I vote for “Mr. Blacky McBlackenstein”
concerns about who is “uppity” and who is not are characteristic of dumb people, whether white or black. Smarter people are usually more analytical about reasons for their contempt.
The social networking operations can be thought of as isomorphic to one of these Sociological classifications of religious movements - Wikipedia - or maybe some are isomorphic to a variant that is not listed in that section, I suspect the article is incomplete. They are secular cults. So sir George Fraser sounds like a fairly successful secular cult leader to me at this point.
As for many of his “successful” clients, well, you don’t need to be a genius to know where is the root source of their wealth. If the Georgia whites did not just tell you up front what they think about the “success” of the holders of sinecures, then maybe they are dumber than I give them credit. Or maybe too reticent to speak their mind.
Yeah, obviously** code_grey** has some issues with the guy beyond what race he appears to be. Whether they’re valid criticisms or not, I have no idea.
when Fraser calls himself “black” he’s referring to his membership in the black American ethnic group, not his physical appearance per se. What this means is that his immediate and extended family are comprised entirely of people with varying degrees of visible African ancestry.
code, your friends, family members and neighbors might be okay with Fraser, but would they be okay with his (hypothetical) dark brown nephew or mahogany colored grandchild?
I’m about 3/4 African ancestry, and 1/4 Muscogee and French. I’m dark skinned, but my Mom is copper colored, her sisters are various shades of beige, and some of the cousins are fair skinned with blue eyes. We’re all part of the same family.
The US is the only place in the world where anyone would call my blue eyed cousins and uncle “black”. Everywhere else, there is one category for people who are mostly African in appearance, another for people who are mixed, and another for people of mostly Euro appearance.
No, it really doesn’t.
If I just saw his picture and had to guess his ancestry, I’d probably say Hispanic (which is a pretty broad category). If I was told he was Black, I wouldn’t be too surprised. Lots of people in the US who self-identify as Black look like him.
He’s not unlike this guy, who, based on his occupation, is probably Black, no?
Belowjob2.0, that makes sense, thanks. So even if the guy may well be much lighter skinned than typical light skinned elite blacks who are his clients (at least that’s the impression I get from the photo, and the photo may be wrong) they can follow the line of reasoning that you have outlined when deciding if he is “authentic enough” or not.
Like Fraser, A lot of these people like Ben Jealous who look very light skinned in brightly lit photos come across is much more “black” in videos. His facial features, his voice and his hair are all very clearly and distinctly (to me) black American.
Benjamin Todd Jealous interviewed by Julian Bond: Explorations in Black Leadership Series
What do you feel is the obvious source of their wealth?
How did this man wind up on your radar, so inflaming you that you think you have the right to critique his self-identifying as black?
I like to think in an alternate universe, he’s started a thread saying, ‘Does code grey look intelligent to you?’
Not related to topic or anything, but your ‘word salad’ approach sometimes reminds me of Sarah Palin’s debating style.
You are less logical with every post you make on this subject.
I think what code_grey is saying is that he thinks Mr. Fraser is a carpet bagger. That he’s a white guy - or at least a not-black-enough-guy - who is preying on members of the Black community by claiming to be a member of their brotherhood in order to get them to do business with him.
Or something. ETA: There are definite overtones that only people who are “black enough” should be marketing businesses to specifically appeal to black people, which by itself I find rather “huh?”
Might just be the hair and the mustache, but seems to me the dude’s got a Sharpton thing going on.
If you have a look at the smaller picture of him next to the white female news presenter (being interviewed or something) he does look “black” to the point that I, a foreigner with no in-person experience with African-Americans of different shades, would go “That’s a black man” if asked.
I have no idea if he’s black, although I’m willing to take his word for it. His organization’s literature does come across as pretty fucking creepy, though.
I thought that in the photograph in the OP he looks like a 40’s-era dance instructor or gigolo. 
I think he’s basically just a sort of self-help promoter, along the lines of Tony Robbins but without the rah-rah, change-your-life evangelism.
Well, I don’t think that either Benjamin Todd Jealous or Julian Bond (or George Fraser) “look” black as such, but I think that’s true of a lot of African Americans. But we define “black” pretty broadly in this country, so that most people of subsaharan descent are considered black, even if their skin tone is light. It’s that old “one drop rule”.
This is one of my favorite pictures addressing that (it’s of Rice, Powell, Bush, and Rumsfeld at a press conference)
If you didn’t know social dynamics in this country and just grouped by skin color, I don’t see how you’d lump Powell with Rice instead of Bush or Rumsfeld. But that’s what we do.
omg, double freaking LOL. Captain Amazing, that pic just made my day 
If the guy’s a scam-artist, he’s a scam-artist. He wouldn’t be any less of a scam-artist if he had brown skin, would he? The OP comes across as very patronizing. Black people do not need to be schooled on the looks and ways of “blackness”. As has been said before, we grow up in families where every color spectrum under the sun is represented. It becomes almost instinctual to identify another person’s “black American-ness” when you are raised as a black person in America. That’s why, during the time of the Black Codes and Jim Crow, black people were employed to pick out people who were passing as white. George Fraser could fool some white people maybe, but not the majority of black folks.
Remember, black Americans have always had very light-skinned people carrying the flame for them. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Spotswood Robinson. W.E.B Du Bois. Walter White. George Fraser might as well be wearing black-face compared to some of these cats.
If you don’t like the content of what he’s selling, that’s fine. But focusing on his looks just makes you look dumb.
It’s been bugging me but I knew he looked like somebody famous, and it just came to me: Oleg Cassini!
Ok, I know this is old, but I gotta post…
George Fraser is definately Black American! His mother was a light-skinned black woman from Alabama and his father was West Indian, a very dark WI from Gyana (living in the US).
I worked for George for 11 years as a Logistics Coordinator. Like George, I too am a light skined Jamaican- American, but its only in America that we are catagorized as one race, and thats Black.
Gonna try to make this short, Here goes…George is one of the few Black Americans to acomplish professional success. Remember, Black people in America only make up 12% of the population, only about 6% have made it to middle and upper class. George is just trying to build up that other 6%.
You also have to consider that when you take away the right to education for generations, that community will suffer…George is just teaching Black people how to achieve the American dream…Black ppl dont typically leave behind wealth to their children, but they will leave debt…to do so is not common knowledge to these ppl…George is trying to show them how, that’s all. It sounds kinda militant and cult-ish on the outside looking in, but its all for the greater good of a people.
Coprorate America gives him tons (hundreds of thousands) of money to produce his events…they obviuosly see his value 