On July 31st, Republican candidate Donald Trump came to Chicago to appear in a three-way interview at the National Association of Black Journalists Conference. The Conference was at the Chicago Hilton Hotel on Michigan Avenue. The members of NABJ are Black journalists employed with major mainstream media, such as The New York Times, NBC, ABC, CBS, NPR, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and the like. Independent, Black-owned media are not members. Excluded from NABJ membership are Black-owned media. This needs to be fixed for the organization. So, ask about the difference between Black-owned and Black-employed media. The difference is “freedom.” The difference is employment vs. ownership.
I want to emphasize the following: On July 31st, I received numerous phone calls asking if I was present. I explained to many people that it was not my event and that Black independent media was largely absent. Black media is influential and significant in Chicago, including WVON, Chicago Defender, Chicago Crusader, NDIGO, TBT News, and others. Generally, NABJ mainly represents members from white media and serves as an excellent career fair.
It was risky to invite Trump to NABJ. He is a fool and was bound to do or say something offensive and questionable. That’s Mr. Trump’s manifesto. He is a fool in simple language. But he is also a media master and knows how to strike. Indeed, he did. He made a news cycle for about a week with commentary from many who never knew about NABJ. From a public relations stance, NABJ received coverage it had never received.
He claimed he was insulted that he was not greeted with a pleasant hello; how are you? ABC political journalist Rachel Scott opened up with a tough question about Black issues. She was letter-perfect in her manner and style. The staged interview was conducted by three women: Harris Faulkner from Fox News and Kadia Goba, a reporter at Semafor.
Trump’s team resisted and did not like or agree that the interviewers there would instantly fact-check his answers. This was challenging and unnerving because he would be held accountable for lies and wild statements. There was confusion behind the stage regarding the audio equipment. The audience of 2,000 waited patiently as the interview was threatened with cancellation.
Turning Black
The elephant statement that Trump made was questioning Vice President Kamala Harris’s ethnicity.
He said, “I didn’t know she was Black until several years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or Black?”
Trump seems to be obsessed with Black ethnicity as he displays a profound ignorance. First of all, you don’t “turn Black.” You are, or you aren’t. He questioned President Barack Obama’s birth in this country, promoting to see Obama’s birth certificate. And now, with Kamala, he raises her identity.
Black in America is complex and complicated. For the most part, ethnicity in America is determined by skin color. Therefore, both Obama and Harris are Black. However, if we examine birth history, maybe not. Obama’s parentage is that his father is Kenya/African, and his mother is White. Therefore, with brown skin, he is Black. Kamala was born to two immigrant parents: a father who is Jamaican and a mother who is Indian. She, too, is a brown child raised in Oakland. She was raised and identified as Black. Her mother was quite conscious of how her children would be racially identified living in America.
There, there is a purer Black American who is probably mixed with white blood that comes from white slave masters via an unwanted or undesirable relationship. Also, from Black African parentage. Biracial is not new to the Black Americans. It is the norm. So, what are you? At this point in American history, there are few to no pure “Black Americans.”
Skin Color…
Depending on your skin tone, Black Americans can have light to dark skin tones, a wide variety of features, and disheveled hair. Internally, we really are a rainbow alliance. Most of the time, when we say someone is Black, we associate them with slavery and Southern heritage. Obama and Harris don’t have any family history of slavery. Thus, are they to be regarded as “Black” or not? The rule in the South during the Jim Crow era and for those who were slaves was “one drop” of Black blood, which established your race. There is no direct parental relationship between Obama and Harris. But they could only be Black in America due to the color of their skin. They might have been regarded as “mulatto,” which means mixed, in a different century.
So, let’s flip the script. I would love to see Dr. Henry Louis Gates, who conducts genealogy research on “Finding Your Roots” for Donald Trump.
How about it?
