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Originally Posted by jewels
He's a presidential candidate who happens to be black.
How one sees him is a choice relating to how our personal perspective has been formed.
Mixed, mulatto ... does it matter? Why would anyone want to deny that he's black? And what do you mean by "others"?
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But he's not black. he's black and white. That is the issue I have with this. Because by labeling him black, it is not true and you deny another segment of the population. It does matter because it is a unique opportunity that can be unifying and further break racial barriers in our country. For people concerned about a black candidate, well there can be reassurances too because he also represents whites. And, he can also represent the blacks. All this within the context of racial politics of course.
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Originally Posted by Manic_Skafe
Obama is a black candidate in the same sense that Bill Clinton was the "blackest president so far." It's not so much a matter of his own heritage as it is of those he seems to represent and of those who stand to benefit from his actions as president. More appropriately, he's a candidate for the middle and lower classes as well as for the minority groups.
His own cultural heritage comes in to the equation only when the media attacks him because of it or when he plays the card to the benefit of his campaign.
Surely we wouldn't ask a candidate who claims to be for the poor to verify such claims with a years worth of bank statements.
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Exactly. I wish to draw attention to this because I do find it absurd in many ways and want to point out how ridiculous race is as a social construct. Obama also represents the elites. To me, he represents a wide breadth of demographics which makes him interesting. I'm not sure I get the poor analogy though.
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Originally Posted by pig
Well jorge: it's the same issue with Tiger Woods being the first great black golfer; that's the way our society works. It may be sad, but generally speaking I'll bet you'll find a lot of people in your area who are more or less part of black subculture, when in fact their ancestry is of mixed lineage. I think your basic point is less about the specifics of laypeople labelling Obama as "black," or more about the way our society generally handles race.
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Wait, Tiger Woods is black?!! WTF? I always thought he was the 1st great Asian American golfer to make it big. He is a hero in all of Asia. There are literally billions of people who view Tiger as Asian. He is half after all, seems fair to me. Yet somehow he is only black? But you are correct pig in your assertion of my point. I wanted to elicit some opinions and generate discussion about this. Good points pig.