Black Patriotism and President Obama

Right wing extremists, with the support of mainstream media outlets, have begun to challenge the presidential candidates on patriotism. In Barack Obama's case, suggestions of his alleged traitor tendencies are based in racism and xenophobia. The dominant narrative of American history largely privileges white people and ostracizes immigrants.

The pages of common textbooks will tell you that whites founded this nation and that all American presidents have been of European descent. From the same books, you'll learn that blacks were generally servants and had no role in the prosperity of this wealthy nation. Even today, ordinary immigrants are being associated with vicious terrorists. Thus, President Obama is being subjected to a double whammy. Not only is he black, but he is also the son of an immigrant.

Millions of West Africans were brought to the so-called New World against their will and subjected to involuntary servitude for hundreds of years. They were exploited workers who never benefited from the fruits of their own labor. Would it be extreme for the relatively recent descendants of these forced migrants to be a bit unpatriotic?

Although Mr. Obama does not carry the same historical legacy of the majority of African-Americans in this country, dominant culture still places him within the broadly defined racial category of blackness. In America, everyone with one drop of black blood is considered black, regardless of country or ethic origin. For President Obama, that will mean that he is part of a history that is not directly his, but is that of his kindred people of African descent.