The Black History of the White House

by Clarence Lusane

  98. Ibid, Garrow, p.558.

  99. Ibid, p. 559.

  100. http://www.yourdiscovery.com/​top-20-ultimate-discovery/​martin-luther-king​-whatif/index.shtml.

  101. See Colin Powell, My American Journey: An Autobiography (New York: Random House, 1995); and Clarence Lusane, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice: Foreign Policy, Race and the New American Century (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006).

  102. Colin Powell, My American Journey (New York: Ballantine, 1995), p. 19.

  103. For more on the racial views of Powell and Condoleezza Rice, see Clarence Lusane, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice: Foreign Policy, Race, and the New American Century (Westport, CT: Prager, 2006).

  104. Jane Mayer, “Whatever It Takes: The Politics of the Man Behind ’24,’” The New Yorker, February 19, 2007. See The New Yorker website: http://www.newyorker.com/​reporting/2007/02/19/070219fa_​fact_mayer?printable=​true#ixzz0f914fO1F.

  105. Ibid, Mayer; and Human Rights Watch “Primetime Torture” project http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/etn/​primetime/index.asp.

  106. Scott Sonner, “Dennis Haysbert: I Helped Pave Obama’s Way,” Huffington Post, July 1, 2008. See Huffington Post website: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/​2008/07/01/dennis-haysbert-i​-paved-o_n_110359.html.

  Chapter 9

  1. Thomas D. Morris, Free Men All: The Personal Liberty Laws of the North: 1780–1861 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1974), pp. 5, 130.

  2. Most of the ancestral data cited here regarding Michelle Obama comes from research by genealogist Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak and researchers at the New York Times. Data cited here comes from that research unless otherwise cited. See Rachel L. Swarns and Jodi Kantor, “In First Lady’s Roots, a Complex Path From Slavery,” New York Times, October 7, 2009.

  3. W. E. B. Du Bois, Black Reconstruction: An Essay Toward a History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860–1880 (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2007) p. 44.

  4. Henry Louis Gates, “Shared Ancestries Revealed,” New York Times, October 8, 2009.

  5. Richard Schneirov and Thomas J. Suhrbur, Union Brotherhood, Union Town: The History of the Carpenters’ Union of Chicago, 1863–1987 (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 1988), p. 156.

  6. Ibid., p. 157.

  7. Ibid., p. 158.

  8. See Mattias Gardell, In the Name of Elijah Muhammad: Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam Durham, NC: Duke Univ. Press, 1996).

  9. The other individual was Republican senator Edward Brooke of Massachusetts (1967–1979).

  10. Shailagh Murray, “A Family Tree Rooted in American Soil: Michelle Obama Learns About Her Slave Ancestors, Herself and Her Country,” Washington Post, October 2, 2008.

  11. Pete Thamel, “Coach With a Link to Obama Has Hope for Brown’s Future,” New York Times, February 16, 2007.

  12. For more on Craig Robinson, see Craig Robinson, A Game of Character: A Family Journey From Chicago’s Southside to the Ivy League and Beyond (New York: Penguin, 2010).

  13. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, “Princeton Educated Blacks and the Black Community,” B.A. thesis, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 1985, pp. 12–13.

  14. BBC, “Interview with Martin Luther King, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/​world_news_america/​7838851.stm. Accessed July 26, 2009.

  15. Ibid.

  16. Ibid.

  17. Ibid.

  18. See David Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (New York: Harper, 2004); and Charles E. Fager, Selma 1965: The March That Changed the South (Boston: Beacon Press, 1985).

  19. Joseph Loftus, “U.S. Tells World of Rights Strife,” New York Times, May 27, 1961.

  20. Barack Obama, “Remarks of Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama Against Going to War with Iraq,” speech at Chicago Anti-War Rally, October 2, 2002. See Organizing for America website: http://www.barackobama.com/​2002/10/02/remarks_of_illinois​_state_sen.php

  21. Robert Freeman, “The Bush Budget Deficit Death Spiral,” Common Dreams, October 22, 2004. See commondreams.org: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1022-26.htm; and “White House Projects Record Deficit for 2009,” CNN, July 28, 2009. See CNN.com http://edition.cnn.com/2008/​POLITICS/07/28/2009.​deficit/index.html.

  22. During the long campaign, Clinton’s changing slogans of change included “Working for Change, Working for You,” “The Strength and Experience to Make Change Happen,” “The Change We Need,” and “Ready for Change, Ready to Lead.” R. Sebastian Gibson, “The Marketing Of Presidential Candidates Using Trademarks and Campaign Slogans,” October 24, 2008, HG.org website: www.hg.org/article.asp?id=5600.

  23. Chuck Todd and Sheldon Gawiser, How Barack Obama Won: A State-By-State Guide to the Historic 2008 Presidential Election (New York: Vintage Books, 2009), p. 10.

