Blackmoor Vituperative

While on the topic of “race”, this crossed my desk this morning…

(NECN/WFLD) – Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich apologized this morning for saying in an Esquire Magazine interview that he was “blacker than Barack Obama.”

Blagojevich, in front of his home in Chicago, told reporters it was a poor way of expressing what he wanted to say. In the interview hitting stands this week Blagojevich made this statement: “I’m blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in the black community not far from where we lived. I saw it all growing up.”

(from Blagojevish apologizes for ‘blacker than Obama’ remark , NECN)

Personally, I think Blagojevish made a good point about the obsession with skin color in this country — not even skin color, but a completely arbitary “ethnicity” which has no relevance to a person’s actual character, background, or accomplishments. The way our media and our society treat appearance as more important than substance is an embarrassment. I may get vilified for saying so, but I do not think he should have apologized — not for that statement, anyway.

I wish he would get a haircut, though.