You can't escape all the You can't escape all the Obama coverage in the news right now, and for the most part, it's been good coverage for him. But there seems to be a turn toward the "magical negro" slant, especially by left and mainstream writers, that's resoundingly offensive. We've seen the malicious version of it with the "Barack the Magic Negro" number that America's favorite racist, Rush Limbaugh, put out last April, but it's the new, seemingly well-meaning version that's more insidious. You see it today on Salon in Gary Kamiya's piece "Obama's double magic", in which he raves that "the fact that it is a black man who is serving as America's philosopher's stone, turning the base metal of bitterness into the gold of forgiveness, is extraordinarily moving." It's also on AlterNet today, where Steven Rosenfeld ponders "The Magic Behind Obama's Message." And there's plenty of confused race rhetoric to take issue with in Anne Applebaum's column today, but most notably she seems to be banking on Obama's "magic" as a means to assuage white guilt, propelling him to the nomination.
The so-called "magical negro" has long been a stock character in fiction. He (or she) is a mysterious figure who shows up to dispense wisdom to the white people around him, purportedly because he possesses some kind of strange powers or simply because his race makes him closer to the earth and more in tune with nature. Moreover, these powers are used solely to aid the white lead. His magic ingratiates them with the white characters, and with viewers, seemingly in spite of his race. This acceptance however is based on momentary usefulness and not any true acceptance of black culture or identity. The "magical negro" is Michael Clarke Duncan as John Coffey in The Green Mile, the seven-foot black man with mysterious healing powers. He's Will Smith in The Legend of Bagger Vance, the caddy whose whimsy and wisdom guide the lead to golfing victory. She's Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost channeling the spirit of Patrick Swayze.
Like it does so often in film, it seems the "magical negro" frame is getting a pass in the press today as (often) white, liberal, well-intentioned writers ponder what it is propelling Obama to the lead in the primaries. In this story though, all of white liberal America stands in as the protagonist. Rather than giving Obama agency -- he's a strong candidate, he has solid experience and good policy, he's putting out a message that people identify with -- it's about what he shows up to "magically" deliver to white America.
The limited frames for a black candidate aren't just confined to the "magical," however. The several times I've seen the candidate speak in person, all the (mostly) white, liberal reporters around me have raved about how he "speaks like a minister" -- because they lack much experience with great black orators outside their conception of what a black, Southern minister sounds like, as that's another of the few acceptable roles granted to black men.
So while I do think that Obama's success shows signs of great progress in race relations in America, you don't have to look outside even the left-leaning press to find screwed up, highly racialized interpretations of Obama's success.
--Kate Sheppard
