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Originally Posted by Randle2I
What exactly is your goal in shouting out that Obama isn't black? If you want to make people realize they're being silly by labeling a man as black when he's in fact half black and half white, you're soap box is in the wrong location. If you wish to point out that race is a ridiculous social construct then you need to, IMO, present your argument a bit better. Just because you think it's silly doesn't mean it's not true. There are people that think dinosaurs are a silly social construct but that doesn't stop their fossils from being found.
People seem to think that the idea of race disappears if one simply ignores it. In theory that's a great idea but in practice people naturally tend to separate things by their most obvious differences. The most obvious difference between Obama & John is skin color and lets face it, people are afraid of things that don't look and/or act like them.
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The point is to stimulate discussion. It's not a soap box, if you have a problem with this then please feel free to visit other threads on this forum. I find the race debate in our country to be quite fascinating and wish we would deliberate on it more. But I am interested in your reply and would love for you to expound further. Do you really think people are afraid of things that don't look like them? Does that cover gender? Obama doesn't look or act like many blacks but they are supposed to be comfortable with him? By reducing Obama to just a black label, we are doing a great disservice to the socio-political development of our nation et al. The fact of the matter is, he is both black and white. And quite frankly, if the more of us would see that, then race would be much less of an issue period.
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Originally Posted by Jinn
You're trying to argue that somehow his lineage determines whether he is black or white.
In doing so, you're confusing the relatively obvious distinction between SKIN COLOR and ETHNICITY. By ethnicity, he's not an "African American." By skin color, he is most certainly black.
Someone can be African American without being black, and black without being African American.
You're just being pedantic if you really want to argue this. In a random geographically distributed survey of 10,000 Americans, I'd wager more than 9,000 people would consider Barack Obama "black." You can go against the grain all you want, but words are socially constructed and you aren't part of the majority of society that constructed these meanings.
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This is a cop out answer (no offense). Why be satisfied with the status quo? My skin is much darker than Obama's. Does that make me black? Colin Powell almost as white as Conan O'Brien but he's still black. Someone mentioned Bill Clinton as the true first black president. Why shouldn't we break down these social constructions?
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Originally Posted by shesus
If you don't want a black president, vote for his white half.
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Where did I say I don't want a black president? Please reread my posts. I don't care at all what "color" the president is. I think too many people do which is why I am challenging the notion of race.