I’m more than sure that most readers are now familiar with the comments made by Sen. Harry Reid regarding President Obama. If not, a new book about the 2008 campaign quotes Mr. Reid as predicting that Mr. Obama could become the country’s first black president becausehe was “light-skinned” and had “no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”
But are we surprised by any of these comments? As someone who survived Chicago politics and has navigated his way to the highest political office of the land, I’m sure President Obama has heard and endured much worse. And might I add that I actually agree with Sen. Reid. His words have opened a discussion about racial attitudes in America and how African Americans are viewed and judged and how we view and judge ourselves. Americans and blacks in general find lighter-skinned African Americans more socially acceptable than those with darker skin, especially if they speak eloquently.
“As an African American who is light skinned with so called curly hair, that represents my proximity to white culture. I am treated far differently than African American people with natural hair, and darker skin,” said Michael Eric Dyson, professor of sociology at Georgetown University. Retired Gen. Colin Powell has even said that among the reasons for his success among whites are that “I speak reasonably well, like a white person” and “I aren’t that black.” I, myself, can speak from personal experience that these statements do have merit. When I transferred to a predominantly white high school, I found that I was often favored for special allowances and positions of stature over my counterparts with more melanin.
There is empirical evidence that both Dyson and Powell are right. Numerous studies indicate that lighter skinned blacks are more likely than dark skinned blacks to be elected to public office and be hired for jobs.
A study by Harvard’s Jennifer Hochschild and the University of Virginia’s Vesla Weaver, “The Skin Color Paradox and the American Racial Order,” found that in looking at all African Americans elected to the House, Senate or governor’s office since 1865, “light-skinned blacks have always been considerably overrepresented and dark-skinned blacks dramatically underrepresented as elected officials.”
Matthew Harrison, a professor at the University of Georgia, looked at the question of hiring prejudices when it came to African Americans. In his study, “Colorism in the Job Selection Process: Are There Preferential Differences Within the Black Race?” Harrison found that dark-skinned African Americans faced a distinct disadvantage when applying for jobs, compared to lighter-skinned applicants.
Michael Steele, the Republican Party chairman, called Sunday for Harry Reid to step down as U.S. Senate majority leader in the wake of revelations of Mr. Reid’s remarks in 2008 about Barack Obama’s skin color and dialect. President Obama said that as far as he was concerned “the book is closed.” If President Obama has wiped the slate clean, should we persecute Sen. Reid for, essentially, “telling it like it is?” Let me know what you think. Leave your comments below.
