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November 9, 2006

the pink elephant in harold's room

Prometheus 6 links link to this curious post on blackcon site Booker Rising regarding Harold Ford's white woman problem:

How Harold Ford's Impulsive Love For White Women Cost Him - And Black America - A U.S. Senate Seat

[...]

The controversial and later-pulled ad peaked with the white blonde claiming she met Junior at the Playboy party. Her image appeared again, as the last one to close the ad. All the other issues mentioned in the ad - guns, terrorism, North Korea, porn donors, etc. - were mere supporting characters to the ad's true intent, which was to code Rep. Harold Ford Jr. as a lover of white women.

I was surprised how most critics only focused on how this ad played to Tennessee white male fears of black male-white female unions. Booker Rising was one of the very, very few observers to note how the controversial ad also played to the anxieties of another group on this issue: black women, who comprise the majority of Tennessee's black voters. 81% of likely Tennessee voters, of all races, saw the ad, and undecided folks who saw the ad broke 2-1 in favor of Mr. Corker.

Let this be a lesson for other black men who seek higher political office: when you believe that you are too good for black women, don't be surprised if chasing after white women hurts your career with voters. Particularly in a tight political race. How many black women - who could have perhaps reversed that slim lead of 48,495 votes that Mr. Corker possessed at the end of this political race - did not turn out to vote (or left the ballot for this particular race blank) because they were turned off by what they saw in the ad? [full posting]

I don't buy Booker Rising's argument that the ad was a black-vote supression tool (if we were really that quick to reject every black man with a white woman on his arm, half of the black corporate, entertainment, political, literary and academic leadership class wouldn't be where they are) but I do find the notion interesting just for ambient and textural reasons.

Leaving right or wrong aside, the spirited discussion of the post on Prometheus 6's blog covers territory and gets at nuances that were absent from about 100% of the mainstream (read white) reporting and commentary on the purpose and impact of the Ford ad. I think there's a sense in which the discussion on P6 operates as a "private" or "inside" discussion, which is great, as it allows for racial nuances to percolate up that may not be blocked in a more open forum. But I do also wish there was a way for national discussions about race to reflect that inside expertise, as opposed to being so predictably impoverished.

Posted by ebogjonson in what is B.O.G.?, on November 9, 2006 1:25 PM