Obama's race?

[SHRED]

Why, since he is half black and half white, is he called "black" or "African American"?
I am not being snide here.
I truly do not understand why is he referred to this way considering his genetics?
Is it based superficially on how he "looks"?





----

[keep_it_real]

1. Yes, it is based "superficially on how he "looks"

And the the one drop thinking that goes back to slavery, I think, that said if you had one drop of black blood or ancestry you were black. I may be wrong on the percentage but it's something like that. But Obama knows he is not all black but half white.

[papau]

11. Louisiana case ruled a 1/8th black person a nergro (Homer Plessy) - many

in the south had a one drop mentality - and some actually checked for "Hexadecaroon" (1/32) and "Quintroon" (1/16) -

There were so many Quadroon (1/4) in New Orleans that I was told there were Quadroon balls at one time under French rule.

[Barack_America]

2. It goes based on how he identifies himself.

He identifies himself as an African-American man. End of story, as far as I am concerned.

[doc03]

3. It makes it more advantageous to play the race card n/t

[Danger Mouse]

6. Take that racist horse shit elsewhere.

[doc03]

13. I was all for Obama myself until

his supporters started analyzing every word the Clintons or anyone else said and twisting them into a racist remark. I previously supported Edwards, Obama and Clinton in that order. I still don't know if I can bring myself to voting for another Clinton after the embarrassment Bill Clinton was. Bill Clinton could have gone down as great President but he ran around the Whitehouse like dog in heat and I hate to think of him there again.

[Bluerthanblue]

21. if this is an example of being "all for" someone- I'd hate to see lukewarm- your

statement is rude and wrong-

I hope you come to understand this.

peace~

[doc03]

22. I don't see where it is rude to state my reason

for changing my mind about Obama. I feel since SC had a large black population he used race to drive wedge between the blacks and the Clintons. Sorry but that's the way it looked to me and I am not alone. It looked to me like it came right out of Karl Rove play book.

[Bluerthanblue]

23. your statement about "using the race card" is the one

I was refering to as rude- not to mention wrong.

Obama is condemned by some "Hillary supporters" for using the "race-card" when the fact that his father was a citizen of Kenya (making it completely valid for him to refer to himself as "African-American") is seen as being an advantage- and then other self-identified "Hillary supporters" say that he can't possibly be elected in the US- because racism is still alive and well, and there is no way people will vote for a "Black man". Which is it folks?- You may want to get your act together.

:shrug:

Those who hide behind the label "Hillary supporter" and dribble this crap all over DU- have my pity.

I am very comfortable with Barack Obama- I believe he will make an excellent President- and that America is not only 'ready' for a leader like him, we are desperate for one.

You spend time reading Karl Rove's play book?- I wouldn't waste any more time on his kind of "politics" if I were you- it seems to be affecting your judgement.

peace~

[doc03]

24. Isn't that what happened in SC imho

Bill Clinton said Obama's position on the war was a fairy tale. That was spun into (he said it was a fairy tale for a black man to run for President) by Obama's campaign and the help of the MSM's hate for the Clintons. Hillary brought up the subject of his involvement with the slum lord Rhizo. That was spun into a racist remark. When Joe Biden tried to compliment him he got nailed for making a racist remark. All along the MSM has been fanning the flames. Like I said I would have supported Obama over Clinton until his campaign started the race business. Clinton I still don't know if I can vote for her either. In my opinion Joe Biden, Dennis Kucinich and John Edwards all had more experience and were more qualified than either Obama or Clinton.

[psychopomp]

33. Sorry, this is off-topic w/regard to the original post, but...

...I find it terribly myopic that you do not refer to Sen. Clinton's use of the despicable racist code-word in her comment that Sen. Obama could be perceived as not being ready because he hasn't done the "spade work."

I totally lost any respect for her when I heard her use that remark and was reminded of her husband's race politics in 1992 (Sistah Souljah and that execution in Arkansas).

on edit: Sen. Obama is a as "white" as he is "black," in my opinion.

[doc03]

34. Oh for Christs sake you use the word spade in a

sentence and it is a racial slur, give me a break. This all started when Hillary made the comment that it took a President to get the civil rights bill passed. What she said was the truth MLK did bring the issue to national attention but if it wasn't for President Johnson the civil rights legislation would not have been passed.

[psychopomp]

36. Yes, she said it.."spade work"

And sorry, that's just the way I read it, you are free to your own interpretation.

Have you ever heard anybody say that they feel or don't feel somebody has done the requisite "spade work" when talking about qualifications?

At a critical time when Sen. Clinton's campaign was trying to marginalize Sen. Obama as the "black candidate" she indeed used this term. You are free to read it a different way.

[cali]

28. I doubt you were ever "all for Obama"

And people who base their support on what Obama supporters say, or people who base their support for Hill on what Hill supporters say, aren't doing a lot of thinking.

