Is it correct to classify Obama as the first black president"

[kılıç_mehmet]

Well, technically, for the longest time in America, if a person had any black ancestry, even if they looked white, they were considered black.

This makes little sense to me, but well...

For what it's worth, over 58% of Black americans have as much (or more) white ancestry as Homer Plessy had black ancestry.

Is it traceable? Well, not that it matters anymore, since from what I understand, the afro-americans now have their own communities and are a minority of their own right.
Most of them would probably not boast any heritage besides the ones they're aware of. However, Obama is quite aware that his mother is white*.

[Rev. Rye]

Well, technically, for the longest time in America, if a person had any black ancestry, even if they looked white, they were considered black.

This makes little sense to me, but well...

As i mentioned earlier, it just points to how pointless the idea of "race" really is.

For what it's worth, over 58% of Black americans have as much (or more) white ancestry as Homer Plessy had black ancestry.

Is it traceable? Well, not that it matters anymore, since from what I understand, the afro-americans now have their own communities and are a minority of their own right.
Most of them would probably not boast any heritage besides the ones they're aware of. However, Obama is quite aware that his mother is white*.

The numbers were recieved through DNA testing. Race may not have any scientific basis, but it appears that specific ethnicities have some genetic markers.

[Shell B]

A ghetto is all of a sudden the place for black people to grow up around their peers?

I live in a predominately white area, but we have a number of black people in town. They grew up with each other and the rest of us. They didn't turn white from hanging out with us. Shit, I spent nearly every day in middle school with a friend who happens to be black and she's still black. I'm still white too! Do we need to elect Mammy for the president to be black enough to be black? Makes no fucking sense.

The good news is, I don't give a shit if he's as dark as a cup of coffee without milk or as light as Michael Jackson with the flu. I don't care if he grew up in Detroit or Cambridge. Come to think of it, though, I do believe he grew up in the city, which in the north means, a place where people come in an array of colors.

[LastPoet]

You obsess much about races and their 'purity' Mehmet. Face it, there is no thing as 'race purity'. All there is is the genetic variation of the quantity of melatonin in our skin cells. What is it about these facts that interferes with the hability of the guy to run the country?

[kılıç_mehmet]

A ghetto is all of a sudden the place for black people to grow up around their peers?

Well, that is why I used the term "stereotypical", because that is the impression I got from them, meaning, that this ought to be the impression that one has to get when thinking of the afro-american minority.

I live in a predominately white area, but we have a number of black people in town. They grew up with each other and the rest of us. They didn't turn white from hanging out with us. Shit, I spent nearly every day in middle school with a friend who happens to be black and she's still black. I'm still white too! Do we need to elect Mammy for the president to be black enough to be black? Makes no fucking sense.

Well, your skin colour can't change, obviously.
But just like you said, you grew up together, and I presume that you came from a middle class neighborhood with aspirations to amount more than simply becoming a cashier at the local grocery shop.
And I also assume that your black friends were of this social class to have aspirations for college and not of the again "stereotypical" black guy's job of being the local slanger(or a worldwide rapstar).

About mammy...Well, can you actually brush aside the one part of a person in favour of the other? Obama is no more black than he's white, in terms of his blood, and he is also very cultured, speaks the english language with a clear accent(I don't know if he speaks any other languages besides his native english), and has had higher education.
So he does not fit the "black guy" type that we remember from Harlem or Bronx, or Detroit.

[reverendjeremiah]

My question: Who cares?

Race relations are a big deal in America

[Erinome]

He looks black, and that's scary to a lot of people for stupid reasons.

[Cinjin]

The color of the man's skin is of no concern to me. I wouldn't ask if he was white or black any more than I would ask if George W. Bush had Irish or South African "white" blood flowing through his veins.


The question of one's race says far more about the person asking than the person in question.

[Ashendant]

[Minimalist]

My question: Who cares?

Every republican running for president.