"So why isn't Obama white"?

[Mennisco]

He's not white because he's not Casper the Friendly Fookin' Ghost. That should suffice for a flippant 11 year old.

[SQUACKEE]

I was at a jam session years ago at an outdoor keger and we were playing sex machine by James Brown. We keep the groove goin and my friend Mike, the lead singer who is black started singing, Say it loud, im black and im proud!" We all joined in for a long time until another friend playing guitar yelled, "Hey wait a minute, im not black!" Whole place cracked up. :lol:

[jazzcyclist]

I would be interested in the comments of any "black" posters here on their opinion on racial nomenclature.

Black, Negro, Colored or African-American, it really doesn't matter to me as long as the word isn't meant as a slur. There are a lot more important things that we need to be worried about than trivial issues like this.

[ndamix]

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.

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.

While there hasn't been recent studies conducted to determine how Black people (Negros, African-Americans, colored, etc) define themselves, part of the reason why the adjective moved from 'Negros' to the present-day usage of 'African-American' largely came about during the 1960s.

When Blacks (I used AA & Black interchangably) first came to this country, their opinions were not solicited in what they wanted to be call'd; and practically 300+ years of history in America bear witness to that. Blacks made limited attempts to define themselves as it related to their position in American. However, the dictates of the majority society (regardless of whether it was the Northern or Southern United States of America) dictated what Blacks would be called.

It wasn't until the 'Black is beautiful' era of the 1960s/70s that Black people made the attempt to define themselves of what they would be called that had a major impact both within the Black community and the overall larger society.

While I was rather young during this period in time, I remember family conversations revolving around this topic which I believe was more of an exercise in self-determination as opposed to political correctness.

[jazzcyclist]

I've also observed that even Blacks who have a complexion as light as Lolo Jones seem to assimilate easier with Blacks than with Whites. All it seems to take is just a hint of something other than European DNA in your physical appearance to make a difference in how you're treated.

[lonewolf]

triple50, you have perfectly described the way it is.

[triple50]

Being the product of an interracial couple (black dad, white mom), I thought I would give some perspective on this topic. My complexion is pretty similiar to Obama's and I grew up in areas that were pretty racially mixed. My reason for considering myself black is that growing up as a youth when I was hanging around other black kids I was always considered black, just lighter than most. And everyone knew my mom was white. But when I was around the white kids, I was always considered different as they all looked at me and thought of me as black. Not that I was treated badly, it was just obvious I was not white. To this day nothing has changed and I don't ever expect it to. If I was to walk into a room and tell everyone I was black no one would think twice, but if I was to say I was white I would get some pretty puzzled looks. Thats just reality.

[jazzcyclist]

Are there any countries besides the US that asks these types of questions on government forms?

[Marlow]

perhaps one will someday see government, hospital, employment, etc. forms (the EEO ones) cease all-together asking if a person is White, Black, Mixed Black, Asian, Black Carribean, Black other, Mixed other, etc.

Zackly. Which is why I always subvert their efforts with 'other'.

[EPelle]

Does Obama consider himself American, or African-American? Is there a necessity to differentiate between the two in this day and age? The consensus by Jazz and Marlow - and even by Squackee - is that, no, race doesn:t matter much today (as opposed to the past). If that is the case, perhaps one will someday see government, hospital, employment, etc. forms (the EEO ones) cease all-together asking if a person is White, Black, Mixed Black, Asian, Black Carribean, Black other, Mixed other, etc.

[Marlow]

love people but humans suck. :P

There's a famous quote (which I'm blanking on right now) that says, paraphrasing,

"I don't hate people. I just hate everything they do."

[SQUACKEE]

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.

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. :P

[Marlow]

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.

[SQUACKEE]

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.

[jazzcyclist]

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.