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.
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This article is published as: President Elect Barack Obama Is Not Black
He is wh….ite and bl….ack.
Put it all together, you get whack.
Just another whack in the whack house.
You might think so if you'd followed certain pundits and bloggers chewing over the election of Barack Obama. Over and over, one hears that he is the harbinger of a "postracial" America, his election signifying a nation that has grown completely beyond racial discrimination. As if no one has been called a rhymes-with-digger or pulled over for driving black since Nov. 4.Those who claim we live in a post-racial America are guilty of no sin greater than wishful thinking. But that doesn't make them any less incorrect. Not simply because people are still being pulled over for driving black but, more fundamentally, because Obama's victory does not mean what some of us think it does.
Sigh… Like I said… CNN, FOX, ABC, NBC, The White House Press, AP and just about every news circulation in the world has archived Barack Obama as the U.S.'s first African American/Black President… I could give a damn what you jealous/racist idiot fools try to rationalize… My Commander-in-Chief is Black!
Before, if you had one super-duper-electro-magnetic-microscopic atomic molecule of Black in you, then you were without a doubt Black… Now, the most powerful man on the planet is Black, but you idiots try to rationalize otherwise… You'll never ever convince me that my Commander-in-Chief isn't Black like me… Better "Google"…
RT Cunningham stated:
"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."
FYI, Filipino isn't a "race", it's a nationality. You need to insert "Asian"…
If he's a Filipino, that means he lineage is Mongloid mixed with Spanish. Also, a lotta Filipinos (my asawako is one) are very fair-skinned due to 2 things… Spanish Conquistador influence and skin-whitening products. They are the #1 consumer of skin-whitening products in the world. Bottom-line; His race, not nationality, would influence his skin-tone. Since some Filipinos are already pale-skinned, having one mixed with a caucasian wouldn't necessarily result in a dramatic "lightening" of their skin-tone…
Additionally, it's different when determining race with non-black mixed off-spring. Black and white are the opposite ends of the spectrum/melonin… It's pretty obvious when someone is mixed with black, and, as if you didn't already know, racism plays a huge part. The darker your skin, the more devastating the level of racism employed…
And trust me, having been indoctrinated into the world of the Filipinos, I know they are as racist as any other nationality other than Indian (deployed to about 50 countries during my 26-year U.S. Armed Forces career). I'll bet my life he chooses the same easy road the rest of the white-wanna-be Filipinos chooses! The majority of Filipino parents tell their kids not to marry "a black" (can't even phrase it correctly!). Which is funny because in America, they are respected less than almost all other races/nationalities… Other Asian nationalities refer to them as "The N-G-ERS of Asia!" Ex-Pats and those that once were stationed in the P.I. (mainly white)refer to the women as "LBFMs"… Little Brown Fuck Machines… Killed them when "a black" was elected as the most powerful man on the planet… Now they're REALLY screwed-up!
Black slaves built this nation, then their descendents fought and died for the Civil Rights of ALL people of color, even the racist Filipinos and Indians, so it's no abberration that one eventually was elected as leader of the nation they built!
But to be honest, as much as we embrace President Obama, we desire to have an actual AFRICAN-AMERICAN SLAVE DESCENDENT to be President one day! President Obama's father was Kenyan, not a true African American…
If he is called "Americas first black president" then white people can say "oh look, another white president"
He is NOT black is is mixed black and white! GRRR
and how does the color of his skin change anything, why does it matter? maybe it's just me, but i don't think it has any relevance
Danielle, his skin colour is relevant as blacks and biracial people have been suppressed for hundreds of years in America, so for someone with brown skin to become a President after the continual suppression of his people makes the colour of his skin of defining importance.
Skin color makes no difference !!!! In this case its a metter of qualification for the job!!!