great comments, y’all. I’m digging it.

Lastly, I want to add that there are a combination of factors at play that has yet to be addressed in the discussion of the disparity in interracial relationships between black men and black women. These factors lie at the intersection of sexism and racism especially as it relates to black women, such that black women are obligated to maintaining black marriages and subsequently black marriages, more so than black men. Black women for centuries have had the label “keepers of black culture as focal progenitors of the black race” imposed upon them such that the very concept of dating interracial is almost an anathema. This issue has been shrouded under the guise of “protecting sexuality and reproduction of black identity”, when, in reality, black identity is complex and multi-faceted. The idea that when black women marry non-black men, their children will loose legitimacy as black children because they will be mixed which completely misses that black identity in the United States has always been inclusive of the mixed experience. So this idea of black women procreating the black race should not be just be taken for face value.

As for Obama, his wife is definitely an asset for him – smart, intelligent, down to earth – she’s a Sista on top of her game, and Obama’s lucky to have her. If Harold had the equivalent, he might very well be a Senator-elect now.

Keep snowflake in the open if snowflake’s a good person and hard campaign worker. Look, I heard some fool (it may have been an ally of Booker Rising) take the Obama thing even further…that Obama’s wife is “darker skinned and not very glamorous” is an “asset.” Huh?

Look, and Hal got as far as he did in the state where the KKK was born should be good enough for us now. Close does count here, as Corker is going to have to sweat everything he says and does.

I’ve said all of that to say this; we have still to come up with tangible means of understanding why some black men are marrying white women. Of course there is an endogamous (black men + black women) disparity between black men (more likely to out marry) than black women (less likely to out marry). However, in terms of proportion of black marriages; black men are still marrying black women at a steady rate (please see US Census). Furthermore, interracial marriages between black men and women to people of non-white ethnicities, has been on the increase. Even these data are still not enough to assess how individual black men decide to marry non-black women because there is still not enough qualitative evidence to explain the trend. But I have yet to see a study showing that a majority or even a substantial number of black men have a preference for white women over black women; rather than an finding any woman that is available. I would hope that statements such as “successful black men in favor of white women” can be supported with more than just anecdotal evidence. Because what ends up happening is that these men are ostracized by their communities because they did not show “loyalty by marriage”.

Another thing that noone is talking about is that in Ford’s home district, they elected (hands down) a white man to replace in Congress. This tells me that perhaps racial politics is fading.

On the other hand, had Ford been dark skinned, I have a feeling he would have caught more flack behind it. Ford is kinda/sorta seen as ‘non-black’