Black Like We

Damned if you do. Damned if you don't.

Cliche I know, but what better way to sum up Bowman's evaluation of the white turnout?

Bowman and her ilk play the victim role poorly but they try hard. I'll give them that much.

"Some questioned if the late outpouring of support (the day before the event, organizers expected only 2,000 people) was just a symptom of white guilt."

Organizers originally reserved enough space for 2,000 people. Or as James writes, "only" 2,000 people. But after the event sold out on Wednesday, organizers moved venues within the Convention Center to add capacity three days out.

It is flatly inaccurate to write that organizers expected "only" about 2,000 people a day before the event. I support Obama, btw, because he is the best candidate, not because he is the black candidate.

This is one of the least sophisticated pieces of analysis on race and the 2008 election that I've seen.

Throw a few generalizations, biased quotes and irrelevant facts together and expect to be taken seriously?

Not going to happen.

I really don't understand the point of this article. Apparently there isn't one.

The comment about white people showing up out of guilt is beyond ridiculous. My family and I drove from Central Point to hear him because he is a brilliant and refreshing candidate we believe will be our next president, period. His ideas and vision are head and shoulders above any other candidate.

The Barack Obama events in Portland were a major success despite not much in the way of a PR push. The energized crowd was a melting pot of all races, generations and walks of life.

I had to check the cover of the paper when I finished this lazily written article. For a minute I thought I had mistakenly picked up the Merc.

I am certainly not surprised, shocked, or awed by the sloppily-written 'Black Like We' article, nor its placement in Willy Week. I am, however, most disturbed that the facts were often creatively applied to the story on Barack Obama's appearance in Portland.

This was surely not the first time that an event found it necessary to increase space when the "expected" count was exceeded; that's always a good thing, and says a lot about interest, drawing power, and the messenger - Barack Obama.

It is no secret that this African-American man is embraceable across a wide spectrum of Americans; what is also not surprising is the constant need - of white Europeans - to have to split his racial heritage, as an attempt to do what?? Divide and conquer. Barack, whose father was African and mother European, is an African-American in this America, and your comments reinforce that fact.

That he's transcended the narrowness, the limitation, and the obsession with whether he's 'black enough', or 'too black' is insulting and off the mark.

It is no secret that Portland is one of the whitest cities in America; it is, however, more than mere coincidence that despite that fact, Barack Obama netted the same percentage of blacks in attendance at his appearance as are in the population. Equally worth focusing on is that he engaged a diversity of attendees. As importantly, the diversity of his audience, even the distances that some folks traveled to see him, speaks volumes about his broader base of support. That's a feat oworth reporting on and stands on its own merit.

There is often very little here in Portland that garners that type of surge in attendance expectations, outside of music superstars - and this didn't cost $50-150 or more per ticket!

In response to the reflections of some community members who are African-American, we are not monolithic, and have the right to our individual opinions, despite constant attempts to skew us, or 'encourage' us to be in lock step. We have the same right to agree or disagree, including in our thoughts on politics and candidates. That you would try to make that the story, reduces it to the triteness that marked too much of the reporting on this one.

What a poorly written, impolite,uncultered piece of nonsense. Obama clearly cares deeply about issues that matter to regular people - ending the war, restoring the honor of our country, looking out for each other as well as for ourselves. He's personable without coming acrossed fake.. and I believe he will be the next President of the United States.

As cliche as this sounds, and as many times as folks have already stated it, what does race have to do with it?

I went to the Obama event to find out what he was about. I'm concerned about the economic state of the country, not whether or not my political support makes me look cool or culturally aware or whatever.

Also, what does the demography of the Justin Timberlake show have to do with it?

I feel like people keep saying this, but no one listens: It's the 21st century. More than forty years since the US government stopped legally sanctioning segregation/discrimination based on skin color. While we should embrace our cultural histories and legacies, the color of our skin shouldn't dictate which presidential candidate we vote for or which pop music artist makes us swoon.

Bully on those who see it differently.