Barack Obama Senator Barack Obama was duly elected as the President of the US on November 4, 2008. He'll be sworn into office in January of 2009. The thing that I find funny is that it's being hailed as a historic triumph by US media sources — the first black president in the history of the United States — and Barack Obama isn't black. I'll explain what I mean.


Mulatto is an Ugly Word

Until the 1930s in the US, mulatto was the word commonly used to describe a person with one white parent and one black parent. Back then, Obama would have been called a mulatto. One of the reasons the word is offensive is that prior to the abolition of slavery, mulattos inherited slave status if their mothers were slaves. Slavery is offensive.

Based on literary research, the term was never accurate to begin with since it also referred to other mixed ethnicities. Today, the terms "biracial" and "multiracial" are friendlier and more accurate. Obama is biracial.

Half and half does not equal a whole of one or the other.

It's ridiculous to call Barack Obama black (or Negro) when he's only half black, but it's a common occurrence in the US where racial quotas have been instituted over the years. The truth is that he's no more black than he is white. When I wrote "3 Reasons Why Senator John McCain Will Be The Next US President" back in April of 2008 (before Hillary Clinton withdrew from the Democratic Primaries), I didn't look into Obama's racial background. I assumed (and assumed wrong) that the media usage of black didn't need to be questioned.

Would Obama have been elected if he was completely black instead of just half? I'm not sure if it would have made much of difference. Having a female running mate could have been enough to sway the votes away from McCain by itself. Did Americans believe a relatively young woman could lead the US should something happen to McCain? Obviously I can't read minds, but it's one of the thoughts that crossed my mind as I examined the choices. I'm sure it crossed the minds of many others.

The Racial Quota Systems

My younger son (the older one is adopted) is half white and half Filipino. Does that make him a Filipino? According to racial quota systems in the US it does (as a "Pacific Islander"). If you look at him, however, he looks as white as I do. He can claim a minority status just about anywhere once he returns to the US after nursing school. Whether he does that or not is entirely up to him.

If proper tribal records had been kept (or could be verified), I could claim a minority status as a Native American since my grandfather (my mother's estranged father) was a Native American. To this day, none of my relatives can say whether he was a full or partial Native American, but it was verified that he lived on a reservation in Oklahoma. Whether I would claim the status or not isn't worth thinking about since nothing can be proven.

Minority statuses shouldn't matter. They should never matter. Whether Barack Obama is black or white shouldn't matter. Unfortunately, in the eyes of the media and every prejudiced person living in the US, it does matter. I personally think all of the racial quota systems should be abolished and I wonder if Obama will even address the issue while he's in office.

For those of you who read the title of this article and skipped to the end (right here), I'll repeat the gist of the message: Barack Obama isn't black. His mother is white and his father is black. The election is a victory for people who aren't completely white, but it's not a victory for people who are completely black.