THE VERTIGO OF SOLEDAD O’BRIEN

THE VERTIGO OF SOLEDAD O’BRIEN

The New Racism of the Left

By

GEOFFREY GRISWOLD FISHER

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

The old one-drop rule of the Jim Crow south has been dusted off and this time applied by the new left – if you think you have one drop of sub-Saharan African blood then brother, you’re black.

How else can you explain this statement from CNN’s Soledad O’Brien?

I'm on the phone with a confused reporter, and I'm confused too. She keeps asking me why I "count myself as black... And why does Barack Obama?" My answer (for Sen. Obama, at least) is "have you seen him?" But she won't let it go. "Is your father annoyed that you deny him?" My dad is white. I interject. "Let's conference him in," I say. "Listen, he married a black woman, he has six black children. He'd be the first person to tell you I'm black."

The questions, to me, reveal more about the asker. This reporter surely doesn't know a lot of black people, or she wouldn't be struggling so hard. She'd know black people come in all hues. 

O'Brien's parents married in 1958 in Washington, D.C. Her father Edward, an Australian (from Toowoomba, Queensland) of Irish descent, was a mechanical engineering professor. Her mother, Estella, who is Afro-Cuban, was a French and English teacher. O'Brien is the fifth of six children, who all graduated from Harvard University;

Hispanic Magazine.com – June /July 2005 - Cover Story

So what would make a Harvard educated child who is ¼ black or to put it more directly, ¾ white, chastise a female reporter for suggesting the obvious – namely, that Soledad is primarily European.  Remember that Cuba was conquered and settled by white Spanish Conquistadors.  Further, one look at Ms. O’Brien would hammer home the obvious, that she is an attractive woman of European descent with a mixture of other cultural traits.  What would make her deny the obvious?  A pandemic of Hypodescent Fever.

Now it appears that Ms. O’Brien is not faking it.  Obviously, Time Warner, the current owners of CNN have a similar mindset - they hired Soledad O’Brien to host of all things the CNN series Black in America.  Ms. O’Brien’s dismissive posture and righteousness on this topic seems Orwellian.  Indeed, her full name is María de la Soledad Teresa O'Brien.  Soledad and her husband Brad Raymond have four beautiful children – and it is important to remember that these children are American.  Only a severe case of Hypodescent Fever could lead any mother to decide that they are black – that is, to ignore there full heritage. 

Of course due to the pervasiveness of political correctness in the national media, no one at CNN or at the other cable news outlets have called her out on this point or even question the wisdom of having a predominately Caucasian woman hosting Black in America.  It is just like having an able body actor playing the role of a wheel-bound character – it only works with the willing suspension of disbelief.

  

THE NEW LEFT EMBRACES THE ONE DROP RULE

Soledad O’Brien might as well be the poster girl for the New Racism of the Left – namely, Hypodescent Fever.  But she’s not alone.  Consider the racists behavior of the Black Congressional Caucus (CBC).

White members of Congress have never been welcomed into the caucus, although CBC by-laws specifically prohibit any discrimination, (yet) when Mr. Cohen (Steve Cohen, white representative, D-Tn.) asked for admission, he got (this) answer. 

Rep. William Lacy Clay, Jr., D-Mo., responded on behalf of the CBC: He's (Cohen’s) white and the Caucus is black. It's time to move on.  We have racial policies to pursue and we are pursuing them, as Mr. Cohen has learned. It's an unwritten rule. It's understood.  Quite simply, Rep. Cohen will have to accept what the rest of the country will have to accept - there has been an unofficial Congressional White Caucus for over 200 years, and now it's our turn to say who can join 'the club.' He does not, and cannot, meet the membership criteria, unless he can change his skin color (or can prove one-drop of black blood.)  Primarily, we are concerned with the needs and concerns of the black population, and we will not allow white America to infringe on those objectives. Hearn, Josephine (January 23, 2007). "Black Caucus: Whites Not Allowed". Politico.com.

So let’s follow the logic: The Congressional Black Caucus is made up of black members of congress, okay – yet, there is a bylaw against racial discrimination in its make-up, and that bylaw is always ignored, even though the preponderance of the funding for this group is provided by non-black taxpayers.  The spokesman for the black only membership policy with the CBC is of course of mixed race – he is included in the CBC by the one-drop rule.  Even Mr. Orwell would be scratching his head.  That doesn’t matter to the new left ravaged by Hypodescent Fever.  Non Sequiturs are the norm rather than the exception.

So CNN is practicing a non sequitur when it trying to satisfy a diversity policy vis-à-vis race by hiring a Caucasian with 25% black heritage to host Black in America.  The most hate filled racist from 1910 Atlanta, Georgia (home of CNN today) would have shouted “bravo – one drop of black blood makes Soledad and her children black.”

Hypodescent Fever does allow us, however, greater insight into the history of race relations in this country.  Consider the controversy surrounding Sally Hemings vis-à-vis Thomas Jefferson, arguably the greatest founding father after George Washington.

So when we look into the eyes of Soledad O’Brien we’re looking into the eyes of Sally Hemings.  Both women in 1790 Virginia would have been considered slaves even though both were ¾ white.  The only difference is that Soledad O’Brien would have had her hand in the air saying, “That’s right, I’m black.”  The problem with that type of bluster becomes apparent during Miss Hemings’ time – Brad and Soledad’s children would have been sold into slavery, just like the freckled face, red headed children of Miss Hemings.  Octoroons were 7/8^th white and 1/8^th black and as slaves fetched the highest price at the slave auction, especially the girls for obvious reasons.

If Ms. O’Brien acknowledge her full racial heritage as a facet of who she is rather than picking one aspect of her racial background and making it her sole identify she might restore some balance to her life – that is eliminate her current racial vertigo.

The one-drop rule was wrong in 1910 Atlanta, Georgia and it is still wrong in 2012 America.  Listen to the following words from a man of God more than 43 years ago and you’ll feel the power of one of greatest national mottos: E Pluribus Unum – Out of Many, One.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial

Washington, DC, Wednesday, August 28, 1963

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