Barack Obama Not Black
According to Salon columnist and author of The End of Blackness, Debra Dickerson, Barack Obama is not black.
I know his mother was white, but he sure looks black and his father came from Kenya and those folks are pretty damn black over there, but Ms. Dickerson isn’t claiming that Obama is not black because he had a white mother or that he doesn’t share the same skin color as ‘blacks’. She says that the word ‘black’ can only be used to describe someone that is descended from West African slaves and shared the genetic and cultural burden of slavery. Since Obabama’s father emmigrated here voluntarily from Africa in 1959, he is not ‘black’.
Just a quick aside and then I’ll return to the story, but does anyone care to take a guess how many people will vote for a black man who’s last name rhymes with Osama and who’s middle name is Hussein? Now the Dems are talking about making Obama Hillary’s running mate so then you’ll have people voting for a woman for President with a black VP. Are the Dems looking for a way to lose the election on purpose?
Okay, back to the story. Here’s my problem with this. What the hell are we supposed to call these people now? We used to call them Negroes, but they didn’t like that so we switched to ‘black’ or African/American. But what do we call a black man that lives in Europe or Canada? How many classifications are there supposed to be and are we really supposed to take the time to learn the ancestral heritage of each black person so we know whether to call them African/American, African/Canadian, African/European, just plain African, or ‘black’?
We refer to anyone with light skin as ‘white’. We don’t clarify whether or not they’re from Europe, Canada, the U.S. or Australia, they’re just plain ‘white’. We refer to people of Asian decent as ‘Asians’ and don’t specify whether they’re Japanese/Asian, Chinese/Asian, Vietnamese/Asian, or American/Asian.
All this time I assumed it was the same for people with dark brown skin and it didn’t matter where in the world you live or where you were born or where your ancestors came from, if you have dark brown skin and nappy hair, you’re black.
Here are some famous people, all of whom I would have called ‘black’ before Ms. Dickerson clued me in.
Martin Luther King - black
Bob Marley - not black
Jesse Jackson - black
Nelson Mandela - not black
Whoopie Goldberg - black
Naomi Campbell - not black
Michael Jordan - black
Tiger Woods - not black
So now the black community will need to decide whether they want to back Obama and vote for someone that could possibly have become the first ‘black’ American president — even though he’s technically not part of the ‘black’ community — but if he does win, they won’t be able to claim he’s ‘black’.
No, I’m not a racist, I’m just confused.
Posted: February 9th, 2007 under Commentary.
Comments: 16
Comments
Comment from Diesel
Time: February 10, 2007, 12:33 pm
This is why we need to go to a completely objective system. There should be a sheet with color samples, like you get at the paint store. You could hold it up to the tv and say, “Wow, this guy could be the first Burnt Umber president!”
Comment from CE
Time: February 10, 2007, 11:23 pm
“Burnt Umber president!” I love it! I am laughing so damned hard I am crying!
Comment from Anita
Time: February 16, 2007, 3:18 pm
Refreshingly insightful …
Personally, I think Debra is ignorant and full of herself, she’s just looking for some publicity by making outlandish statements. I will call someone black as a way to describe them better, no different than if I say someone is short/tall/fat/redhead/bearded/asian/etc. To try to link descriptive qualifiers with cultural statements about them is far more racist than just saying “he’s a light-skinned black male with dark hair”.
Comment from Lil
Time: April 18, 2007, 9:14 pm
That’s why you guys are white. You don’t see anybody black being “confused”. They might dissagree, but they “get” the argument. A big part of the american black experience is being here against one’s will and living with a legacy of racism. This legacy left a community that strugles but can’t achieve equality in terms of education and oportunities. And being seen as “the other”. This is reflected in the way one act, one speaks and is part of our upbringing that unfortunately closes doors. Nothing in his background relates to this. He is very different from the rest of the african-american community and the message that the US would send to it’s black citizens is that someone can be elected as long as he (or she) is not like them….
Comment from Hammer
Time: April 19, 2007, 6:34 am
“A big part of the american black experience is being here against one’s will”
When black people pull this one out I just have to laugh and then ask them, why, if they feel that way, don’t they move back to Africa. Surely living in a third-world country where starvation is the norm and you’re covered with flies and disease must be preferable to living in a free country where you can achieve anything a white man can if you want to.
I actually offered to pay a black woman’s way back to Africa once when we had a similar argument. She refused and then got in her BMW and pulled out of the parking lot at the place where she worked making in excess of $60k a year as an executive’s assistant.
Comment from BrooklynNYC
Time: July 27, 2007, 5:26 pm
Hammer i can pay your way back to Europe if your not pleased with America and the contributions African Americans made to this country. And im speaking of a time period from the James town colony until Hillary and Obama wins the presidency as running mates. Just let me know where to send the ticket
Comment from Hammer
Time: July 27, 2007, 5:48 pm
BrooklyNYC - Somehow you missed the entire point of my post and decided instead to read something into it I never said. I have no problem with African Americans. I can only guess you didn’t read the post and just commented based on the title. The post is about how idiotic it seems to me for someone to claim that blacks can’t be called African Americans if they can’t trace their ancestry back to African slaves.