[chascarrillo]

15. Keep hate alive!

[H2O Man]

26. That's some sad shit.

[Dogmudgeon]

4. Generally, yes

For example, I would be classified as Black under the old "One Drop Rule" of the Jim Crow laws. Five generations ago, one of my forebears married a "Melungeon", a group of Black/Portuguese/Irish/Indian folks in Appalachia.

But I'm about as White as you can get. I'm so White I'm actually pinkish. You can see the blood.

And no way would I try to "pass" for Black. It's pretentious. It's conceited. It's plain old tacky.

In the USA, if you look Black, then you ARE Black. Our task should be to make a society in which that becomes unimportant except as a matter of cultural affiliation.

--p!

[jaysunb]

5. Here's how it works

Me, Jesse Jackson, and Obama are speeding down the street when a cop pulls us over. The cop says, " all you niggas get out the car and lay face down on the ground."
When the back up cops get there, me, Jesse and Obama are laying face down on the ground.

Got it ? :rofl:

[scheming daemons]

7. Obama very seldomly mentions his ethnicity....

...his opponents, however (*cough* Bubba *cough*), go out of their way to mention it.

Obama and Tiger Woods are similar in how their personality and appeal transends race.

Millions of white people love Tiger Woods, and a similar dynamic exists with Barack Obama.

[Danger Mouse]

8. He self-identifies as black.

It depends on what your background is, what you know, what side of you is most comfortable.
That's how Obama sees himself, and there's nothing wrong with it.

[NJObamaWoman]

9. It goes back to that old saying...1 drop of black blood means you are black.

Yes its based on his looks. Because he has dark skin most americans can't see past it and think he's only black.

[candice]

10. His half-sister calls herself White-Asian, and says her brother

identifies as black and has worked in black communities in Chicago. Obama's mother was American white (Hawaii) and his father Kenyan black. Obama was raised by his white mother and grandparents in Hawaii, which is multi-cultural in terms of whites/Asians, except for the years he had an Indonesian step-father and lived in Indonesia.

His biological father left when he was two and supposedly returned to Kenya and his other wife (there were four in total) who had already had one child by him. Obama's mother was not aware that her first husband already had a wife.

We should dispense with the category of race. It's more of a cultural experience.

The experience of most American blacks is quite different. They have lived here for more than 200 years and were brought over as slaves. This is the heritage that Condi Rice came out of, and one must admire her for overcoming this obstacle.

You can read about Obama's privileged childhood (elite prep school in Honolulu) here:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-070325obama-youth-story,1,4006113.story

His biological father's story is related by the Daily Mail in the U.K. The man was a sad case, but the son wasn't raised by him.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=431908&in_page_id=1770

[Raine]

35. THANKS for the links

very interesting.

[annie1]

12. typically if you look like your minority half you are seen as that minority.

[my3boyz]

14. One drop of black blood and you are black

in the united states! It has been like that for years. During slavery time all those slaves had children by the white men on the plantation and those kids were still considered black. My husband's mom is Filipino and his dad is black. He is considered black.

[tammywammy]

16. He refers to himself as black

[Cha]

17. How silly...So much to care

about and you come up with this? Don't you get out much? Where you been?

[billbuckhead]

20. So it's OK for Bill Clinton to have been the first black president?

[FrenchieCat]

18. Were still at race? Damn! How sad.

[K Gardner]

19. Shit man ! I thought we were on to HEIGHT! Some people say he's too damned tall ! Why are we back

on race??!!

[rufus dog]

25. His race? Currently his is in a race for the Democratic Nomination

Which he will win, then he will be in a race for the Presidency and will win in a landslide.

[Perry Logan]

27. All I know is, the Obama people mention race every five seconds. It's positively obsessive.

[doc03]

29. That's been my observation, as you can

see above I pointed it out and get pretty much called a racist. It's the same with illegal immigration unless you want to totally open up our borders you are a racist. Here is another example, I have been up for probably 2 hours today and have heard Oprah say she is not supporting Obama because he is black she is doing it because he is brilliant. That is fine she can say that if she wants but I have heard it repeated at least a half a dozen times already and haven't heard one other line from any of the other candidates Democratic or Republican.

[1corona4u]

30. Obama himself decided...

that he was more comfortable in 'black america' than he was in 'white america'. According to what he said in his book....so he chose.

[sniffa]

31. white man, white woman, white baby;

black man, black woman, black baby;
white man, black woman, black baby;
black man, white woman, black baby.

[1corona4u]

32. Well. I'm not sure what your point was,

but the last time I checked, blacks were only at 12% of our population....so 'fear of a black planet' is a bit premature. Like about 100 years or so. If they stop killing each other.

80%/12%

[question everything]

37. The term African American, of course, has been used to describe the descendants

of slaves in this country.

Obama is not.

Not only that, he did not grow in a home where family and friends experienced, talked, and breathed the Civil Rights movement.

This is why many in South Carolina had to be convinced by his wife, with a darker skin. This is why so many whites vote for him, because he does not behave or talk like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. This is why exit polls suggested that, at least in the first white states: Iowa and New Hampshire, he attracted the wine drinkers over 100K earners, while Clinton the beer drinkers less than 50K earners.