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can't walk the walk, it would seem.

I recently read one of the ever-growing list of articles about Obama's run for president. The interviewee was concerned that Obama didn't represent the black population well enough. This man, Rev. B. Herbert Martin, was pleased that the candidate could "engender such enthusiasm from a white audience," but he was concerned about identity issues. "How does he identify himself?" asked Martin, pastor to the late Harold Washington, Chicago's first black mayor. "Will he continue to be an African American, or will he become some kind of new creation?"

The article continued, "The question of how Obama chooses to define and approach race looms large as he moves closer to formally launching his campaign next month . . . it is not clear that his multiracial message can excite black voters hungry for affirmation of their top concerns." Publisher of the Chicago Standard newspapers, Lorenzo Martin, asked, "Who does he represent? That is what people are worried about."

Seems we're going to hear more and more about this. There was just a TV news piece on the very same topic, as I write this. The wrap-up question was, "Is America ready for someone like Obama?"

I can only see thise discussion as a good thing. Though it's not been part of my immediate, obvious heritage, I come from a long line of maternally mixed race people. They were so intermixed that they were their own people. This doesn't give me a hands-on understanding of how it is to live with dark skin in a world that often caters to white skin, but it indicates that I can relate stories of family members who understood this sad reality of history. I don't disavow that the horrors of racism or wrongs committed against blacks in the name of the white man still happen. They do. But I want to be able embrace my black brothers and sisters, and any others that may show up in my background, as my next door neighbor, my daughter-in-law, or my president, and I want to be able to do that without me, or them, being seen as going against any certain group of people . . . just because of skin color.

I see Obama as a logical model of cohesion, of healing, of bringing us all together, rather than continuing to force us apart . . . an act being done, frankly, as much by the black population as the white population. He represents the HUMAN RACE, fercryinoutloud! I repeat my question, yet again. How is it that he has to "continue to be an African American," as opposed to being a man of mixed race heritage who is able to cross racial barriers?

Why is that not as important, or more so? This is what makes Barak Obama so valuable a candidate. If truth be told, it's what created the buzz about him in the first place. He can mix because he is mixed. He knows both sides and can legitimately empathize. What's so wrong with that? He's not a smart man because he's black. He's not a smart man because he's white. He's a smart, gifted individual because of the sum total of his heritage, his education, and his environment.

He is what he is because he is.

Learn more about this author, Linda Alexander.
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