AP: Obama's true colors: Black, white ... or neither?

[FrenchieCat]

Obama's true colors: Black, white ... or neither?

A perplexing new chapter is unfolding in Barack Obama's racial saga: Many people insist that "the first black president" is actually not black.


Debate over whether to call this son of a white Kansan and a black Kenyan biracial, African-American, mixed-race, half-and-half, multiracial — or, in Obama's own words, a "mutt" — has reached a crescendo since Obama's election shattered assumptions about race.

Obama has said, "I identify as African-American — that's how I'm treated and that's how I'm viewed. I'm proud of it." In other words, the world gave Obama no choice but to be black, and he was happy to oblige.

But the world has changed since the young Obama found his place in it.
snip

"Obama has chosen the heritage he feels comfortable with," he said. "His physical appearance is black. I don't know how he could have chosen to be any other race. Let's just say he decided to be white — people would have laughed at him."

More.....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081214/ap_on_re_us/obama_s_not_black_3

[babylonsister]

1. I saw this and hated it. Why 'now' should this be an issue? I think the

writers were bored and this is what they came up with. Bored me, too.

[FrenchieCat]

4. I agree, but found it a fascinating read, just the same.....

As a Biracial person who has always identified myself as Black, the subject is an interesting one. Although they mention that back in the day, being bi-racial was never an option, it should be noted that there have always been bi-racial people in this country going way back, and they have always been considered as Black till fairly recently.

Also, the Congressman that they mention in the story, U.S. Rep. G. K. Butterfield, who has Black parents on both sides had some interesting things to say.

This is him....
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/G._K._Butterfield,_official_photo_portrait_color.jpg/503px-G._K._Butterfield,_official_photo_portrait_color.jpg

[Demit]

13. This is something Obama struggled with for a long time—identity. It evidently didn't bore him.

I disagree that the article is making it an "issue". I read it as an honest explication on what race means—particularly what it means, in practical terms, to a person who is biracial. There is nothing wrong with talking about race. What's wrong is when people make value judgments about it.

[MadMaddie]

2. Yawnnn....

He's American!!

These Mags have to invent some controversy over nothing..

[Romis]

15. And then some.......

http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/obama_bilderbergers_160.html


http://www.ronpaulwarroom.com/?p=18927

[firedupdem]

3. Hellooooo.....the economy is crumbling....report on something

we need to discuss. Leave Obama's heritage alone and accept the fact that he's african american and proud of it!

[FrenchieCat]

5. Better this than AP writing about "tenious" links between Rod Blago and Barack!

Just sayin'.

[firedupdem]

7. yeah.....I guess this is better than that made up controversy!

:)

[Bucky]

23. Yes, every single writer in America should focus on the economy exclusively.

We should forget all about culture, education, science, religion, the arts, and sports until unemployment is back down below 4%.

[firedupdem]

26. Thanks for stretching it to the extreme! n/t

[BlooInBloo]

6. This will always be the most interesting thing about him to white folks.

[Quantess]

8. Oh, will it?

I'm white and it's a non-issue.
:eyes:

[BlooInBloo]

9. Your bucking the statistical trend is gratifying. 2 more of us, and it'll falsify my statement!

:rofl:


EDIT: Subject typo.

[Quantess]

10. You mean, all the white folks who voted for Obama

are only interested in his racial background?
:crazy:

...okay...

[FlaGranny]

17. Here's another one

Bloo. Of course, I SEE the color of his skin, but Barack is a beautiful human who gives me hope. I hope he turns out to be a better president than FDR. I see the warmth in his eyes and the determination on his face. I see the man.

[Bucky]

24. Yes, it's a good thing all the white folks think alike on this particular nonissue

Otherwise we might become too diverse to overgeneralize about.

[Jamastiene]

11. The human race n/t

[FrenchieCat]

12. I believe that at the end of the day, that really is what we all boil down to.

[Bucky]

32. So what you're saying is, you want to boil human beings down into soup.

My God, woman, have you no decency?!

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

14. He's both, but America still goes by the one-drop rule.

[Chiefofland]

29. On what basis do you claim that America "still goes" by the one-drop rule?

Which present US law states that mulattoes are to be called black?

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

31. the fact that no matter what their ancestry or how 'light' they are, barack obama, alicia keys,

halle berry, etc. are still referred to and looked on as african american. does anyone call halle white? we even had two obviously biracial women playing the full siblings of darker-skinned african americans on the cosby show. you think the same actresses could have done that on growing pains and it be accepted? no. i'm not saying its on the books as a law but its still an unspoken reality...

[uponit7771]

16. One drop laws in the states says he's black. Change one drop so people can call themselves what they

...want

[Chiefofland]

28. The one drop rule was struck down as illegal about 40 years ago

And do you agree with the premise of the one-drop rule, which doesn't even exist?

