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Oct

27

“Middle Americans Are Not Just White, Christian, Working Class Folk”


Excellent post from well-known woman of color blogger, Tami Winfrey Harris of What Tami Said and Anti-Racist Parenting. An excerpt:

The myth of the Midwest is so foolish that I shouldn’t be jealous of being left out of it. But I am, a little. Or maybe jealous isn’t the right word. The obvious, yet ignored, racial bias inherent in identifying who is “authentically American” pisses me right off. I resent that when pundits speak reverentially of Middle America, they exclude me. I — who was born and raised in The Hoosier State, educated in Iowa, and have spent every day of my working life in the Midwest. I — the granddaughter of a steelworker and family farmer. I — whose ancestors came to this country long before those of many media-anointed “authentic Americans.” I don’t count. I don’t count for a variety of reasons, education, and time spent living in urban areas among them, but mostly it is my blackness that is the problem.

Why is it so easy for the Right to paint Barack Obama as both a foreigner and anti-American, despite the fact that he has served the country on a community, state, and national level and is currently running to become president of the United States? It is easy because in the American psyche, whiteness = American, and colored = something else. Back when I was in college, a diverse dining-hall table evoked an interesting comment from a white friend — one of the white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, midwestern, small-town sort. She looked around at the group gathered for lunch, which included several white students, a Hispanic student, a student of Asian ancestry, and myself. “Wow! We’ve got a Mexican, a Chinese person, a black, and three Americans sitting here!” Of course, I pointed out that the people of color at the table were Americans too. All of us were born and raised in the United States. “Well, you know what I mean,” she countered offhandedly. I do know what she meant. She meant that, even in the minds of some good people who mean well, America is synonymous with baseball, apple pie, Chevrolets, and whiteness.

Please go read this column in its entirety and leave a comment if you’re so moved.  Also, if you like Tami’s thought process and writing, check out her blogs.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:04 pm October 27th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Campaigning, Elections, John McCain, Midwest, Sarah Palin, Social Issues, Voting, WH2008 

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