March 09, 2007
What's Wrong With Being Articulate?
Top White House aide and campaigns guru Karl Rove is the latest white political figure to hit presidential aspirant Barack Obama with the "articulate" label. As was well documented following Joseph Biden's infamous interview with the New York Observer, the A-word as applied to "mainstream" black figures is a loaded compliment.
To some black Americans, the use of the A-word by non-blacks is read as code for "non-threatening" or "like us." Michael Eric Dyson, a prominent cultural theorist at the University of Pennsylvania, also points out that certain prominent black Americans, such as the Rev. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, fit the dictionary definition of articulate -- "expressing oneself readily, clearly, or effectively" -- but are almost never described as such by whites, probably due in part to the dialect in which they speak.
Soon after the Biden gaffe, President Bush said Obama was articulate in an interview with FOX News. Shortly thereafter, talking-head Bill O'Reilly got slammed by the left for saying: "You have to feel sorry for us white folks, we can't say anything. White Americans are terrified -- now we can't even say you're articulate?"
Whatever one may think of O'Reilly, he has a point: For the mostly white reporters and commentators following the 2008 White House race, talking about Obama is a potential minefield. The first-term senator has received mostly favorable coverage in the media -- perhaps overly favorable, as Slate's Timothy Noah cheekily hints in his "periodic feature considering evidence that Obama is the son of God."
The rave reviews from whites may be why black Americans are so far casting a wary eye on Obama. At the same time, sometimes a compliment is just a compliment. How best to ensure Obama is being covered fairly? One solution: a more diverse slate of reporters and editors covering the 2008 campaigns. The National Association of Black Journalists has called on newsrooms to implement a realistic representation of minorities in their coverage teams, and PBS' Gwen Ifill is among the prominent black journalists who've expressed concerns about the issue.
Posted at 1:33 PM
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