Nancy Pelosi has a blog called The Gavel. Of course it’s political. Of course it’s slanted. But, wow!
Where’s John Boehner’s?
Okay, I know the news of the day was that Republican Study Group claimed Pelosi was infringing C-Span’s copyright with the many YouTube videos (and then withdrew their objection). Now, it may be a contractual issue. Who knows? Regardless, this sort of openness should be not only allowed, but encouraged.
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Debra Dickerson, author of The End of Blackness: Returning the Souls of Black Folk to Their Rightful Owners, writes in Salon Magazine:
“Black,” in our political and social reality, means those descended from West African slaves. Voluntary immigrants of African descent (even those descended from West Indian slaves) are just that, voluntary immigrants of African descent with markedly different outlooks on the role of race in their lives and in politics. At a minimum, it can’t be assumed that a Nigerian cabdriver and a third-generation Harlemite have more in common than the fact a cop won’t bother to make the distinction. They’re both “black” as a matter of skin color and DNA, but only the Harlemite, for better or worse, is politically and culturally black, as we use the term.
Apparently, Obama not being a descendant of American slaves cannot be “black.” It doesn’t matter that any bigot won’t make that distinction and will discriminate against Obama based on his skin color. What matters to Dickerson is whether Obama’s parents entered America voluntarily. Or maybe even more important to her in discerning Obama’s blackness is his “outlook[...] on the role of race in [...] lives and in politics.”
Watch as Stephen Colbert interviews Dickerson on the Colbert Report. It turns out that Obama isn’t “black”; he’s “African African American.” 
We went to Walla Walla again this last weekend. This is a taste of the trip home.
(Click to view)
Here’s the view out my window this week.
February is Black History Month — the month when we focus on how blacks have made a difference in America. At the risk of being perceived as racist, I look forward to the day when black history month is widely viewed as a quaint idea. After all, we don’t have January birthday history month or Oregonian history month — It goes without saying that those born in January and even Oregonians have played a major role in history.
With blacks in major positions in government and with a credible Democrat presidential candidates who is black, can’t we likewise agree that blacks have played in the past and now in the present play an important role in America (and not just in the tragedy of slavery)? Recognizing blacks’ contributions shouldn’t be limited to the shortest month of the year.
Now Groundhog Day, that’s a tradition worth repeating… 
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