Comments on: What Exactly Is "Black Enough"?

Nancy Giles Ponders The Question Everyone Seems To Be Asking

[pv_dude]

I have at least 3/32nd Native Aerican blood in me (maybe more). Should I therefore be called "Indian?" Otherwise: I have British, Dutch, German, French in me, a near "Heinze 57." Obama appears to me to have more "White" in him than "Black." If he wants, or is "Cast" to be Black, so be it. Personally, I call him "Citizen Obama" and will vote for him... he has what it takes!

PV_DUDE

[mburridge-2009]

BRAVA Nancy!
While the quality of CBS Sunday Morning continues to sink towards the lowest common denominator YOU continue to raise consciousness above the amygdala. (troglodytes still thinking fight or flight; us/them)

I am grateful for your rationality. You give me hope, but not faith.

MBurridge

[cas1870]

Thank you Nancy Giles for saying what's been in my mind and on my lips for many, many years! The phrases: "Not black enough," "Acting/taking white," or "White girl trapped in a Black girl's body," are all sayings I've been dealing with from family, friends and total strangers since I was a very small child, before I even knew exactly what a white person was.

Hearing those words, whether they're being directed at me or another black American, angers and saddens me because is shows all too well the internalized self-hatred that still exists within the black community.

I don't know what it will take to get us past this, but if others were affected by your commentary today as I was, I think we're taking a step in the right direction.

Kudos to you!

[joannscott]

Kudos to Ms. Giles on her commentary today. The divisive attitudes of some people that educating themselves is somehow a betrayal of their heritage is extremely self-defeating. What a wonderful, humorous discussion that blasts stereotypes and makes one see the true issues in today's politics. Dirty campaigning isn't new; but one wonders as to what lengths politicians will go to rise above the pack.

Thanks, Ms. Giles, for this commentary and for prior and future Sunday Morning chuckles.

[pshelton3]

Thank you Nancy... Very lucid and needed to be said.

[mseamens-2009]

Wonderful commentary, Nancy Giles!
You never disappoint!
If Barack Obama gets elected, we don't want it because he was 'black enough' or not black enough; we want it because it would mean we are a more enlightened nation, finally and we judge our politicians by their works not their spin.
Besides, do you know how many colors 'crackers' come in?
From a forever fan.

[angiebklyn]

The media continues to ask if Barack is 'black enough'. Well are Hillary, Rudy and John 'white enough'? Has anyone bothered to find out? Where's the check list! Somebody get the clipboard out!

P.S. Black folk are not sitting somewhere in a group asking each other if Barack is 'black enough'. We are well aware that we are comprised of many things including color, class, levels of education, political and religious affiliations. I personally take offense at this question, black people are intelligent enough to go through the same deductions of reason when choosing a candidate as white people are. We will be capable, as individuals, of looking at all of his political and character qualifications and deciding whether or not we vote for him or not. We are not a superficial voting block, we know that many things must be considered when choosing a candidate.

I remember asking several years ago, after watching him in a debate, if Bush was 'intelligent enough' to handle crucial foreign affairs. At the time I got no response, but I guess we all know the answer now.

[yorkinva]

As I listened to Nancy Giles commentary "Black Enough" and proper pronounciation, I was wondering if she would touch on the "axe" rather than "ask" pronounciation and she hit it dead on........King would never "axed" us to march on Washington in 1963 to hear his famous "I Be Havin' A Dream" speech"......hoping Ms. Giles receives only positive feedback....as an educator I am delighted with her report.

[jpdaly1]

I also have to wonder why Ms. Giles didn't write this colomn about Condy Rice? Is there more to being "black enough" than just speech? What "plantation" are we really talking about here? I think it is the one that says blacks can't leave, and that is the liberal plantation.

[dulon21]

A healthy standing applause erupted in my living room this morning. Nancy, my family has always admired your ability to comment clearly and without remorse for the close minded. I want you to know that what you have written here and spoken in your segment are mindful and properly direct. It is about time people of all genetic backgrounds lay claim to a positive common goal instead of trying to carve away their misdirected pile of sand. I am sick of the crying and the moaning that I hear on a constant basis about the %u201Cblack this%u201D or the %u201Cwhite that.%u201D Hooray for you and hooray for the people who listen to this simple prose.

[sweetlisalee]

Bravo, Nancy. I get SO tired of hearing black folks use that "not black enough" term as though intelligence and "blackness" are mutually exclusive. I'm grateful that both of my parents have advanced college degrees and provided me and my five siblings with opportunities to see more of the world and experience diverse cultures. Exposure is the key to a good education, and having had the ability to attend music camps, travel the world as a young woman, etc., has allowed me to dream different dreams ... and live a very different life that if I'd been resticted to what my Detroit upbringing would have allowed.