  24. Chris Kromm, “Analysis: A New South Rising,” Facing South, November 23, 2008; and Chris Kromm, “Election 2008: The Generation Gap: Young white voters in the South,” Facing South, November 12, 2008.

  25. Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004).

  26. “Hillary’s Team Has Questions About Obama’s Muslim Background,” Insight, January 17, 2007. Republished on WorldTribune.com.

  27. “CNN debunks false report about Obama,” CNN, January 23, 2007; and editorial, “Sticks, Stones and Mr. Obama,” Washington Post, January 28, 2007.

  28. Fox Butterfield, “First Black Elected to Head Harvard’s Law Review,” New York Times, February 6, 1990. www.nytimes.com/1990/​02/06/us/first-black-​elected-to-head-harvard-s-law-review.html.

  29. David Nitkin and Harry Merritt, “A New Twist to an Intriguing Family History: Census Records, Genealogical Research Show Forebears of Obama’s Mother Had Slaves,” Baltimore Sun, March 2, 2007.

  30. See Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates, “Is Obama Black Enough?,” Time, February 1, 2007; Gary Younge, “Is Obama black enough?,” The Guardian, March 1, 2007; and Satta Sarmah, “Is Obama Black Enough?,” Columbia Journalism Review, February 15, 2007.

  31. Stanely Crouch, “What Obama Isn’t: Black Like Me,” Daily News, November 2, 2006.

  32. Debra J. Dickerson, “Colorblind: Barack Obama would be the great black hope in the next presidential race—if he were actually black,” Salon, January 22, 2007. See Salon website: www.salon.com/news/opinion/feature/2007/01/22/obama.

  33. Eugene Robinson, “An Inarticulate Kickoff,” Washington Post, February 2, 2007.

  34. While serving as president of the United States, Obama declared he was “black” in the 2010 U.S. Census. On April 2, 2010, the New York Times published an article about this, saying: “It is official: Barack Obama is the nation’s first black president. A White House spokesman confirmed that Mr. Obama, the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, checked African-American on the 2010 census questionnaire.

  “The president, who was born in Hawaii and raised there and in Indonesia, had more than a dozen options in responding to Question 9, about race. He chose ‘Black, African Am., or Negro.’ (The anachronistic ‘Negro’ was retained on the 2010 form because the Census Bureau believes that some older blacks still refer to themselves that way.)

  “Mr. Obama could have checked white, checked both black and white, or checked the last category on the form, ‘some other race,’ which he would then have been asked to identify in writing.

  “There is no category specifically for mixed race or biracial.” Sam Roberts and Peter Baker, “Asked to Declare His Race, Obama Checks ‘Black,’ ” New York Times, April 2, 2010. See www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/us/politics/03census.html.

  35. In the kind of biographical racial twist that could perhaps only be produced in the United States, the future first black president is related both to former vice president Dick Cheney and to former president Harry Truman. See Bob Neer, Barack Obama for Beginners: An Essential Guide (Hanover,
NH: Steerforth Press, 2008), p. 3.

  36. Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, (New York: Times Books, 1995), p. 44.

  37. The speech was titled “Audacity of Hope,” which became the title of his second bestselling book. Barack Obama, “Audacity of Hope,” Democratic National Convention, Boston, July 27, 2004. See Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2006).

  38. Brian Ross and Rehab El-Buri, “Obama’s Pastor: God Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11,” ABC News, March 13, 2008: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/​DemocraticDebate/story?id=4443788&​page=1.

  39. Adia Harvey Wingfield and Joe R. Feagin, Yes We Can?: White Racial Framing and the 2008 Presidential Campaign (New York: Routledge, 2010), p. 130.

  40. Speech by Malcolm X, December 4, 1963. See http://www.malcolm-x.​org/speeches/​spc_120463.htm

  41. Ross and El-Buri,“Obama’s Pastor.”

  42. For a glimpse of the lines of the debate, see Ishmael Reed, “Going Old South on Obama: Ma and Pa Clinton Flog Uppity Black Man,” Counterpunch, January 14, 2008: www.counterpunch.org/reed01142008.html; and Gloria Steinhem, “Women Are Never Front-Runners,” New York Times, January 8, 2008.

  43. “McCain Responds to ‘Arab’ Epithet at Rally: ‘Obama a Decent Family Man,’ ” October 10, 2008. See Huffington Post: www.huffingtonpost.com/the-​uptake/mccain-responds-​to-arab-a_b_133820.html.

  44. “Racism and Vitriol at Palin Rally in Jonestown, PA,” Salon, October 13, 2008. See Opensalon.com: http://open.salon.com/blog/keystone_progress/​2008/10/13/racism_and_vitriol​_at_palin_rally_in​_johnstown_pa.

