The Cellar - Why is Obama Black?

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Why is Obama Black?

Why does Obama state he is black, when he is as much white as he is black? Since he was raised by his white mother and grandparents, culturally isn't he more white than black??

Why doesn't he just say he is biracial? When I was growing up, the term mulatto was used but it is now considered demeaning by some.

same reason Halle Berry is black?

Perhaps because until about 60 years ago, anyone with a non Caucasian element to their parentage was treated as socially inferior. If your parents' generation has grown up with the assumption that you are half caste (and I only realised what a derogatory term that was about 5 years ago!) then you don't really have a choice but to identify yourself with the less socially advantaged part of your heritage.

The one-drop rule

The definition of "black" came from America's historical classifications, some of which can be read about here:

Quote:

Originally Posted by frontline

The nation's answer to the question 'Who is black?" has long been that a black is any person with any known African black ancestry. This definition reflects the long experience with slavery and later with Jim Crow segregation. In the South it became known as the "one-drop rule,'' meaning that a single drop of "black blood" makes a person a black. It is also known as the "one black ancestor rule," some courts have called it the "traceable amount rule," and anthropologists call it the "hypo-descent rule," meaning that racially mixed persons are assigned the status of the subordinate group. This definition emerged from the American South to become the nation's definition, generally accepted by whites and blacks. Blacks had no other choice. As we shall see, this American cultural definition of blacks is taken for granted as readily by judges, affirmative action officers, and black protesters as it is by Ku Klux Klansmen.

But I thought that numerous studies have shown that we are all out of Africa. So, by the one drop rule, we're all black.

You, me, them, everybody. Everybody.

you expect racism to be logical?

Pie - your info made me dig deeper on this subject. I came up with this:

Many people in the United States are rejecting the one drop rule and are questioning whether a person with one black parent should be considered black or biracial. Although politician Barack Obama self-identifies as black, 55 percent of whites and 61 percent of Hispanics classified him as biracial instead of black after being told that his mother is white. Blacks were less likely to acknowledge a multiracial category, with 66% labeling Obama as black.[44] Forty-two percent of African-Americans described Tiger Woods as black, as did 7% of white Americans.[

Big Sarge, that poll is looking at people's attitudes now. When Barack Obama was forging his self-identity, you were either white or not. Everything else: black, mullatto, half-caste, mixed race, whatever, was not white.

Not to mention quadroon.

I look forward to the day when the entire human population becomes a medium even brown.

a few hundred thousand years in the future

African American - Descendant of African slaves in the United States

- [insert Ethnicity] American - Immigrant or offspring of immigrants from particular country. Usually used when individuals are still holding on to their culture. Can take out the American part.

-Black - African Americans, immigrants from African countries, or multiracial mixes from the first two.

Those are the common definitions that I see being used.

The Racial Draft

Better quality version.

If Barack Obama called himself biracial, a lot of people would be saying he was being uppity. ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Sarge (Post 495175)

Why doesn't he just say he is biracial? When I was growing up, the term mulatto was used but it is now considered demeaning by just about everybody.

Fixed it for ya.