Daniel Rubin: Straight talk from 'the Field Negro'

With all this uproar over race, religion and Obama, I thought I'd check in on the Field Negro, the black Philadelphia blogger who likes his truth unvarnished and his villains slow-roasted.

It takes practice figuring out what makes Field hot under the collar. First, his tongue is usually planted deep in cheek, so when he writes about Obamaholics you wonder if he's just trying to get a rise out of readers. He gives "Dumbocrats" and "Rethuglicans" equal mistreatment. President Bush is Frat Boy, John McCain is Mr. Morton (he's salty). Hillary Clinton is the Ice Queen. No one is spared.

The blogger who's been putting it out there since March 2006 from his Northeast Philadelphia home spends his days as Wayne Bennett, 49-year-old lawyer and special master in Family Court, hearing custody and child-support cases.

His nom de blog comes from Malcolm X's 1963 speech in which he described house and field slaves this way: In a fire, the house slave went for the water while the field slave prayed for a breeze.

"I've got problems with my people," I told Field.

"We all have problems with our own," he replied. "I have a lot with my peeps."

I relayed the account of Teri Simon, who told me in disgust of working the polls for Barack Obama outside the Main Line Reform Synagogue in Wynnewood last week. Simon said it was her worst campaign in 21 years.

Usually it's Republicans she battles. This time it was Clinton supporters who ripped down her campaign materials and wouldn't give them back until Simon, a lawyer, made noise about an injunction.

Worse, Simon complained, were the elderly Jewish women who told her matter-of-factly they'd never vote for Obama. One man insisted Obama was a Muslim communist hell-bent on turning America into a haven for reds and Islamists.

The Field Negro's message for me was that we are basically in trouble. Understanding can come only through honest discussion of race, class and sex, and there's plenty of blame to go around.

"A lot of white people think we can't handle the truth about race and racism and the relationship we have with the majority population. I think most black people get it. They understand that we have a ton of problems and that we really have to get our [act] together. We have to do most of it ourselves, and we really don't expect white people to look at us and say, 'Let's give them a break.' We get it that there are serious issues, but at the same time we want an honest dialogue."

He hears the white man who says his problem with Obama is his position on NAFTA, "when, really, he grew up in an era when you didn't have a black guy driving his bus and now he's going to have one leading his country. He's uncomfortable. Say that to me. I respect that."

At the same time, white people hear the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor for two decades, and seem stunned. "News flash!" Field said. "This is how certain black groups talk among each other, and this is what happens in barbershops or the Sunday dinner tables. But we're not honest, either."

His blog bio says Field was "raised in the house, but field-certified." He grew up privileged in Jamaica, the son of a minister in the leftist government of Michael Manley. He went to school in Alabama, worked in Los Angeles, studied law in Louisiana, then came to Philly 15 years ago to work as a prosecutor.

His blog, a tart delight, has drawn about 1,200 readers a day, and laurels from the Black Weblog Awards as best political/news site.

"At the end of the day, when this election is over, if Hillary wins, there will be hell to pay from the other side," he said, winding down. "The Democrats are going to find a way to lose this thing. Part will be race and part will be sex and class, and I think we'll have this conversation until the election is over. Then we'll be back to square one until something happens again - a Katrina, an O.J. trial - and then we'll be back to talking about it."

I looked at his blog to see what he was saying about the latest on Obama and Wright.

"Obamaholics . . . I told you that when the real A-merry-ca raised her ugly head and torpedoed your boy's run, you could come here and find some solace. So here I am."

Read Wayne Bennett's blog at field-negro.blogspot.com.