Pressure

In Stuart Hall's article entitled "Cultural Studies and it's Theoretical Legacies" Hall very early on makes the disclaimer that he does not want to carry around the black person's burden of speaking "for the entire black race on all questions theoretical, critical, etc".  My immediate reaction was to think that it must suck to have that burden and thus that pressure but past that I wondered if white people (the supposed non minority in politics etc) feel that they have a burden of sorts.  And if so, what is it?

What in our society makes an individual feel as if what they say matters to everyone else?  Stuart Hall eagerly wants to get rid of this identity, trying to disclaim it in only the second paragraph.  But news anchors, comedians, and many more people around the world desire the burden of having everyone look at what they say as if it is the most important thing ever said.  

I want to break down this pressure and really look at what it must feel like to speak for an entire race.  Why does Hall feel he has this burden?  Is it because he is the only black critic on the scene?  Or is it just because he is the most notable?  I don't know the answers to these questions, but I know that pressure is something no one seems to crave once they have tasted it.   

In the present race for the white house Obama is being called the next voice of black people as he stands a very good chance at winning the race and becoming the first man of color in the white house.  But he does not actively claim that he speaks for all black people, his strategy is rather to say that he speaks what he believes is true of hard working Americans with race being a moot issue.  He often gets talked about because he is not "black enough" and that he is hurting black people by not being true to his race.

I keep coming back to the idea of pressure.  In this society we just seem to tear people down.  Hall does not want to be the critical spokesperson for black people because he does not want the entire world to be torn apart based upon his feelings and thoughts.  He recognizes that he is one man and thus does not want to be responsible for an entire race.  We are all individually one person and most of us do not have any incredible responsibilities in our race, but we all are one thing or another that some of our friends may only know one of.  Why are we so obsessed with the little pieces that what we say can take the entire stance for whatever thing it is that we happen to represent?  I want more, more knowledge, more opinions, more realities than just knowing one fraction of the piece of this huge puzzle we all still are trying to figure out.