Obama's True Colors: Black, White ... Or Neither?

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT/AP: Obama's True Colors: Black, White ... Or Neither?
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 13, 2008

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.

Intermarriage and the decline of racism are dissolving ancient definitions. The candidate Obama, in achieving what many thought impossible, was treated differently from previous black generations. And many white and mixed-race people now view President-elect Obama as something other than black.

So what now for racial categories born of a time when those from far-off lands were property rather than people, or enemy instead of family? ''They're falling apart,'' said Marty Favor, a Dartmouth professor of African and African-American studies and author of the book ''Authentic Blackness.''

''In 1903, W.E.B. DuBois said the question of the 20th century is the question of the color line, which is a simplistic black-white thing,'' said Favor, who is biracial. ''This is the moment in the 21st century when we're stepping across that.''...

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2008/12/13/us/AP-Obamas-Not-Black.html?pagewanted=all

[cali]

1. Obama is black. That's how he identifies himself. It's really that simple.

The article isn't bad but the title sucks.

[glowing]

2. Won't it be a glorious day when the occupant of the White House is just known as an American.

There's nothing wrong with heritage. Its what makes America unique.. many coming together. But we are all Americans. AND it will be a wonderful day when we are not defined by the color of our skin as to who we are or what we are stereo-typed into being.

[Deja Q]

6. 1970s liberals thought that. These days, every prefix has to be included otherwise one is a ___ist

or a ___phobe.

:shrug:

Better don a flamesuit. I'll don one and stand next to you; we are all Americans.

[fla nocount]

3. Green, Dollar Green. n/t

[Orrex]

4. Here's a fool-proof test

If he'd tried to ride a bus in 1950's Mississippi, where would they have ordered him to sit?

[nickgutierrez]

5. The word I like to use is "post-racial".

After all, in modern America, what is a "white" person?

[fla nocount]

7. Ahh, good point.

Being "Black" is a real thing, NA is a real thing too, Hispanic, Hindi, Oriental, ditto. But "White"? Now that's different, White is a thought pattern, a mind-set laced with an infinite pattern of influences and innuendos, White is an attitude and anybody can cop an attitude.

BO and his associates, regardless of skin color, are whiter than I'll ever be.

[DS1]

8. I told you guys he was a centrist

:yoiks:

[Octafish]

9. Human colored.

Outside, he's:

Flesh colored.
A flesh tone.
A shade of human.

Inside: He's an outstanding person.

[JustAnotherGen]

10. n/t

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 total agreement Obama. In total agreement. He and I can wax poetic all we want - but unless our mother is standing next to us and holding our hands . . .

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.
In total disagreement with that statement/commentary by the author. I'm 12 years younger than President Obama. The world is not: Oh where will we find enough roses to fill the bowls????

That's foolish and a dangerous statement.

There are still a lot of very ugly and hateful people in this country. Look at the Lipstick Lady (Palin). Look at the ire she created. The venom she incited people to spew against the Obamas. I'm sorry, but I was born black (in spite of the color of my mother's skin - and it is JUST skin) and the reality that Obama and I and many others like us have faced is that it:
1. Goes both ways. Actually ALL kinds of ways.

2. It's not over yet.

3. It took 44 years from the time that blacks became 'full Americans' to elect a President with brown skin. It will take another 44 years for us to move past race.


I'm hopeful that my grandchildren will not live in the world I grew up. Fact is, I didn't grow up in the same world my dad's mother grew up in (she'd be over 100 now) - having been a bi-racial child in Alabama at the turn of the last century. It's better. But it's still not perfect.

[DeepModem Mom]

12. Thanks for your post and your thoughts, JustAnotherGen. nt

[fla nocount]

13. Nice post, contemporary, not universal, but still a nice post.

Myself, I count eyes, nostrils, arms, legs, feet, hands and ears; if there's two of each I assume that they are in some way family. I never count and always disregard the numbers of fingers and toes...there's some weirdos out there ya' know.

[AspenRose]

14. You speak the truth

I've heard black people complaining about the skin tones of the blacks Obama has put in his cabinet so far (they're too "light"). :eyes:

Sho' nuff cuts ALL sorts of ways. And this country is too mired in black/white thinking (on all sides) to understand complexities. :hi:

[LWolf]

11. Purple. nt

[BlooInBloo]

15. It's funny watching white folks decide whether or not Obama is black....

Right after we finished an election with bunches white folks going on about how they don't want a "nigger" as President.

It's just more white folks trying to take away the fact that he's black simply because he doesn't "sound black" or "act black".

[fla nocount]

16. Give it up...he ain't black. He's got a full set of crayons...

the jumbo pack. He's any colour he wants to be and if you want to contribute...any colour you want him to be. It makes no difference to him, no difference to me and it shouldn't make any difference to you either. Jim Crow is dead, stop shaking his ghost. Let's get past this horse-shit okay?

[BlooInBloo]

17. bwahaha! Good one.

[Catherine Vincent]

18. Obama has chosen to be Black and he's proud.

Say it loud!