Obama is not black

w1z4rd

w1z4rd

Valued Senior Member
I think this is a really warped perspective America throws out. Ive said it, and I will say it again. Obama is not black... well anymore than he is white.

In America.. anyone with a tan is called black it seems. In South Africa things are different.

A black man (ie 100% bantu) is called black. A black man is the result of two black parents.

A colored man is a man who has a white parent and a black parent (dunno why the yanks refer to these people as black as well).

A white man has two white parents.

I know this is very simplistic, but why is colored (meaning white parent, black parent) man in America considered black? By applying the same logic. .or lack of it, you can claim this colored person is white as well.

Obama is not a black man by African standards. He is a colored man with a white parent and a black parent.
 
Aaah, okay, I think I found the reason. It comes from America`s racism

The one-drop rule is a historical colloquial term in the United States that holds that a person with any trace of African ancestry is considered black unless having an alternative non-white ancestry which he or she can claim, such as Native American, Asian, Arab, or Australian aboriginal.[1] It developed most strongly out of the binary culture of long years of institutionalized slavery.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule

As Langston Hughes wrote, "You see, unfortunately, I am not black. There are lots of different kinds of blood in our family. But here in the United States, the word 'Negro' is used to mean anyone who has any Negro blood at all in his veins. In Africa, the word is more pure. It means all Negro, therefore black. I am brown."[2]
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Silly americans:p
 
Well one reason is because mulattos/ hybdris or colored people ( meaning those with one white parent and one black parent) Were once illegal human begins.

In other words it was against the law for such a person to be born in America. This law maintained untill 1969. So those that were born of this orentation where called black to protect them. Such children where supposed to be killed at birth in America in the hosptial, prior to 1969.

the other reason is because there are other laws that say if you have one black grandparent or even one drop of black hertiage you are black in america. even if you are gentically white.

Oddly mixed race people are still illegal human beings in some parts of the world.


DwayneD.L.Rabon
 
wizard said:
Obama is not a black man by African standards.
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Or Brazilian standards, or any of a dozen other countries' standards. There is no such thing as a racial designation other than by some country's standards.

But he is a black man in the US. And that's where he lives.
 
1) Big, simple categories are easier for people to manipulate in their heads.
2) The fact that many Americans practice false dichotomy by seeing black and white as categories is different only in degree than the Black/Mulatto/White spectrum used by others or the European/Mixed/Indian of Mexico
3) Half-Sudanese,Half-European is not a category many people have experience with. You would might as well say Obama is Half-Elf,Half-Dragon.
4) None of these terms is useful for predicting the likelihood Obama would be an annoying person to sit across a table from or capable of becoming a Michelin guide two star chef.
5) And since they aren't useful, these concepts of themselves are not science.

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/10/the_science_museum_of_minnesot.php
 
I think he could definately be blacker, it's tantamount to a slap in the face to all the "Leroy Johnsons" out there that the first black president isn't even of slave descent. He's just a foreigner really, not a true african american.
A real cotton pickin american negro would have been more culturally and historically significant. Obama might as well be asian or south american, he's not really black black.
 
I prefer to call people "African-Americans." People can decide whether they want to hang onto the culture of their ancestors. They can learn to speak perfect English, listen to heavy metal, eat pizza, play American football, and move into a neighborhood where the other people are not all of one background, and they can become unhyphenated Americans like the rest of us. But if we identify them by the color of their skin, they will always be that color. It just doesn't seem right.

"The color of a man's skin is no more important than the color of his eyes." -Ras Tafari Makonen (Haile Selassie)
 
Firstly, the color of a skin is no more important than his eye color. thanks for the Ras quote.


Though as a white person in Africa.. born and bred here.. Your "african-american" phrase made me smile when I was there. If I got introduced to an "african american" I introduced myself back as an "African-African" Born and bred and 100% African:p

However, African is not a skin color but a regional title. So I suppose it fits :p
 
Good Point.
Wizard, I recommend that you start posting on the World events section.
Africa is almost never discussed there.

