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Black Enough?

Barack Obama's run for President has stirred up a divisive debate among many blacks... what does it mean to be black enough?

By Antwan Lewis, Reporter

November 5, 2007

One year from tonight... we should know who Americans have elected as our next President. And as WGN's Antwan Lewis reports... this year... the diversity of choices has created a different political debate.

It started back in February with a remark by Senator Joe Biden about Barack Obama. Biden called Obama... "articulate, bright, and clean." Biden's words were a catalyst for discussions about black stereotypes. But, it also opened some sore subjects for many black Americans.... namely... does Obama's mixed race heritage make him black enough?

Jesse Jackson: "...for the Presidency of the United States of America."

Rev. Jesse jackson... Carol Mosely Braun... Shirley Chisholm and Rev. Al Sharpton... all African-Americans who have sought the highest office in the United States.

Obama announcing Feb. 10, 2007-"My candidacy for the United States of America...

Yet when Illinois Senator Barack Obama announced his bid for President... it set off a national debate that escaped his predecessors... a debate about being "Black enough."

Antwan Lewis: For many African Americans... questions about being "Black enough" extend beyond political perceptions. It speaks to a subject that is still very sensitive within the black community.

Dr. Ken Warren/University of Chicago "Part of the history of this phrase has to do with what audience expectations are."

Dr. Ken Warren is a scholar of African-American studies at the University of chicago. he feels the debate surrounding senator obama's blackness is based in history... dating back to the 1800's and frederick douglas- a mixed race, well educated, abolitionist.

Dr. Ken Warren/University of Chicago "The audience that they were trying to persuade to the evils of slavery...might not be as persuaded because he wasn't conventionally black enough."

Antwan standup: "For many African Americans, questions about being black enough extend beyond political perceptions. It speaks to a subject that is still very sensitive within the black community."

Michael White (no super mos) "Some people just think if you act a certain way you're not black enough."

Nabeel Ebeit (no super mos) "I think people have certain expectations of what a black man or woman should look like, sound like, act like these are often based on stereotypes...."

Lucille Conway: (no super mos) "What is is that's expected other than who we are?"

It goes back to the days of slavery...when plantation owners placed dark-skinned slaves in the fields... while those with light skin worked in the house. this led to prejudice within the black race and a perception that light skinned slaves were superior.

Lucille Conway... "My grandfather was a sharecropper..."

Retired Chicago banker Lucille Conway grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. Though she's never experienced inner racial prejudice herself... she knows it exists.

Lucille Conway: "Sometimes you can see that another person of lighter skin will look at you with the brown skin... thinking that they are better."

Cliff Kelley/WVON Radio Host "Sometimes I was too black and other times, not black enough."

Former Chicago Alderman turned radio broadcaster Cliff Kelley is light skinned and knows the skin color tension quite well. Like the darker Lucille Conway, he wishes it would go away.

Cliff Kelley: "We need now, more than ever... (edit) ....to bring about some sort of cohesiveness because of the fact time's passing. (edit) "You're either going forward or backward... we are regressing."

Case in point, this recent story out of Detroit.... a black nightclub DJ offering free club admission only to light skinned black women. The nationwide uproar caused the event to be cancelled.

"African Americans today ...younger people...who, for whatever reason, don't know the history."

nats-1965-Selma, Alabama March: "This march will not continue...

The history that the Civil Rights movement was based on equality... not the hue of one's skin.

The history that as long as there is racism, re-opening old wounds will not bring about healing... for blacks or any other race... particularly in a country where the only thing that matters in it's leader...is who's American enough.

Cliff Kelley: "I think that we will get it together."

Lucille Conway: "It does sadden me to think about in 2007 that we are concerned about black and white rather than being concerned about mankind."

Ken Warren "The problem here is this discussion about whether or not (edit) Obama being black enough ... is largely a distraction."

Antwan: In addition to stereotypes and skin color... there's yet another issue feeding the "Black enough" debate. Barack Obama's mother is white and his father... Kenyan. So he has a direct connection to Africa... and is not a descendant of slaves. But that's a whole new Cover Story that we've just started working on for a later date.