Jabari Asim on Barack Obama
a new book examines cultural signposts and the Obama phenomenon
2009-01-19
By Terry Glover

By even the most liberal of definitions, Barack Obama can hardly be termed a race man. Yet it is in the context of that identifier and its inherent meaning that author Jabari Asim defines the phenomenon that characterizes the man soon to be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States of America.

In his new book, What Obama Means (William Morrow), Asim examines the cultural, racial and political influences that have impacted, in ways both large and small, the ascension of a black man to what historically has been the world’s most powerful seat of governance. And, while Asim does not go so far as to characterize Obama himself as a race man, he does take the stance that Obama’s victory begs the question of how such a man “regards his mission amid the shifting winds of the millennial age.” He further contends that Obama “complicates in fascinating ways conventional considerations of black political struggle.”

Assigning Obama’s rise to the alignment of irreversible cultural trends, substantial political developments, and unstoppable market forces, Asim turns historian and cultural anthropologist to make connections between Obama and events that have gone before him. He draws a multitude of parallels.

Take, for instance, the connection he makes between Obama’s message of inclusion and an essay written by W.E.B. DuBois in 1902, pondering the dilemma of how to keep “Negroes striving and cooperating with their white neighbors toward a larger, [more] just and fuller future.” Or the similarities to Frederick Douglass and his declaration of patriotism and a faith in America’s citizenry (shored up, it should be noted, by his intent to “antagonize, antagonize, antagonize,” until the equality he sought was won.)

Asim pulls in more contemporary comparisons as well, noting Barbara Jordan’s historic keynote speech before the Democratic National Convention of 1976, and the comparable reaction to Obama’s pivotal speech before the 2004 DNC that turned the national spotlight in his direction.

As was done throughout the duration of Obama’s campaign, Asim makes the obvious comparisons to Martin Luther King’s eloquence and oratory skills, as well as that recurring message of inclusion. Even Malcolm X began to see the battle for civil rights more as a battle for human rights.

But if this is the case, and Obama’s overarching message of reaching across the aisle and forging unfamiliar alliances is not new, not original, not specific to him, how, then to explain his remarkable success at riding that message to victory?

Convergence, Asim contends. Obama was in the right place at the right time. That the right place was the right place in our cultural history is the meaty stuff.

Asim draws parallels between Obama and rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix, also suspected of not being “black enough.” Between Sly Stone “a philosopher providing whites and blacks with a meeting ground where they could work out their mistrust.” (per music critic Dave Marsh), and between Prince’s outsider character, The Kid in Purple Rain. He even attributes the world “free of racial obsession” pursued by Prince, Michael Jackson and Lenny Kravitz with helping to pave the road Obama traveled to the White House.

His lively engagement of popular culture in his analysis is compelling and thoroughly enjoyable. Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror,” he says, urges listeners to “make that… change!” With references to Prince, Hendrix and Jackson there’s great material within the pages. I’m inspired to create a Convergence playlist.

The author delves deeper into the notion of culture as arbiter of change as he deconstructs the image of blacks in popular context. He walks us through the formation of the Fisk Jubilee Singers to BeBop to Cool Jazz to R & B, Rock and Roll, then Motown, all of which allowed white America to perceive Black as non-threatening, Black cool as admirable and desirable.

Placing considerable focus on Hollywood, Asim takes on the careers of Harry Belafonte, Denzel Washington, Will Smith and the notion of Sidney Poitier as the Magic Negro, decades before the term was thrown at Obama. There are the expected references to black presidents as characters on screen, projecting onto the national psyche an idea whose time has finally come. Thank you Morgan Freeman and Dennis Haysbert.

What Obama Means then comes full circle, weighing the cultural shifts that built, tsunami like, beneath the surface, ultimately submerging any lingering bigotry beneath enormous waves of wholehearted acceptance, a phenomenon Asim calls more trans-racial than post-racial. And a phenomenon ushered in by a new generation steeped in these cultural signposts since birth.

Asim doesn’t necessarily plumb new ground (the very nature of studying popular culture makes it an impossibility), and there are a couple of instances when he accepts declarations at face value (see the Stanford study on important public figures in America). And while his contention that these are the forces that put Obama in the Oval Office is entertaining and noble, it takes a long view that neglects to acknowledge the immediate impact Bush’s policies and, certainly, the implosion of our economy had on the outcome of the election. Still, he neatly pulls together varied references in a cogent sketch of the impact of one man’s aspirations on society and society’s reflection of those aspirations.

Obama -- Asim observes -- educated, sophisticated and with a background in grass roots organizing -- fit the model of alternative leadership proposed by activists/educator/poet Haki Madhubuti in the early 80s, who declared the ministerial model of black leadership “insufficiently equipped to deal with an increasingly educated and sophisticated ruling class.”

On election night, Asim contends, “smart became the new black.”

Terry Glover is Senior Editor for EbonyJet.com. She writes about trends and culture, popular and otherwise.