For the past several years, I have been hearing people refer to Bill Clinton as America’s First Black President. I realize this reference is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I still find it insulting.
The first time President Clinton was honored as the nations first black president was in October 2001 at the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Awards Dinner in Washington DC. The reasoning for awarding him with this honor was because Bill Clinton had “the rare capacity of connecting with African- Americans”. It was felt that we (black Americans) could identify with him, and he could identify with us.
Identify? How do African Americans identify with Bill Clinton? Black comedians joke that it is his more colorful and extramarital antics that make him the Pimp Daddy Prez. Others claim it is because he grew up poor. Surely all blacks can identify with that, right? Others say that it is because he moved to Harlem proving that he was comfortable among black people. What is even worse than this laughable notion of Clinton being considered black is the fact that it was brought up in the Democratic Debates.
When Barack Obama was asked, “Do you think Bill Clinton was our first black president?” My eyes nearly popped out of my head. I still have a headache from the broken blood vessels. I am sure that I am not alone. This laughable question could only be answered with humor. While Obama gave President Clinton credit for embodying the type of growth it takes to move forward toward racial reconciliation, he jokingly added, “Now, I have to say that I would have to investigate more of Bill’s dancing abilities and some of this other stuff before I accurately judge whether he was, in fact, a brother”.
Such a stupid stereotypical question surely deserves a stereotypical answer. Still, I am tired of black stereotypes. It is the same stereotypes that got me labeled as “white girl” in high school and had white college classmates telling me “you’re not like those other black people”. It is the same stereotypes that have people lovingly refer to my husband as “white”, when he in fact is not. It is those same types of stereotypes that hurt and confuse and alienate young white and black people from each other because someone acts in a way that is not typical (stereotypical) of the race.
Once and for all, unless someone can come up with a genealogy report that shows Clinton has black folks in his background (which could have been possible a few generations ago), I do not want continue addressing such ignorance when we could very well be talking about the shrinking middle class, or other real problems black people are having. The last thing intelligent black people want to ponder is if Bill Clinton is a brotha or not.