  45. Dana Milbank, “Unleashed, Palin Makes a Pit Bull Look Tame,” Washington Post, October 7, 2008.

  46. Dana Milbank, “Rage in the Town of Bethlehem,” Washington Post, October 9, 2008.

  47. Tim Shipman, “Sarah Palin Blamed by the US Secret Service Over Death Threats Against Barack Obama,” The Telegraph (UK), November 8, 2008.

  48. The following articles are sources for all the quotes in this paragraph. Peter Wallsten, “Frank Talk of Obama and Race in Virginia,” Los Angeles Times, October 05, 2008; “GOP Club Offers ‘Obama Bucks’ While Democrats Rib Palin,” Los Angeles Times, October 17, 2008; Helen Kennedy, “GOP Activist DePass Apologizes After Joking on Facebook That Gorilla Is Related to Michelle Obama,” New York Daily News, June 15, 2009; Tony Barboza, “Dean Grose to Quit as Los Alamitos Mayor Over Racial Cartoon,” Los Angeles Times, February 28, 2009.

  49. John Amato and David Neiwet, “How Obama’s Election Drove the American Right Insane,” Alternet, May 27, 2010. See Alternet website: www.alternet.org/story/146963. Also, John Amato and David Neiwet, Over the Cliff: How Obama’s Election Drove the American Right Insane (Sausalito, CA: Polipoint Press, 2010).

  50. Juan Williams, “What Obama’s Victory Means for Racial Politics,” Wall Street Journal, November 10, 2008.

  51. Jody Herman and Lorraine Minnite, “The Demographics of Voters in America’s 2008 General Election: A Preliminary Assessment,” Research Memo, Project Vote, November 18, 2008: www.projectvote.org.

  52. Matt Bai, “Is Obama the End of Black Politics?,” New York Times, August 6, 2008.

  53. Peter Wallsten and David G. Savage, “Conservatives invoke Obama in Voting Rights Act challenge,” Los Angeles Times, March 18, 2009.

  54. Robert Barnes, “High Court to Weigh Relevance of Voting Law in Obama Era,” Washington Post, April 1, 2009.

  55. Ewen MacAskill, “Jimmy Carter: Animosity towards Barack Obama is due to racism,” The Guardian, September 16, 2009.

  56. Zachary Roth, “Tea Party Fundraising Email Shows Obama as Pimp,” TPMMuckraker.com, January 28, 2010. See Talking Points Memo website: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com​/2010/01/tea_party_fundraising​_email_shows_obama_as_pimp.php?​ref=fpb.

  57. Ezra Klein, “Rush Limbaugh: Health-care Reform is ‘Reparations,’ a ‘Civil Rights Act,’ ” Washington Post, February 22, 2010.

  58. Fox & Friends, Fox News, July 28, 2009.

  59. Paul Kane, “S.C.’s Wilson Rakes In $750,000 in Less Than 48 Hours; Opponent Tops $1 Million,” Washington Post, September 11, 2009.

  60. Tom McGeveran, “Toni Morrison’s Letter to Obama,” The New York Observer, January 28, 2008.

  61. Barack Obama, speech, NAACP Annual Convention, New York, July 16, 2009.

  62. See Frank Rich, “Welcome to Confederate History Month,” New York Times, April 17, 2010; and Eugene Robinson, “Haley Barbour’s ‘diddly’ Sense of Slavery’s History,” Washington Post, April 13, 2010.

  63. Karen Tumulty and Michael D. Shear, “Obama: Backing Muslims Right to Build NYC Mosque is Not an Endorsement,” Washington Post, August 15, 2010; Chris Cillizza, “Democrats Divided Over Proposed New York City Mosque, Washington Post, August 17, 2010; and Erica Werner, “Obama Defends Ground Zero Mosque Plans in Ramadan Dinner,” August 13, 2010. See Huffington Post website: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/13/​obama-defends-ground​-zero-mosque_n_682064.html.

  64. See Naomi Klein, “Minority Death Match: Jews, Blacks, and the ‘Post-racial’ Presidency,” Harper’s Magazine, September 2009.

  65. Daisy Hernandez, “Don’t Call Me Racist, and Other Arizona Lies,” Colorlines, April 27, 2010. See Colorlines website: http://colorlines.com/archives/2010/​04/dont_call_me_racist​_and_other_​arizona_lies.html; and Randal C. Archibold, “Judge Blocks Arizona’s Immigration Law,” New York Times, July 28 2010.

  66. “Lecture: ‘A Latina Judge’s Voice,’” New York Times, May 14, 2009; and “Sotomayor’s ‘wise Latina’ Comment a Staple of Her Speeches,” CNN, June 8, 2009. See CNN website: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/05/sotomayor.speeches/.

