SoulPancake / Conversations / Should we call Obama 'black' or 'biracial'?

onkey

- 4 months ago

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Should we call Obama 'black' or 'biracial'?

http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/should-we-c... After I had written a draft of my column last night, I asked my assistant, Natasha Yefimov, to look over it and offer suggestions, as she always does. She did so and then said something like: You refer to Obama as "a black man," but whenever you refer to

“America's first black president hasn't arisen yet. He's not America's first black president — he's America's first mixed-race president.” Morgan Freeman.

Why is this important? Should t the media stop identifying him as black and end the age-old tradition of referring to almost all mixed-race blacks this way? Is the way people self-identify freely chosen or imposed upon them?

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Reviews of Tim Wise's "Colorblind "(book): "Tim Wise's Colorblind brilliantly challenges the idea that the election of Obama has ushered in a post-racial era... Wise explains that ignoring problems does not make them go away, that race-bound problems require race-conscious remedies."

"Wise continues to explore his provocative contention that Obama's commitment to transcending racism has made it "more difficult than ever to address ongoing racial bias" in America. By refusing to openly confront racism, Wise argues, the President has ceded the ground to conservatives, allowing them to "manipulate racial angers unmolested and unchecked."

Ask him what he considers his ethnicity to be and refer to him accordingly.

http://www.popularcritic.com/2012/11/06/election-african-americans-may-be-devastated-if-obama-loses-election/ one perspective

Why can't we just call him "human" and stop worrying about labels for everything from religion to race to gender to sexuality to political party!?

As someone with an African father and white mother as well, I've started to become more and more convinced that people tend to just identify bi-racial people by their physical skin color. If you didn't know I was half-Ethiopian, you couldn't really tell that I was "black", and so no one has ever really considered me "black," despite having the same racial identity as our "black" president. The first time I even really became aware of the fact that I could consider myself to be "black" was when I started to fill out boxes for college applications/financial aid forms, etc. ...it just really speaks to how malleable our definitions of race are ...and at the same time, I do still think they are relevant to talk about because as great as it would be for race to not matter, it still plays a huge role when it comes to social & economic inequality and to ignore them altogether at this point would probably lead to denial rather than opportunities to overcome discrimination

It's completely relevant. Just because of the history if racial inequality our country has experienced.

Why is this the issue? The color of his skin is completely and utterly irrelevant to his ability to steer our nation in the right direction. What's important is his love and dedication towards his country. Also, a person should not be Identified by their skin color, but rather by their personality. Just my general belief.

At what point or percentage does it become biracial? Who defines the standards? Why not let him self-identify?

Does it means anyone who has recent ancestors who are not of African decent is not black, but biracial? By the same logic, anyone who has recent ancestors who are not caucasian are not caucasian, but also biracial?

I am considered caucasian (heck, I'm the palest person you'll ever meet), but my great-grandmother was black. Her mother was a slave, freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. If I'm still caucasian and not biracial despite this, then why argue that Obama is biracial and not black? Where is your cut-off point? Who decides the percent mixture?

(Excuse my use of the word black, it was both in reference to the original quote, and the fact that African-American takes longer to type on a touchscreen.)

We should call him Mister President and if it matters to us ask him how he sees himself.

The title "Should we call..." was the official title to the blog by Nicolas Kristoff. For those who have not heard of him, "Nicholas D. Kristof, a columnist for The New York Times since 2001, writes op-ed columns that appear twice a week. Mr. Kristof won the Pulitzer Prize two times, in 1990 and 2006. In 2012, he was a Pulitzer finalist in Commentary for his 2011 columns that often focused on the disenfranchised in many parts of the world.
Mr. Kristof grew up on a sheep and cherry farm near Yamhill, Oregon. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College and then studied law at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship, graduating with first class honors. He later studied Arabic in Cairo and Chinese in Taipei..." To read more, see http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/nicholasdkristof/index.html

Why should we refer to him by anything other than his title or name?

