Biden "clean black" comment

[EricaKane70]

Not only did he offend African americans that previous ran for president, but he also seemed to apply that black people weren't clean in an honest sense. I don't think he is racist. I agree with the poster that said racism(and now discrimination) is rearing its ugly head in the new millenium whether it be on purpose or by accident.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/20...08_x.htm?csp=34

[DrewH]

I heard about this and in all honesty, I don't think he meant anything racist about it. I think he could have chose his words A LOT better.

[winterguy125]

I agree, I don't think he meant anything by it either.

[EricaKane70]

I know he didn't, but like you said he should of chosen his words better. His comments seem very bizzarre to me, even if he had said it to a white person. I in no way think he is a racist, I think the word racist gets thrown around too much in the African American community, when really all you have to do is ask the person what they meant by whatever they said unless it was something derogratory like the N-word and then I would think that person was a racist.

[Danni]

There are a few hidden meanings behind his remark of clean. The ones I picked up on are:

a. He's not politically dirty like all other black politicians . Marion Barry does not represent the black community, thankyouverymuch.

b. He's well-put together for a black man, like somehow all black men are incapable of wearing suits and looking presentable.

Then there's the whole articulate comment that Bush made about Obama as well, which annoys me just as much.

[Brandeis]

It's definitely a paternalistic and condescending compliment. I believe he just didn't realize he has to try harder to get over whatever racism still exists within him. We need to expect better than this from our leaders and elected officials.

[Bree]

He says he was taken out of context, but it was still stupid.

My coworker has some friends who know him, and they don't like him. Even if he hadn't said that comment, I don't think I'd vote for him. I really know nothing about him.

But this is nowhere as startling as what Obama has said in his book about whites. Let's put it this way, being biracial has not been easy for him, and this campaign isn't going to help, with the media focused more on his skin color than where he stands on issues and his contribution to politics. I feel for him.

[Brandeis]

Bree, could you give us an example of what Obama said?

[Kwing42]

I would appreciate someone calling me clean...he was not talking clean as in bathing, he was talknig clean in terms of politics. Good lord, give the guy a break. Every word is put under a damn microscope these days and its rather disturbing!

And Danni did you ever stop to think that when he was referring to clean as is NOT politcally dirty that he meant because he has only been in Congress for two years and it has NOTHING to do with race, or are you so color blind that everything is a racial attack?

[Danni]

Kwing, reading comprehension is your friend.

In any case, it still is a racially backhanded remark like somehow Obama's some special exception to the whole mentality that black people are stupid, inarticulate, incapable of being put together, and politically dirty.

Here's a nice article that delves into why it's a big deal.

An Inarticulate Kickoff

By Eugene Robinson

Friday, February 2, 2007; Page A15

What is it, exactly, that white people mean when they call a black person "articulate"?

I'll leave it to Joe Biden to explain (or figure out) why he used "clean" as one of a logorrheic string of adjectives describing his Senate colleague Barack Obama. I'm not sure his initial revision and extension of his remarks -- that he meant "clean as a whistle" -- get him off the hook. Just a suggestion, but Biden might fall back to "clean as the Board of Health," meaning sharply dressed; the last time I saw Obama he was, indeed, wearing an impeccable navy suit.

For anyone who missed it, Biden explained Obama's appeal as a presidential candidate by calling him "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." He was talking to a reporter for the New York Observer, who recorded the interview; an audio clip was soon posted on the Internet.

There was a sharp reaction, mostly focused on Biden's incomprehensible reference to personal hygiene. The Rev. Al Sharpton, a one-time presidential candidate, said that when Biden called him to apologize, " I told him I take a bath every day."

For my part, I never made it past "articulate," a word that's like fingernails on a blackboard to my ear. As it happens, President Bush used that same word Wednesday to describe Obama. "He's an attractive guy. He's articulate," Bush told Fox News.

Will wonders never cease? Here we have a man who graduated from Columbia University, who was president of the Harvard Law Review, who serves in the U.S. Senate and is the author of two best-selling books, who's a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, and what do you know, he turns out to be articulate. Stop the presses.

It's interesting that Obama's reaction dealt solely with the A-word. "I didn't take Senator Biden's comments personally, but obviously they were historically inaccurate," he said in a statement. "African-American presidential candidates like Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton gave a voice to many important issues through their campaigns, and no one would call them inarticulate."

Maybe he heard the screech on the blackboard, too.

Yes, I'm ranting a bit. But before you accuse me of being hypersensitive, try to think of the last time you heard a white public figure described as articulate. Acclaimed white orators such as Bill Clinton and John Edwards are more often described as eloquent.

What's intriguing is that Jackson and Sharpton are praised as eloquent, too -- both men are captivating speakers who calibrate their words with great precision. But neither is often described as, quote, articulate. Apparently, something disqualifies them.

Condi Rice is another story. Regular readers know that I think this administration's foreign policy is wrongheaded and dangerous. But I leap to Rice's defense when I hear people say, in the most patronizing tone, that she's soooooo articulate. What on earth do they expect? The woman has served as provost of Stanford University, national security adviser and secretary of state. Think maybe she ought to be able to speak in complete sentences?

I realize the word is intended as a compliment, but it's being used to connote a lot more than the ability to express one's thoughts clearly. It's being used to say more, even, than "here's a black person who speaks standard English without a trace of Ebonics."

The word articulate is being used to encompass not just speech but a whole range of cultural cues -- dress, bearing, education, golf handicap. It's being used to describe a black person around whom white people can be comfortable, a black person who not only speaks white America's language but is fluent in its body language as well.

And the word is often pronounced with an air of surprise, as if it's an improbable and wondrous thing that a black person has somehow cracked the code. I can't help but think of the famous quote from Samuel Johnson: "Sir, a woman preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all."

Articulate is really a shorthand way of describing a black person who isn't too black -- or, rather, who comports with white America's notion of how a black person should come across.

Whatever the intention, expressing one's astonishment that such individuals exist is no compliment. Just come out and say it: Gee, he doesn't sound black at all.

[EricaKane70]

I find this article interesting, the part about not sounding black. Because I always get accused by black people for sounding too white. Its not something that I do on purpose its just the environment I grew up around, I happened to go to predominantly white schools when I was younger and picked up how they talked plus my black family spoke very articulate. Theres nothing wrong with that, but other black people have a problem with it which I don't understand.

[Roman]

I have also been accused, one too many times, of sounding too "white".

The last time it happened, was at my former place of employment. I was told by a young black woman that I sounded way to white. My response?

"I didn't know that I had to sound illiterate and stupid to sound black. But, I'll remember that next time, ok?"

You see, I think that does a grave disservice to everyone, but especially the black community, when we hold ourselves to a lower standard just to be "real".

That was the last time she ever said that to me, and the last time anyone has said that. As an American citizen, I thought it was my right to speak in the manner that best suits me. And that's what I do. I'll dictate how I sound, and will change not one word, or anything in my voice inflection to please someone who apparently loves sounding like they never graduated kindergarden.....

No matter what their color is.

[Danni]

I don't think it's so much a matter of holding ourselves to a lower standard, but rather we're forced to define ourselves according to white standards. It's a huge divide and conquer tactic, in my opinion. That's why we have code-switching.

[Brandeis]

Danni, you are fascinating and so well informed. I'm glad I agree with most of what you say. If Ididn't and tried to express that difference, I know you'd just blow my argument away (and send me off to study). Keep up the good work. People are listening and some are getting it.

[EricaKane70]

ITA. I feel the same way.