Barack Obama is poised, intelligent, a family man who adores his wife and children, he's well versed and extremely eloquent. The fact that his mother had the foresight to expose him to different cultures makes him even more valuable because he has learned that there is more to life than just "black," whatever that term even means.

He man possesses a unique combination of talents and we'd be foolish to pass him by simply because his some of his ancestors weren't enslaved. My ancestors were black, Native, Canadian, Irish, British, slaves and enslavers. NONE of that matters ... it does not define the person I CHOOSE to be.

Obama is a phenomenal human being and if black folks are foolish enough to think that Hillary Clinton is more able to related to being black than Obama, thenwe are simply perpetuating the stereotype that "if you're white, you're right."

[karlimhof]

Lieber1881

is the old "lieberman" who probably got thrown off the site and is now back ? sure sounds like him - i'd thought you be already enlisted and off to Eye-rak to fight your Eye-rabs! You know, if we don't stop them there - they're coming here to get you...be a real Bush parrot-patriot!

[pharmgrrrl]

Leiber1881,

Demonizing the Democratic party? I guess I'm more concerned about recent track records than ancient history. Can you please tell me what the republican party is doing to address the shrinking middle class.

And as someone who proports that the Republican Party is a beacon of hope for racial equality (based on your own negative comments about the Democratic Party), it's a little hypocritical to refer to Barak Obama as a Stepin' Fetchit. That's akin to calling him a house n*****. By that remark alone, you reveal your own feelings about race. Disappointing.

[karlimhof]

correspondent Nancy Giles wonders what it means to be "black enough." Is blackness defined by how you talk or by where you grew up?

What makes this correspondent not think that the black community wants the same thing from our politicans as the white community, or asian, or hispanic?

Or that the political considerations (candidates) of the black community could be motivated by "racial identity"?

All Americans want to be told the truth, have their interests respected and attended to, and be assured that responsible leadership is guaranteed!

[nicholassegu]

Dear CBS Sunday Morning,

I'm 34 and I've been getting up to watch CBS Sunday morning since I was a very young man. This Sundays commentary on Barack Obama and being "black enough" was one of the strongest and most intelligent I've ever seen. It was strong enough to make me write in and compliment Miss Giles on her continued contributions and opinion given on Sunday morning.

I hope she has the effect to wake at least one American.

CBS, thank you for keeping and supporting Nancy Giles.


Nicholas Segura
Kansas City, MO

Latino American

[pharmgrrrl]

Sammirose,

I think that this comment applies to the shared experiences of African Americans who may be educated but don't always have the opportunity to be around educated people. That probably includes Condaleeza Rice and Colin Powell. I've been chastised by my own family members over word choice (you don't need to use those big words when you're at home), and how I speak. As an educator, I see African American students do it frequently. It's frustrating, because I believe it only happens because students don't feel that they can learn to speak that way so they punish those who have learned to do it. The problem is generational, and I'm glad that Ms. Giles has taken the time to address it.

[jabbrewocky]

Ms. Giles,

If you run, I'm in.

You make more sense than all the candidates combined.

If you could get Mr. Osgood or Mr. Geist to run with you, you'd be set.

Tom

[sammierose]

Nancy,

What a wonderful editorial! Everything that I have try to say to friends and family all my life, you stated in a 2 minutes editorial. My family raise me as a person first and my color last. When I meet someone for the first time, I am totally color blind and I will always be.Obama is a perfect example of why it's really ridiculous to call out what is black enough and what is not. Life is too short! Lets live life as God intended us to live. We are her to enjoy his beautiful surroundings and to learn what is more important in life. People who are NOT COLOR-BLIND,WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you Nancy Giles Bonder!!!

Roseanne King-Lind
Brooklyn, N.Y.

[jpdaly1]

I wonder if Nancy Giles thinks this applies to Colin Powell and Condy Rice?

[lieber1881]

What exactly is "Stupid Enough"...

A Black guy who evokes the name of Lincoln, yet if he were alive in 1860 he'd oppose a war to free himself.

A Black guy who joins a Racist, Cowardly party - the home of Jefferson Davis, of Nathan Bedford Forrest, of Woodrow Wilson, who was the first President since Lincoln to ban Black Americans from the White House, and who blessed "The Birth of a Nation" - a film that glorified the Klan. The political home of Bilbo, Rankin, Strom Thurmond (he never had the stature in the GOP as he did in the Dems), George Wallace, Lester Maddox, Ross Barnett, Jimmy Carter, and yes, KKK Byrd.

Who by the way is Stupid's friend.

I guess that gives new meaning to the term "Plantation Slave".

Stupid is Steppin' Fetchit Obama, the great grovelling hope of Lib Dems - and of unrepentent Klansmen too.