  67. “New Black Panther Hysteria,” Think Progress, July 8, 2010. See Think Progress website: http://thinkprogress.org/​search/search.php?q=new​+black+panther+hysteria.

  68. “Fox & Friends,” Fox News, July 28, 2009.

  69. CNN, “Obama: Police who arrested professor ‘acted stupidly,’ ” July 23, 2009, www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/22/​harvard.gates.interview/​index.html.

  70. Shelby Steele, “From Emmett Till to Skip Gates,” Wall Street Journal, August 1, 2009. Also see Shelby Steele, A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can’t Win (New York: Free Press, 2007).

  71. For the most detailed assessment of the event and its racial, legal, and political implications, see Charles Ogletree, The Presumption of Guilt: The Arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Race, Class and Crime in America (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010).

  72. Nicholas Graham, “Obama on Skip Gates Arrest: Police Acted ‘Stupidly,’ ” Huffington Post, July 22, 2009. See Huffington Post website: www.huffingtonpost.com/​2009/07/22/obama-on-skip-​gates-arres_n_243250.html.

  73. Patrik Jonsson, “Shirley Sherrod: Casualty of Escalating ‘Tea Party’-NAACP Race Spat?,” Christian Science Monitor, July 20, 2010.

  74. Reportedly, the initial proposal had condemned the tea party movement itself as racist but then was watered down. The full text of the resolution was not revealed to the public because it required approval by the NAACP National Board of Directors that was scheduled to meet in October 2010.

  75. Clarence Page, “Tea Party Owes NAACP a Big Thank You,” Los Angeles Times, July 26, 2010.

  76. Julie Pace, “AP Exclusive: USDA Racial Flap Reconstructed,” Associated Press, August 4, 2010. See NPR website: http://www.npr.org/templates/​story/story.php?​storyId=128969052

  77. David Corn, “The Sad Tale of Shirley Sherrod: Vilsack Is the Villain,” PoliticsDaily, July 21, 2010. See PoliticsDaily website: www.politicsdaily.com/2010/07/21/​the-sad-tale-of-shirley-sherrod​-vilsack-is-the-villain.

  78. Ibid, Pace.

  79. Ibid.

  80. NAACP, “NAACP Statement on Shirley Sherrod Resignation,” press release, July 20, 2010.

  81. See “Shirley Sherrod: the FULL video” at NAACP website: www.naacp.org/news/
entry/video_sherrod.

  82. Ibid.

  83. Marcus K. Garner and Christian Boone, “USDA Reconsiders Firing of Ga. Official Over Speech on Race, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 21, 2010.

  84. Chris Kromm, “The Real Story of Racism at the USDA,” Institute of Southern Studies, July 22, 2010. See Institute of Southern Studies website: www.southernstudies.org/2010/07/the​-real-story-of-racism-at​-usda.html.

  85. Ibid., Kromm.

  86. A Time to Act: A Report of the USDA National Commission on Small Farms (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Commission on Small Farms, 1998), unnumbered. See USDA website: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/​nea/ag_systems/pdfs/​time_to_act_1998.pdf.

  87. Jim Kavanagh, “Sherrod’s Steadfast Motto: ‘Let’s Work Together,’” CNN, July 22, 2010. See CNN website: http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/21/sherrods​-steadfast-motto-lets​-work-together/.

  88. Mary Frances Berry, My Face Is Black Is True (New York: Vintage Books, 2005), p. 11.

  89. Ibid., p. 12.

  90. Kromm, “The Real Story.”

  91. Berry, My Face Is Black, p. 12.

  92. Ibid.

  93. Kromm, “The Real Story.”

  94. Ibid.

  95. Ibid.

  96. Thomas J. Vilsack, “A New Civil Rights Era for USDA,” Memo to All USDA Employees, Office of the Secretary, United States Department of Agriculture, April 21, 2009.

  97. Ben Evans, “Obama to Propose $1.25B for Black Farmers,” Associated Press, May 6, 2009.

  98. “Open Letter From Shirely Sherrod: You and I Can’t Yield –Not Now, Not Ever,” NAACP, website, undated. See NAACP website: http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/​you-and-i-cant-yield-not-now​-not-ever/; and Terrance Heath, “Dear Obama, Learn From Shirley Sherrod and Stop Letting the Right-Wing Propaganda Machine Win,” AlterNet, July 22, 2010. See AlterNet website: www.alternet.org/story/147607.

  99. Ibid, “Open Letter From Shirley Sherrod;” and Will Bunch, “The Story Behind the 1965 Killing of Sherrod’s Dad,” HuffingtonPost.com, July 21, 2010. See Huffington Post website: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/​will-bunch/the-story-​behind-the-1965_b_655218.html.