| Written by Danny Bakewell Jr., (President & Executive Editor), on 03-06-2008 00:00 |
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I recently received a letter from one of our readers who lives in Marina Del Rey. The person (whose name I don’t want to give out) sent me what looks like a chain letter entitled Obama’s Blackness, the person wanted me to verify if the attached email was true or was not true. In this CRAZY email the author was questioning Senator Obama’s Blackness. The author of the email came up with some outlandish formula using Federal Laws defining minority status, a definition of the African Negro and on and on and on. The basis of the email was a claim that Barack Obama was only 6.25 percent African Negro and that he was not entitled to claim or receive any benefits entitled for African Americans. The person also came up with some ridiculous calculation that Obama is 50 percent White, 43.75 percent Arabic/Egyptian and 6.25 percent African. Lastly, this person claimed that if you check the Kenyan Governments own records you would discover that Senator Obama’s father is listed as an “Arab African”. To all of this information, to all of you who receive emails like this and to the person that first created this email I say to you STOP IT! These types of claims are ridiculous, and meant only to divide the very unification that Senator Obama has been inspiring in this country since he first launched his campaign for the Presidency of these United States. Lets not get caught up in some person who really does not care about us and there definition of African Negro, African American, Arab African or whatever you want to call it. All of these terms were created to divide us as a people either in slavery or in some case within our own country in Africa. That is why in South Africa, the apartheid divided the country into White, colored and Black. That is why within our own community we get caught up in things like light skinned, good hair, Creole etc. The truth is we are all Black People, we have all suffered from the same racial discrimination, we have all suffered from the same brutality and it is only together that we will rejoice in the same victories. I beg of all of you, to help end this type of divisiveness within our own community, embrace Senator Obama for who and what he is, an African American Man standing on the verge of leading the country not because of the color of his skin but because of the content of his character. Oh, yea and by the way... to the person who tried to be so educated when they wrote this email about Obama’s Blackness. Someone should explain to them Egypt is a part of Africa and therefore Obama is truly the demonstration of an African (his father is from Kenya, West Africa) + American (his mother is from Kansas) = African American...and therefore would make Barack Obama America’s First African American President. So, whether you agree or disagree, now more than ever I really need your input. I need to hear from you. I need to know what is going on in our community. I also need to know what other stories we need to tell, and what is on your mind. I really do want to hear from you, I want you to “Talk to Danny.” Sincerely,
Danny J. Bakewell, Jr.
President & Executive Editor
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