Year of Doctorow
Doctorow appearing in the Valley twice this year? I was surprised for a second by your cover story ["The Book of Doctorow," April 3, 2008]. It took only a brief look inside to see you were referring to E.L. Doctorow. The other novelist, Cory Doctorow—perhaps more familiar to a younger generation—will be here Aug. 22-24 in West Springfield as part of Pi Con [the annual science fiction convention].
Terry Franklin
Amherst
Blackness Irrelevant
Shame on you! I am a former Springfield resident and once-upon-a-time weekly Advocate reader. Out of pure nostalgia I recently picked up an issue of the Advocate and was shocked to see how bad the "journalism" had become. Upon flipping through your paper I was able to find articles describing Republicans as scurrying rats, a ranting-one sided criticism of Amherst town government (perhaps the most liberal, save Cambridge, in the state) for not supporting a drug festival, and, certainly most offensive of all, an article questioning the "blackness" of Barack Obama [Salim Muwakkil, "How Black Is Obama?", Feb. 21, 2008].
The topic, the "blackness" of Obama, is offensive because it is irrelevant. I am young (29) and white.? Like many others in those categories, I am voting for Obama. Like anyone my age, I have never seen a race-based drinking fountain or a segregated bus. Race is not an issue for me and I think that is true for most people of my generation. Obama represents hope and a new voice. That is why he has my vote.
I'm not saying racism is dead. I'm just saying it has stopped being a primary explanation for why some cultural groups fail and others do not. Race is not important. Culture, attitudes and beliefs are. The article poses the ludicrous idea that white America supporting a black candidate somehow sets back equality. What would be the conclusion if white America took the opposite stance? Further, the article uses "white guilt" as an explanatory mechanism, which assumes that white people a) have something to feel guilty about and b) actually do.? I'm offended at the idea that my race, rather than my actions, associates me with guilt.
I think Muwakkil was saying Obama is somehow less black because he was not descended from slaves. I wonder, then, if Deval Patrick is black enough to be approved of. Blackness, like eye color, is genetic. Culture is everything else. Clearly Obama's genetics aren't important to voters but his attitudes and politics are. Asking whether Obama is "black" enough is irrelevant unless, of course, you are the type of person who goes around judging people based on their race. I have a dream that one day our nation will not look at the color of one's skin but to the content of their character. The question is, do the Valley Advocate and its readers?
Scott Kane
Somerville
