Fair enough, but let me rephrase it then.
He's a biracial black man who grew up in a times when racism was far more pervasive and prevalent, and was born in Kansas and lived in Hawaii - not exactly hot beds of AA population. It's really infuriating to see folks who almost certainly have had to deal with racism on a far lesser scale than anyone from that era having the gall to lecture Obama about how he "doesn't get it".
I think that President Obama has had something of a different experience, maybe. I mean, don't get me wrong, he absolutely gets it and is absolutely right about accepting a seat at the table, but he didn't grow up in urban areas that are still effectively segregated. He grew up in various states and countries and had a much different experience from many black folks of that time.
When I talk to my mom about growing up in the sixties as a kid and what she thought about the Civil Rights Act, she laughs and says that as a young child, she didn't notice it so much because they were the one black family in their neighborhood and were thus "okay." Not that she didn't have to deal with racism or anything, but it was a different experience being the daughter of a military man, having lighter skin, and being in a medium-sized town in Washington State. Her experience is very different from the black experience in Los Angeles, Houston, New Orleans, Baltimore, Detroit, NYC, etc.
I guess my argument is not to map some idea of "getting it" to black people just because they're a) black and b) grew up in the '60s. POTUS definitely gets the struggle and I'm not criticizing him at all, but maybe it's just something about assuming that black folks from that time understand race issues in the same way that gets me. I mostly agree with you, though.
Since I'm here: I have lurked this page for a long while, since before I signed up for the site, even, so even though I'm not really much of a prominent member here, I guess I will share my info, even if only for demographic purposes:
Your gender? Male
Your sexual orientation? Straight
Your race/ethnicity? Black
Your religion? Protestant, universalist
Where Are You From? Born in Seattle, WA
Where Do You Live? Seattle, WA, after traveling the states and living in Alaska, the Southwest, and the South
How Old Are you? 33
Favorite Type of Music? Hip-hop, R&B, '50s Rock (like Little Richard)
Profession or Career interest? College instructor, composition and literature
Favorite video game(s)? NiGHTS Into Dreams..., Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Psychonauts, VB Wario Land, Alpha Protocol, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Civ IV, Civ V complete, among others.
What are your hobbies (other than gaming)? Reading, cooking, eating, being a Scrabble fiend, and mostly hanging out with my wife, who likes all those things, too.
