I gamed Ella, the bitch caught a Fitz like Geraldine Ferraro/who’s full of sorrow/Cuz the hoe didn’t win/but the sun will still come out tomorrow…

By The Genius, Wu Tang Clan – from Clan in The Front

There are times I feel lucky to be a Black man in America. Especially living in the Bay Area. When I go to the club I have a good chance of being one of the only people in the joint with rhythm. I get compliments on my afro when I walk down the street and when I get on the train people are less likely to sit next to me, which is great because I like to stretch out.

But the comments made by Geraldine Ferraro concerning Barack Obama and his candidacy for president had me trippin’. Is Barack lucky to be a Black man in America ?

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position… And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.” – Geraldine Ferraro, Daily Breeze, March 8, 2008

Obama’s campaign got on her with the quickness calling her comments “divisive.”

Ferraro’s quote and opinions by other high profile female Clinton supporters have brought the Democratic race into the muck of identity politics that must have the Republicans licking their chops leading into November.

After Obama crushed Clinton in Mississippi last night, race and gender defined the story. Obama won because of the high number of Black voters in Miss. Clinton won the white vote blah blah blah. Ferraro’s comments dominated the pundits analysis.

But is she right? Does Barack have an advantage because he is Black and a man? Americans are very used to rooting for and supporting the Black man especially when it comes to sports and music. But just when I was about to give Ferraro the benefit of the doubt—light skinned, good hair having, Black men were always privileged in my world, they got all the girls in Jr. High—I remembered a Pew report that came out late in February on the prison population in America.

“For some groups, the incarceration numbers are especially startling,” the report said. “While one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, for black males in that age group the figure is one in nine.” AP, February 28, 2008

Reality check. Sorry white girls, you don’t face that kind of pressure from the state. Barack ain’t lucky. He’s blessed. Just like any other Black man in America that is alive and free. Ferraro and Mondale didn’t have a snow balls chance in hell of beating Reagan and Bush Sr. in 1984 when she was the first woman nominated for Vice President. Barack, a mixed-race-muslim-name-having political newcomer, is on the cusp of the White House. That’s Hip Hop.

- Kevin Weston