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The same reason he isn't black. -
So in response to those who don't consider him black. Are he and Michelle an interracial couple? And should his daughters also not be considered black?Comment
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No, neither are white or black.Originally posted by triple50
No, neither white or black.Comment
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For a while now I've been wondering what use are the ethnic check boxes on various forms. What if you're half asian and half white? Half white and half black? Half English and half French! And that's the simpler common examples. Tiger Woods type ancestary takes it to another level. Hopefully the ethnic check boxes will not be needed in the near future.Comment
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Perhaps, by the end of this election, we can all be considered just people.Comment
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There are very few just people.Originally posted by rasb
I have been checking 'Other' on forms since 8th grade(I am, after all, Welsh-English-Scottish-Dutch, and they never seem to have a block for that!) and have always highly encouraged all my students to do the same, even when they might 'benefit' from identifying themselves as 'minorities'.Comment
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Geneticists have, for three hundred years, classified all mankind as either Caucasian, Negro, Mongoloid, American Indian or Malayasian. Obviously, there has been considerable co-mingling in every conceivable combination of the five "races". The fact is, in Western culture, presumption of race is most commonly based on physical characteristics.
IMO, Negro is a more respectful and accurate nomenclature for the race of those with Negro ancestors but I would not care to define at what percentage of Negro ancestry the classification would still apply and I have no problem acceding to the wish of those who prefer to be referred to as black.
By the same token, I believe American Indian is more descriptive than Native American. Everyone born in North or South American is a native American.
I don't know why political correctness caused Negros to segue from Negro to "colored" to "black" but, somehow, anyone with an obvious or acknowledged percentage of Negro ancestors, no matter how minute, is now deemed black.
Consequently, Obama is considered black because his father was a Kenyan Negro, even though geneologists classify him as 50% Caucasian, 37.5 % Semitic (Arab), also Caucasian, and 12.5% Negro.
I do not know how many Negroes resent the legitimate word Negro. Perhaps they do so because mentally they hear the "n-word" which has evolved from common useage to being considered derogatory; even though I have Negro friends who use the word casually, and sometimes caustically, among themselves.
I do know, being one, that most American Indians of my acquaintance do not resent being called Indian. I acknowledge that, primarily in the past, Indian also was intended as a derogatory term, albeit usually by those looking for someone, anyone, to whom they could feel superior. I suspect that is true today of those who persist in referring to Negros as "n-word"
When I was a child, 77 years ago, many of my extended family who could "pass" as white preferred to ignore their Indian heritage. Nowadays, everyone wants to be an Indian.
I would be interested in the comments of any "black" posters here on their opinion on racial nomenclature.
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Should he have drawn another card in the womb, and been born to a black Russian and a white American, what would he have been then? Neither black, nor Russian?Originally posted by MarlowComment
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He can call himself anything he wishes, just as I consider myself 'other'. If he were to speak Russian at home and carry the drapings of Russian culture, he could easily be considered Russian. But does he carry himself as 'black'? As 'white'? As anything but American?Originally posted by EPelleComment
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There is seldom a time when one speaks of someone being "American" without racially qualifying the subject - whether that be from current or past heritage/nationality.
Obama doesn:t "sound" white, though he is an American.Comment
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From the time this country was founded, people who looked like Obama have always been treated as though they were Black, regardless of who their parents or grandparents were. If Obama had come along at an earlier time in American history, the fact that he had a White mother would not have allowed him to demand the rights and privileges of White people. He would have had to attend Black schools, use Black restrooms and water fountains, use the Black section of public facilities such as theatres and buses, and serve in a Black unit of a segregated military. Furthermore, people like Obama have always been recieved better in the Black community than in the White community.
The one thing that I find encouraging is that young kids today don't seem to be color conscious. I've noticed on a number of occasions that if you ask them what color a person is, they become a little bit befuddled. Recently, my 10-year-old niece was telling my mother about a fight at school and my mother asked her whether the kids were Black or White. My niece then got a confused look on her face and asked, "Why do you want to know that Grandma?" It was like my mother was asking her what brand sneakers they were wearing. When I was that age, my mother probably wouldn't have had to ask that question because I would have volunteered the information. I have heard of similar stories from friends of mine about their children and grandchildren.Comment
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Great points Jazz. Wow i never looked at it that way. And my son seems to also be of a new generation that is mostly color blind.phsstt!Comment
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The good news is that we are increasingly finding 'race' to be an irrelevant distinguisher. The bad news is that we are finding plenty of other ways to accentuate differences among us. This election campaign is going a really good job of illustrating that.Comment
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I have heard alot of people in Connecticut saying they hate New Yorkers who come up here to our parks! And so it goes. I love people but humans suck. :POriginally posted by Marlowphsstt!Comment
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