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My Apology To Mandela Barnes [1]

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Date: 2022-10-23

Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes speaks with supporters at the Sherman Phoenix public market in Milwaukee.

Greetings Sir,

My name is Erik, and I have been a resident of Wisconsin most of my life. We don’t know each other, but our paths have crossed a few times. Our first encounter was in early 2018, when we were both drawn to a former Pabst Tied House on Brady Street to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Milwaukee’s lone progressive radio station, which has since moved to Waukesha and down the dial to 540AM. But I digress...

This was during the Wisconsin primary election campaigns, and you were at the bar “pressing the flesh” with potential voters as you campaigned for Wisconsin lieutenant governor along with several other Democratic candidates.

In hindsight, your presence made the event significantly more “high-profile” than it otherwise would have been, but this was lost on me. Why? Because you were jamming to I Wanna Dance With Somebody by the late, great Whitney Houston. I can still see you bobbing your head, maybe snapping your fingers as you sang, “Dontchya wanna dance...with me baby!” with heart.

My first thought? This guy isn’t a “real” Black man.

Yup, that’s what went through my head. This fortysomething, suburban White guy knew what constituted a “real” Black man, and you weren’t it. Whitney Houston?! She was popular with White kids!

Why did I feel this way? In short, without realizing you were a full 16 years younger than me, I knew the real Black dudes I grew up with didn’t listen to pop radio in the pre-grunge 80’s. Real Black men only respected artists such as BDP, Public Enemy or Paris, grimaced when “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” came on the radio, and only wore clothing popular among real Black dudes.

And on that evening, in that moment, I didn’t believe you fit any of these, and so my mind was made up. My racist (and sexist) conditioning had done its job, and we moved on. I enjoyed the rest of my evening, not thinking what this scene must’ve been like for you...an eastside bar pretty much full of old White folks, probably not the usual campaign environment you were accustomed to.

Again, in hindsight, a wiser me would have admired your willingness and ability to “code-switch,” or “do as the Romans do.” Instead, I failed to think about any of this. Why? Because I was completely at home on the eastside, drinking and talking politics with a bunch of old White folks. Privilege.

Don’t get me wrong, I did campaign for you Lieutenant Governor Barnes, and voted for you in the primary and general election that year, supporting your candidacy every chance I got. However, through all of this I never reconciled my feelings about Mandela Barnes the man.

Fast forward to 2020. Not long after I had seen & heard you speak with love, passion, and concern in Kenosha following the Jacob Blake tragedy, I was driving southbound on I-94 when I caught myself singing along to, you guessed it, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.” It was at that moment I finally realized the issue was never you Mr. Barnes...it was always me.

In what has become a lifetime of trying to shed my racist upbringing, I obviously still had to work on my long-held, distorted opinion about what makes a “real” Black man, because by whatever metric Lieutenant Governor Barnes, YOU ARE THAT MAN.

I am sorry for snap-judging you, and I sincerely apologize for devaluing you as “less than real.” I should have seen you then as I do now, a human being...no more, no less. Nonetheless, it was a failing on my part, and I hope you can forgive this fortysomething suburban White guy for my unfair and unfounded criticism.

Sincerely,

Erik



FULL DISCLOSURE: I do not work for the Mandela Barnes for Senate campaign, although I am canvassing with WisDems in support of him and fellow Democratic candidates. This is not a “work product.” I am a real person behind an avatar.

If you would like to help Wisconsinites elect Mandela Barnes to the US Senate, where I believe he will work tirelessly to improve the lives of all the people in Wisconsin and across the nation, here’s where you can pitch in…

- Mandela Barnes for US Senate

- ActBlue - Contribute directly to Mandela Barnes for US Senate

- Donate directly to WisDems - Help defeat Ron “MOSCOW ON THE 4TH OF JULY” Johnson!

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/23/1809376/-My-Apology-To-Mandela-Barnes

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