I saw that, but didn’t want to give it any pub as a post.

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/Obama%20Button0001.JPG

Obama is going to show the young men and women of African descent that if it can happen in this country, their pride and staying strong may pay off as well.

It was a big deal when a black man was given a job on a mainstream news channel. Ethnicity is not “recognized” in France and benefits and such are tied to recognition.

That’s why so many are fighting to be recognized as ethnic groups. it is a fascinating dynamic and the struggle continues.

This is stuff that our media fails to cover on a continuous basis. In some way, it tends to isolate other black people from each other. I mean, really, pardon us from getting ideas from what’s happening in other countries…

That’s why it pays to watch the BBC at times, but even its American version sometimes scrubs nearly all ‘bad’ news, unless it is too big not to cover.

Anyway, I certainly do remember this cat at the book fair saying that we don’t see half of the disturbances that have occurred in France that involve not only job discrimination, but surveillance and police harassment and shootings that mirror those here in the U.S.

The breaking point is about to occur, I believe. Europeans, like Brazilians, like Germans and like British are going to have to come up with the goods as well, not just BS about equality.

I read an article recently by a German columnist (rendered into English) that said that as Obama reaches the Oval Office, so must the peoples of color who are just as German, French or Scandinavian as the next white version. They must be ministers, representatives, even prime ministers and presidents of their respective nations. The European identity must be inclusive. The author wondered aloud how European whites would accept these challenges:

Suddenly we would have to ask ourselves questions we have never asked before. Indeed – what would it mean to us if the child or grandchild of an African became a candidate for the chancellorship? The answer is a recognition that unless we want a society in which skin color predetermines the awarding of offices and influence, much of Europe will have to change its mindset.

When they say the whole world is waiting on President Obama, I’m convinced that it IS indeed all the world.

I was talking to a random lady on he public transportation system last night…She is a 65-year old African America…She is an educator…She says the little/young kids are even more ecited than she is about Obama…

Amazing!

T.

I can attest to the fact that blackness/brownness is invisible here in the political discourse UNLESS it’s about regulating black/brown bodies – for example if they even have a right to be in the country, what sorts of jobs they should have, where they should live, who they can marry (and when) and even what they should wear (Denmark recently had a wave of headscarf banning) Stuff goes on here – almost unquestioned – that I think only the civil rights generation could relate to. I’m mixed and didn’t know racism could get worse until I came here.

People of color in Denmark have either given up or are knocking themselves out to assimilate – I hope this gives them the audacity to hope! I know Obama’s done that for me