Obama makes affirmative action hip and cool
Cecil Brown
San Francisco Chronicle
Thursday, February 5, 2009

For Black History Month, I recently gave a talk at a Vallejo middle school. As the teacher introduced me, I could see the faces of 300 students glazing over. "Our special guest," he said, "has a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley." That did not impress them. Then, in a desperate attempt to rouse them, the teacher, glimpsing the paper in his hand, saw that I had a degree from Columbia University, and extolled, "... and he went to the same university as President Obama."
That did it. "Wow!" went the collective praise as the students leaped to their feet, and applauded Obama - and me.
Yes, it was true, I assured them. I felt very hip, and very cool.
But without affirmative action, I could not have afforded to attend this Ivy League university. As a descendant of slaves, my father was a farmer and my duty was plowing with my mule.
Obama's mother was a single parent, and without affirmative action, he would not have attended Columbia University or Harvard Law School.
Obama claims he has no way of knowing if he was a beneficiary of affirmative action in his admission to Harvard or to Columbia, but if he were, he says, he is not ashamed of receiving help.
The question of whether Obama is for or against affirmative action is irrelevant. He is not for affirmative action - he is affirmative action. When he gets up in the morning and works out to Jay Z's music, he is already telling you that he is for affirmative action.
Obama represents the image of the African American in the digital age. As a student of the digital age, he is able to write books and dig Jay Z.
With his nod to hip-hop music, his frequent YouTube appearances, and his dedication to helping all students, Obama inspires young black Americans. As one student put it after watching the inauguration, "I am going to cut my dreads and pull up my pants."
(Cecil Brown, a professor of African American