Comment from luvtosurf
Time: November 3, 2007, 3:46 pm
You seemed to really have fun with this article. Your frustration was quite apparent with “These People” as you called them. And, for your information, not all Black (African-Americans) have “nappy” hair. Some even have straight hair. That’s why they are called African-Americans, not Africans. Most African-Americans are mixed with Caucasian ancestry. That is why they are of many hues, hair textures, eye colors, etc. Now, the young lady that said that Obama can not be Black because his father came here willingly is just plain wrong. But, if we were to accept her reasoning, then Tiger Woods would be Black, not white. His Black ancestors were not Free Negroes. And Blacks did not choose to be called “Colored,” “Negro,” or any of those other names. But, they did choose to be called Black and African-American. I don’t think you will have to worry about Obama being Hillary’s running mate. I’m sure he understands the ‘Party’s needs… after all, he is a politician. You have a great writing style but your words were grossly misplaced.
Comment from Hammer
Time: November 3, 2007, 4:47 pm
Thanks and you’re entitled to your opinion. But, I have never met or seen a black person with straight hair unless they had it straighted, ala Halle Berry or Beyonce.
Also, you seem to have missed my point about African-Americans completely. Considering very few black people in any country other than Africa are truly Africans, are they all African Americans? Is a black man that lives in the U.K. whose parents did not come from Africa an African-American or do we call him an African-Brit? Is a black man in Canada an African-American or an African-Canadian?
Of course, according to this lady, unless they can trace their ancestry back to a slave, they can’t even call themselves black. And if Tiger Woods isn’t black, would you and Ms. Dickerson be so kind as to tell me what he is? Is he an African/Asian-American?
Personally I think you let the fact that you felt my remarks were racist color your opinion.
Comment from boodaman
Time: November 17, 2007, 4:32 pm
In fact, anyone who says Obama is “black” is a racist. Because one of his parents was “white”, anyone who calls Obama black is implicitly agreeing with the argument that “anyone with a drop of black blood is black”. Blacks claim that anyone who thinks a drop of black blood makes you black is a racist. Therefore, anyone who calls Obama “black” (including blacks or African Americans or whatever we’re supposed to call them now) is a racist.
Technically, Obama is “mixed” though you could argue that we’re all “mixed”. I don’t understand why people need to be categorized at all…I’m “white” (technically Irish-American if anyone who’s black is an African-American) and I always check the “other” box when filling out forms. Just to spam up the works, so to speak.
You’re either a good citizen and productive member of society, or you aren’t. What color you are is irrelevant in my mind…an asshole is an asshole.
Comment from Melanie
Time: December 29, 2007, 1:48 am
You: “Thanks and you’re entitled to your opinion. But, I have never met or seen a black person with straight hair unless they had it straighted, ala Halle Berry or Beyonce.”
So, because you have never seen it, it doesn’t exist?
Really?
I find your articles generally to be well-written, but when it comes down to responding to comments, you tend to get stupid. Please stop misrepresenting your ideas, Hammer, so I can keep on respecting you.
Comment from Brian O’Reilly
Time: January 1, 2008, 8:25 pm
Give over whities me is black
Comment from J. Smith
Time: January 7, 2008, 9:33 am
Tell me Hammer is U.S. Rep Charles B. Rangel an African American? Check out his hair and tell me if you think he had it straighted or it is natural. Since you are from NYC I’m sure you know who he is.
Comment from Hammer
Time: January 7, 2008, 12:15 pm
Well, I’m not from New York, but I do know who Charles Rangel is. Like Ms. Dickerson says, her criteria is based on whether or not the person can trace their roots back to slaves that were brought to America. If Mr. Rangel has any slaves in his family tree, it doesn’t matter if he straightens his hair or not, he’s an African American… according to Ms. Dickerson anyway.
Comment from Ross Mayhew
Time: January 27, 2008, 10:55 pm
I think you are missing the point here…. why the heck should anyone at all refer to out-dated concepts such as “race” in this day and age??? Scientific investigation has pretty conclusively demolished the notion that the earth’s population is divided into a small, distinct number of “racial groups”: a pygmy or Dravidian has about as much in common as a Masai as a Brit has in common with an Incan or Aztec!! There is so much more variation within any random selection of members of any particular “race” than there is between the “races”, that the concept is useless. Culturally, however, i guess there is still some validity…. the “African American” culture is a distinct reality in some ways, especially in the inner cities. ANYWAY, i would opine that any discussion which takes the concept of “race” seriously, is hopelessly out of date and counterproductive.
Cheers,
Ross Mayhew.
Comment from Gus
Time: May 7, 2008, 5:18 pm
The only connection Obama has with slavery is that his White Mama’s ancestors OWNED slaves!
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