Dee Dee Myers, former Press Secretary for the Clinton Administration, was in hot water recently for stating that
President Barack Obama would not be able to get too angry about the BP Oil Spill, because he is a black man. Here is an excerpt from her interview today on "Morning Joe":
Norah O'Donnell: "I was sort of stunned when you just walked in and I said do you think Obama is angry enough and your response was 'he can't be angry because he's black.'"
Dee Dee Myers: "I think that's hard for him. Anger isn't the only emotion that would be helpful in this context....I would like Obama to show a little bit more emotion but it doesn't have to be anger."
I can't get angry with Myers for being too honest. But then again, anger wouldn't help me much, because I'd hate to be seen as an angry black man. Obama has mastered the art of avoiding the stigma, given that he was as cool as a cucumber while taking one unfair lashing after another from
Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential election.
Many of his supporters, including myself, have been waiting for President Obama to get angry about the recent oil spill. He
expressed his anger on cue, stating that he was looking for "whose ass to kick" over the crisis. Rather than the anger appearing to be the fulfillment of an unfortunate stereotype, the well-rehearsed dismay presented on camera was part of Obama's commitment to reflecting the sentiment of the American people.
What is ultimately true is that being labeled "the angry black man" is harmful to those of us who try to wade the nasty waters of mainstream acceptance. I've been known as the angry black man here at
Syracuse University for years, and it's certainly done me no favors. I can also say that a poll among African Americans would likely reveal that many within the
black community are well aware that the smiley and happy black person is more likely to be accepted than the disgruntled one, even when there is something worth being disgruntled about.
So, the bottom line is that Barack Obama has permission to be angry about the oil spill because America is angry too. If he were to get angry about the mass incarceration of African-American men, black women being shut out of the Supreme Court for 211 years or our horrific inner city educational system, though, he would likely be penalized.
In other words,
Dee Dee was right.
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Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. 
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Comments: (32)
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By: alie on 6/09/2010 12:28PM
How angry do they want him to be? the sterotype that they think all blacks belong in? i.e. the comedian that said Obama is not a real black man the man is at a different level most black businessmen and women are at a different level when when we don't confirm to that sterio type something is wrong? i think white america and black america need to get a passport and travel more and see how blacks live and intergrate in europe.
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By: Tee on 6/09/2010 12:50PM
Oh please, like his anger is really going to stop the oil spill. All they want to see is the angry blackman go off for the Rethugs to talk about. Did they push Bush to be angry over Katrina? No, you're doing a fine job Brownie."
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By: turtle on 6/09/2010 9:49PM
Right on Tee! Even if he is angry this will not stop the spill nor the the tea baggers. They think they want to see him angry. I pray that he doesn't blow his cool which I think he won't since he understands the spirit of America well.
Right on!
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By: Agent2k38 on 6/09/2010 1:42PM
For you YTS who do not know why he does not get angry, let me give you a real example. Black men who display any anger in the workplace are preceived as violent, about do something violent, or any parallel to violent. Many black men have lost their jobs due to the preception of showing any type of anger no matter innocent it maybe.
In 2008, I briefly worked in an office with ALL YT women. I came into work early, so I did not greet none of the yt women b/c I was rushing to prepare for a meeting.....They preceived at as anger and assumed I was getting violent b/c I was rushing to meeting and my door closing was loud. When I returned from my meeting, my boss called me in the office and said...... are you okay, you seemed angry, the women said you were angry.......The part that got to me was........You are a big guy, they were a little scared. GOD looked for me as I gotta better position 48 hours after that meeting and I never looked back. YT people, you can never understand anything about being black as you are never put in the position to defend yourself based on a skin color, you all dont have to worry about walking to interviews and hoping people can see past your color, and not having represent the entire race of black men based on color. By the way, I was the youngest and only black person on the staff. The fact that I was rushing to prepare and get to a meeting turned to an assumption that I was angry.
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By: turtle on 6/09/2010 9:50PM
Hey Agent2k38! i feel you bro! Truth be told even black women do not understand our plight. Being focus is only for a few people and not us. Black women can get angry and pass the test but not us. This in no way attack or defame black women or others. Its the truth.
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By: rose on 6/11/2010 1:04PM
I am totally feeling you on this. I can't respond to turtle directly, but I do want to comment on his reply, lol. He said "Black women can get angry and pass the test but not us."
Didn't you forget the portrait of Michelle Obama as the angry black woman? I don't think black women have it as bad as black men, but we certainly don't have it that easy. If we laugh a little too loud, we're ghetto. If we're too quiet, we're stuck up. If we stand up for ourselves we're confrontational. And don't let us wear our natural hair. Goodness!
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By: Lisa on 6/09/2010 1:43PM
Even Jesus became angry in the temple with the money exchangers and overturned their tables. It is shameful that a human being can't express a human emotion because of his skin color. This is insane. I am so sick of this kind of nonsense.
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By: Estertee on 6/09/2010 3:27PM
I am so sick of coddling white people. They represent the most sinister race and culture of people on the planet and yet they propagandize stereotypes of people that are unfounded generalizations.
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By: alie on 6/09/2010 3:58PM
Whites really don't mix with blacks do they? seems like we are from another planet? they need to get out more like i suggested europe maybe and see how black people intergrate with whites the uk would be a good 1st stop!black and white live next door to each other, go to school together, work together, 2nd stop Canada
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By: stephanie on 6/09/2010 4:16PM
oh please!!!! he knows what he is, that was a stupid things for her to say,may be she's angry because she's white.!!!
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