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Of course Rupert Murdoch thinks that Barack Obama isn't a 'real black President'

Before Obama's election, there was nothing in Murdoch’s background that would suggest any genuine interest in the plight of black communities

Robert Lee Mitchell III
Thursday 08 October 2015 15:29 BST
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There’s an interesting dance that white conservatives do when it comes to their black conservative counterparts. It's one of discomfort and superficial tolerance. On the one hand, white conservatives love to amplify the anti-government “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” stories that many black conservatives love to tell. "Look at them, they can do it – so why should we help those who can't?". But it’s becoming increasingly clear that white conservatives will never quite see a black conservative, even one they claim to admire or support, as a fully autonomous, three-dimensional human.

Rupert Murdoch proved my point yesterday by posting a bizarre tweet (which he later offered a half-hearted apology for) that called Barack Obama’s blackness into question.

Murdoch has the right to support the Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, but he does not have the right to police blackness. Obama is no less black because of his biracial identity. And Carson is not “blacker” or more authentic to the black experience because both of his parents were black. Murdoch’s comments are a retread to the days of scientific racism. There is no debate about this: race is not biological, but a social construct.

Before Obama's election, there was nothing in Murdoch’s background that would suggest any genuine interest in the plight of black communities. Murdoch’s comments make me uncomfortable because he knows that Carson won’t be a “black president” in the sense that he implied: a man who would invest time in black communities and issues while building a bridge to white America. Carson has told us what he believes on the campaign trail: he thinks the Black Lives Matter movement bullies people, and that it should take the word "black" out of its title.

Murdoch’s tweet also casts doubts regarding how deep his support for Carson truly is. He could have focused on policy like any grown-up would, and highlighted Carson’s 10 per cent flat-tax rate proposal. That concerns him a lot more, as it would benefit super-rich individuals like himself. But he chose not to do so. Instead, he focused on Carson’s race, and in doing so, used it as a weapon to attack Obama. That’s the superficial and point scoring reality of conservative politics today.

The right-wing establishment is using Carson to score cheap political points against Obama. Carly Fiornia is being used to score points against Hillary Clinton, too, but that’s another matter. Conservatives cannot fathom that a black man with the educational pedigree and politics that Obama has could actually be acceptable to the America people. So they look at the most superficial things about him, and search for a right-wing doppelgänger to pit him against.

Murdoch should at least be intellectually honest with himself. His excitement about a Carson presidency is nothing more than Obama-bashing on the most superficial of levels; “our guy is really black”. Thanks for letting us know, Rupert, but next time try keeping it to yourself.

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