You should call him MISTER Tibbs
:)

ugh. why is this question a thing? HE IS JUST A PERSON. CALL HIM MR PRESIDENT.

http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/07/soledad-obrien-who-is-black-in-america-i-am/ --

a documentary for all interested in the topic

He's black. I would consider him black. You don't need to get all technical with it. His skin color is black, so I will consider him black.

Why don't you just ask the President, himself, how he defines his race? After all the blather about it, he ought to have an opinion on that. I would think that what the person, believes and says they are, they are.

(That is, within reason - I might sing in at the top of my lungs while wandering around the house in my bathrobe, but that doesn't make me Madonna. And if I say I'm the Easter Bunny...well just pick your battles...I am clearly too far gone "around the bend" to try to convince otherwise. Just let me be the Easter Bunny. Who's it hurting?!)

Seeing as race is a flawed concept, dare I suggest Morgan Freeman is wrong...

We are all mixed race... As genetic studies have clearly shown... No one is single race, no one is biracial...
So we are back to colour as a labelling that some in society apply, and as Obama is derided as black by a whole bunch of primitive, thick, racist gits otherwise known as the loud edge of the GOP, I would suggest that he follows the example of every mixed up child I ever knew, and claim the identity that doesn't reject him...

In this case that is BLACK.

you should call him Obama -.-

Human.

I don't think it should matter in the least. Call him by whatever you want, race shouldn't define someone. It's a shame we can't all get past that in our present overcompensating society. Granted, I doubt he would have been elected without the support of those that considered almost nothing but race.

onkey

Should we call Obama 'black' or 'biracial'?

onkey

LetItBe

Ask him what he considers his ethnicity to be and refer to him accordingly.

onkey

http://www.popularcritic.com/2012/11/06/election-african-americans-may-be-devastated-if-obama-loses-election/ one perspective

krwork

Why can't we just call him "human" and stop worrying about labels for everything from religion to race to gender to sexuality to political party!?

sophia33

sweetbutterschnookum

It's completely relevant. Just because of the history if racial inequality our country has experienced.

LetsGetWeird

littleathena

Dienthalamus

We should call him Mister President and if it matters to us ask him how he sees himself.

onkey

Novelist65

Why should we refer to him by anything other than his title or name?

wolitski_v

You should call him MISTER Tibbs
:)

caboose

ugh. why is this question a thing? HE IS JUST A PERSON. CALL HIM MR PRESIDENT.

onkey

http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/07/soledad-obrien-who-is-black-in-america-i-am/ --

a documentary for all interested in the topic

zero_gravity

He's black. I would consider him black. You don't need to get all technical with it. His skin color is black, so I will consider him black.

Me2You

flashbanding

amnit

you should call him Obama -.-

carny_val

Human.

Crunkdaddy

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Should we call Obama 'black' or 'biracial'?

Ask him what he considers his ethnicity to be and refer to him accordingly.

http://www.popularcritic.com/2012/11/06/election-african-americans-may-be-devastated-if-obama-loses-election/ one perspective

Why can't we just call him "human" and stop worrying about labels for everything from religion to race to gender to sexuality to political party!?

It's completely relevant. Just because of the history if racial inequality our country has experienced.

We should call him Mister President and if it matters to us ask him how he sees himself.

Why should we refer to him by anything other than his title or name?

You should call him MISTER Tibbs :)

ugh. why is this question a thing? HE IS JUST A PERSON. CALL HIM MR PRESIDENT.

http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/07/soledad-obrien-who-is-black-in-america-i-am/ --a documentary for all interested in the topic

He's black. I would consider him black. You don't need to get all technical with it. His skin color is black, so I will consider him black.

you should call him Obama -.-

Human.

SoulPancake

hand–crafted in Atwater Village

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You should call him MISTER Tibbs
:)

http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/07/soledad-obrien-who-is-black-in-america-i-am/ --

a documentary for all interested in the topic