Authenticity

Barack Obama has been accused of not being “black” enough. Because the senator is the son of immigrants and not a descendant of slaves, the argument goes, he lacks the perspective of most African-Americans. His experience is not “authentic”. (If whites followed this thinking, they would have to trace their lineage to the Mayflower in order to be President.) From Time:

"Obama's mother is of white U.S. stock. His father is a black Kenyan," Stanley Crouch recently sniffed in a New York Daily News column entitled "What Obama Isn't: Black Like Me." "Black, in our political and social vocabulary, means those descended from West African slaves," wrote Debra Dickerson on the liberal website Salon.

Barack Obama’s parents wanted to be here. What people want, they treasure, and what they treasure, they’ll look after. If his parents had any influence over his attitudes, that’s a plus in my book.

The weather in Austin has been clear, slightly cooler and drier than in the Bay Area. The first day of the company conference has been devoted to planning meetings, so there hasn’t been much time to enjoy the sun. Last night I over-indulged at the barbecue. Gotta learn to pace myself. I’m not 40 any more. © 2007 Stephen Yuen

Not in California Part II: we raced armadillos at the barbecue.