Jonathan Zimmerman: Obama ... Son of Africa or ugly American?
[Jonathan Zimmerman, a professor of education and history at New York University, is teaching this semester at NYU's study-abroad program in Accra, Ghana. He is the author of the forthcoming "Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory."]
There's a new hit song in Ghana this spring. You hear it everywhere: in bars, restaurants, shops and taxicabs. It has a catchy rhythm, a melodic chorus, and a loud note of praise for an American presidential candidate.
And it's not about John McCain.
The song is entitled simply "Barack Obama." Recorded by the Ghanaian reggae-rapper Blakk Rasta, it celebrates Obama's ascendance as a "great sign" for black people everywhere.
It joins a host of other pan-African musical tributes to Obama, from Jamaica and Trinidad to Cameroon and Kenya. Wherever you go, it would seem, people of African descent are grooving to the beat of Obamania.
But the Ghanaian song adds two starkly negative chords. Over the rat-a-tat-tat of simulated gunfire, it cautions Obama about white racists who could harm him. Then it warns that his entire nation faces doom on Judgment Day, because of "legalizing abortion in America."
Do listeners realize that Obama himself is a strong advocate of abortion rights? I don't know. But here's what I do know: Africans are deeply conservative on cultural issues, especially abortion and gay rights. And when they find out that Obama isn't, he might start to lose some of his luster.
Consider a recent column out of Uganda, where, as in most of Africa, abortion is prohibited by law. "The Democrats whom Obama wants to take to the White House are known for killing unborn babies," columnist Owen Kibenge declared.
Even worse, Kibenge continued, Obama supports civil unions and adoption rights for homosexual couples. "I am certain that the majority of Ugandans would not subscribe to this, even if it meant not voting for a black man," Kibenge added.
He might be right. And as Obama well knows, it's not just Africans who are conservative on these issues; African Americans are, too. That's why 30 percent of black voters in the so-called Bible Belt of northern Florida voted for George W. Bush in the 2004 elections, giving Bush a clear margin of victory in the state that nearly cost him the presidency four years earlier.
And that's why black pro-lifers recently staged a protest outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Washington, where they condemned Obama's stand on abortion.
"As Christians, we cannot vote for a man based on his skin color, but on the content of his character," one protester said, quoting the Martin Luther King, Jr. "If Obama supports abortion, then we cannot, we must not support him."...
Read entire article at International Herald Tribune
There's a new hit song in Ghana this spring. You hear it everywhere: in bars, restaurants, shops and taxicabs. It has a catchy rhythm, a melodic chorus, and a loud note of praise for an American presidential candidate.
And it's not about John McCain.
The song is entitled simply "Barack Obama." Recorded by the Ghanaian reggae-rapper Blakk Rasta, it celebrates Obama's ascendance as a "great sign" for black people everywhere.
It joins a host of other pan-African musical tributes to Obama, from Jamaica and Trinidad to Cameroon and Kenya. Wherever you go, it would seem, people of African descent are grooving to the beat of Obamania.
But the Ghanaian song adds two starkly negative chords. Over the rat-a-tat-tat of simulated gunfire, it cautions Obama about white racists who could harm him. Then it warns that his entire nation faces doom on Judgment Day, because of "legalizing abortion in America."
Do listeners realize that Obama himself is a strong advocate of abortion rights? I don't know. But here's what I do know: Africans are deeply conservative on cultural issues, especially abortion and gay rights. And when they find out that Obama isn't, he might start to lose some of his luster.
Consider a recent column out of Uganda, where, as in most of Africa, abortion is prohibited by law. "The Democrats whom Obama wants to take to the White House are known for killing unborn babies," columnist Owen Kibenge declared.
Even worse, Kibenge continued, Obama supports civil unions and adoption rights for homosexual couples. "I am certain that the majority of Ugandans would not subscribe to this, even if it meant not voting for a black man," Kibenge added.
He might be right. And as Obama well knows, it's not just Africans who are conservative on these issues; African Americans are, too. That's why 30 percent of black voters in the so-called Bible Belt of northern Florida voted for George W. Bush in the 2004 elections, giving Bush a clear margin of victory in the state that nearly cost him the presidency four years earlier.
And that's why black pro-lifers recently staged a protest outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Washington, where they condemned Obama's stand on abortion.
"As Christians, we cannot vote for a man based on his skin color, but on the content of his character," one protester said, quoting the Martin Luther King, Jr. "If Obama supports abortion, then we cannot, we must not support him."...