What is utterly sad is that everyone is calling Barack Obama America’s first black president. This statement in and of itself suggests how ignorantly Americans perceive race. Further, the statement is wildly inaccurate. Just as calling Tiger Woods a monumental black golfer ignores the rest of the contributing elements of his being (Woods is one-quarter Chinese, one-quarter Thai, one-quarter African American, one-eighth Native American, and one-eighth Dutch), calling Barack Obama simply black denies the fact that his genetic heritage derives half from his white ancestry. All his accomplishments are founded on a combination of phenotypes derived from both his African and Caucasian heritage.
Moreover, by simply calling any dark skinned creature black, Americans perpetuate the antiquated but still pervasive “one drop rule” from times of slavery. Why are Americans so incapable of recognizing that the world is not black or white?
So, I cry false. He is not America’s first Black president. Rather, he is America’s first mixed president. Neither singularly black, white, brown, nor yellow, no one race can or should legitimately claim him. He is a metaphor for the American melting pot. Finally, America has a president befitting its condition. Only Tiger Woods as President would represent the nature of America better.
Dude, that’s how u start off 2009? Come on. U can come up with better than that. I’m very disappointed. hahaha
I couldn’t have said it better myself. One more point though. Obama’s black heritage has pretty much nothing to do with American blacks since his black-side is 100% African. Granted, he would have been influenced by the blacks in America, but he spent some of his formative age outside of US as well. Blacks in this country blindly supporting Obama because his skin is dark is as comparable as whites supporting David Duke simply based on skin color.
I absolutely concur. In fact, I find that many Africans who immigrate to or study in the United State are quite insulted when they are referred to as black.