"So why isn't Obama white"?

[EPelle]

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.

[Marlow]

Neither black, nor Russian?

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?

[EPelle]

The same reason he isn't black.

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?

[lonewolf]

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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[Marlow]

Perhaps, by the end of this election, we can all be considered just people.

There are very few just people.
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'.

[rasb]

Perhaps, by the end of this election, we can all be considered just people.

[Daisy]

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.

[Marlow]

Are he and Michelle an interracial couple?
Should his daughters also not be considered black?

No, neither are white or black.
No, neither white or black.

[triple50]

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?

[Marlow]

The same reason he isn't black.

[gh]

11-year-old asks sticky question

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 13NPIT.DTL