Why does Barack Obama refer to himself as black?

Question

Why does Obama refer to himself as black when he is half-black and half-white? Is his white half less important? Does he do it to separate himself from the other candidates, "Obama, he is the black candidate"? If he referred to himself as white, people would say he is forgetting his black heritage. But isn't he forgetting his white heritage? Or in today's PC world that is OK?

I can't vote for a person who isn't honest about his own race. If he is "conviently black" since it suits his purpose will he be "conviently....(fill in the blank)" to suit his purpose as president?

Come clean Obama, tell us you are half-black and half-white, or biracial, or whatever the PC term for today is. If you can't be honest with yourself and what you race is, how can you be honest with the American people?

Answer 1

what does he look like? Does he look white? no. He is not hiding his heritage. in fact. if you go to his campaign website he tells you flat out his mom is from Kansas.


http://www.barackobama.com/about/

bytheway
your racism is showing. You might want to cover that up.

Answer 2

Barack Obama is purple. Gosh maybe it's because growing up in America if you half white or half black which is colored then you were automatically referred to as black only because the white Americans at that time and some today couldn't and still can't accept black people into their communities. Which i don't think is fair, what made them feel superior? God intended for all of us to be equal but as it goes that clearly didn't work out because some people thought and still think they are better than others because of the color of their skin. In the end we all are connected in some way, black, white, Mexican, Asian, Chinese and purple!

Answer 3

He is only what he most relates to racially. Most blacks in this country are mixed. I, myself am mixed but I have always been treated as a black by my peers and for some unknown reason I refuse to celebrate the whiteness in me. I know why really as I was being sarcastic about this issue. The white part of me has never been offered a membership at the Golf and Country Club.

Answer 4

Race is entirely subjective.

There are no clear and obvious lines, so a person who is of mixed races can refer to themselves however they like -- so can anyone else.

It's a pointless argument, since race is about self-identity and genetics -- and nobody is pure-blooded anything.

But also consider the fact that in the US, the tradition going back to the 1800s is that anyone who is even 10% black is considered black --- that's the way most segregation laws were written in the South and midwest.

Answer 5

The same way I say I am Italian when I am only 50% Italian, yet I look Italian, cook the food all the time, etc. I never think twice about saying it...I don't think I am trying to forget the other 50% of my heritage, but I just don't associate myself culturally with it much.

Answer 6

many many people are of mixed heritage, and ussualy they choose one to accept as thier identity. rarely is anyone 100% white or black, most of us have some mixed heritage in our ancestry. And there really isn't a PC term for half-black, half-white. Malato (sp) is a term, but i wouldnt call it PC.

Answer 7

Well he is NOT white...we know that much. It would kind of be dumb to refer to himself as "a little black" don't you think? If you have color most people would consider you black. I think that he is correct in calling himself black. Either way, our country could use a change such as this. I think that a woman or a black president would be great! Even a black woman president... :)

Answer 8

It is good to know that there is someone out there with a keen eye as to the most important issues facing the American people in the next election.

Get a life.

Answer 9

All people in America who have any black genealogy call themselves 'black' - even though they are mostly white. That's just the way it has always been. They do it to themselves, just as an American Indian does.

Answer 10

Does he call himself black? Or does the media call him black....because there is a big difference. I'm pretty sure he acknowledges publicly that his mommy was a white lady from Oklahoma (Kansas?) and his daddy was an African exchange student....I think he considers himself "American" which is more appropriate anyways that African-American (in my o-pinion. I don't go around saying I'm "European-American")

Answer 11

Try reading his interviews. He's been asked questions like this dozens of times. To my knowledge, he's never denied his racial heritage. From the article:

"I'm not sure I decided it," said Obama, 45. "If you look African American in this society, you're treated as an African American. I am rooted in the African American community, but I am not defined by it.

"I am comfortable in my racial identity, but that is not all I am."