[uponit7771]

33. Doctors can STILL define a persons race at birth and NO, I don't agree with the one drop rule

[rebel with a cause]

18. None of us have any True colors if we are truthful.

Others see me as white, because my coloring is pale, but I do not see myself as just that. Perhaps because I don't want to, because my mother was brown (part American Indian) and I want to be like her and not my father. In my family I am probably the only one to feel like this. I am nutty and accept I that.

My ex was Latino and multi-racial and my children are the same. Their name identifies them as Latinos so they identify as that, but they don't necessarily look the part. As I have said many times before my daughter is often mistaken for Asian (but she can also be identified as a Latina) and my son definitely looks Middle Eastern. They do not identify as these other groups even though they are the ones they most closely resemble, because they identify with their father's family and his birthplace as well as mine. But they will never be identified as white although they have been raised by me and are more culturally mine than anything else.

Anyway, truthfully, most of us identify by what we know and who we know. Some of us look in the mirror and see the image that others see and accept that as our identity, and then some (like me) accept it but really don't feel the part we play. My children are proud of who the are but have a confused set of identity because, like Obama, they were not raised to be one culture above the other. They are somewhere in between the cultures they were born into and then have how others identify them on top of that.

Don't know if this makes any sense. Another night without sleeping does this to me. :9 :shrug:

[Clio the Leo]

19. I have always respected the wishes of those in question as to what they want to be referred to...

...... although that logic is a little awkward when dealing with my cousin, who could be Harold Ford's 14 year old twin, in wanting to be referred to as "white." We just kinda roll our eyes and laugh.

But I will say this .... for a long time, I've thought the notion of "color blindness" was just a Utopian ideal. It was something we should strive for but, because of the realities of the social history of the world we live in, it had no real practical application. We were better off celebrating our differences and trying to make the best of a bad situation. (If anyone is familiar with Jane Elliot's Blue Eyed/Brown Eyed study this is the basis for my beliefs .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Elliott )

But for the first time in my life, I feel like I've actually seen color blindness in action. A man WAS judged for the content of his character and not, as much, his ethnicity. And not only that, but it happened in large part by his sheer will that it be that way.

I've seen my elderly Alabama relatives, the same generation as the man who killed the little girls in the Birmingham Church bombing, say they were voting, to my surprise, FOR Obama because he was simply more qualified than his white opponent. As a matter of fact, the only prejudice they applied was that they were voting for the Democrat .... "because they always vote for the Democrat." These are people who I've HEARD use the "N" word. Heard openly speak with disgust at a white girl with a black boyfriend in their small town.

Change has truly come to America .... in so MANY ways. And Barack Obama has me questioning ..... hoping ..... that the very ideas I had about this nation and it's people ..... the ugly shame ..... may actually be done away with in my lifetime.

[angee_is_mad]

20. Most African Americans are mixed

Even if you are dark as berry now, if you traced your ancestry there is probably some european linage somewhere. I have a suspician that if Jimmy Walker called himself biracial or mixed, there would be some that would have issues with that and I'm not just talking about black people.

Hell, not every black family back in the day practiced the paper bag standard. Some of us got darker with each generation.

Barack Hussein Obama is an African American man.

[Bucky]

22. Most humans are mixed

Our genetic heritage is so convoluted, so diverse from family to family, than when you look at it objectively you can see how outright silly it is to think in the big dumb racial blocks that Americans use. From a genetic point of view, there's more DNA diversity within any one "race" than there is between the means of any two races. Race, in other words, is far far more a cultural designation than it is biological.

I'm glad we have a "black president" because it makes us confront both the utter silliness of trying to categorize human beings and the tragedy and grief that the traditions of racism have brought to our shores. But mostly I'm happy that we have an intelligent, decent, liberal, Democratic president who is going to get us focused on what it really means to be Americans--historically lucky people who have a responsibility to lead the world toward a better day.

[WinkyDink]

30. I think rather more cultures use "racial blocks", as well. Chinese, Korean, Japanese, perhaps

Scandinavian, ....

[verges]

21. How about....

he's an American.

[Bucky]

25. Fine, but....

... just don't tell Clarance that.

[Odin2005]

27. He's HUMAN, that's what matters.

Unlike BushCo, who are a bunch of inhuman scum.

Who cares about what color of skin somebody has? I (born in 1986) never had. I've just always seen people as people, skin color is about as relevant to me as hair and eye color.

[Vinca]

34. First he wasn't black enough, then he was acting too white,

now he's not black enough again. The guy can't win. The people obsessing about this need to appreciate that the man is intelligent, sane and has a life . . . unlike them.