You are right. When people say the word African, they are thinking Black African. It's a prejudice I didn't realise I had.

If I was handy at producing graphics, I would produce a sciforums world map, with size of country based on number of posts.
The USA, UK and middle east would be huge.
Africa would be the size of the Isle of Wight.
 
It's like with dual-citizenship. Obama could have chose to assimilate with the white or black communities, and he became black. Some of that has to do with anyone looking a little black being considered black, but he also married a black woman.
 
Obama seems to identify with the black community. Most Americans are some type of hybrid of cultures and races anyway. It's all about fractions. I prefer to be just an American, it's the only racial category that I fit into 100%.
 
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spidergoat said:
Obama could have chose to assimilate with the white or black communities,
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There is no way Obama could have presented himself as a white man in a political arena in the US - including high school.
 
Just so people dont get the wrong idea... I dont care that he is black. I recon he rocks and I hope he wins! :p

I think it would mean a lot to the Africans in Africa as well. Black man in control of the worlds most powerful nation. Its going to do a lot to get rid of some of the victim mentality I think and motivate a lot of Africans.

Though I think his call for change is a really good idea. I really hope it works out. The world needs change.
 
w1z4rd said:
I think this is a really warped perspective America throws out. Ive said it, and I will say it again. Obama is not black... well anymore than he is white.

In America.. anyone with a tan is called black it seems. In South Africa things are different.

A black man (ie 100% bantu) is called black. A black man is the result of two black parents.

A colored man is a man who has a white parent and a black parent (dunno why the yanks refer to these people as black as well).

A white man has two white parents.

I know this is very simplistic, but why is colored (meaning white parent, black parent) man in America considered black? By applying the same logic. .or lack of it, you can claim this colored person is white as well.

Obama is not a black man by African standards. He is a colored man with a white parent and a black parent.
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You don't know what you are talking about. You are correct that Obama is not black, and thats because there is no such race as black. Even in Africa they had no concept of a black race until "white" people came there and told them they were black.

I'd say just about every African American is mixed, whether or not it's the same precise mix as Obama is debatable, but it's fair to say that Black Americans are exactly that, socially Black and racially American.
 
spidergoat said:
It's like with dual-citizenship. Obama could have chose to assimilate with the white or black communities, and he became black. Some of that has to do with anyone looking a little black being considered black, but he also married a black woman.
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Ridiculousness. Obama is as assimilated as a black man can possibly get in this country, the only way he could assimilate more would be if he married a white woman like Tiger Woods has done. You act like Obama just decided to become black, as if racists gave him any choice.

The reason he married a black woman? Because only 2% of white women are in interracial marriage. That and also in Obama's generation if he tried to pull a Tiger Woods he'd have probably been lynched, stalked, threatened, and it would have destroyed his political career.
 
CutsieMarie89 said:
Obama seems to identify with the black community. Most Americans are some type of hybrid of cultures and races anyway. It's all about fractions. I prefer to be just an American, it's the only racial category that I fit into 100%.
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The "white" community created the "black" community. The "black" community no longer exists, it's 2008. The only people who still believe in a black community are former black panthers, Louis Farakahn, and other black nationalists who make up a small minority of blacks. There is no black community anymore, and if you think there is, can I assume you believe there is a white community too? Do you think the Nazi's and KKK are still representing the whites?
 
John99 said:
Use your head. His mother IS white.
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Do you think that would matter to racists in this country? A lot of black individuals have white parents, white grand parents, and they were still considered black. If they lived in the south and tried to marry a white girl they'd be lynched. It's happened, look it up.
 
If any of you want to understand why complete assimilation is so difficult, look at this post http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=87409

Yes it's good to promote interracial marriages, but a lot of people are still too racist to do it, and the majority of the people against it are actually white people. So until white people agree to marry more black people, assimilation is going to take thousands of years at this pace before we recognize that we are all one people.

And if you REALLY support Obama's agenda so much and you are so against racism and want to promote equality, why don't you marry and have a black wife then create some mixed babies?
 
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