Obama isn't black

James

Oh God, I'm agreeing with Toby Young. What a watershed day this is. Well, in my life anyway.

I agree, Obama isn't black. He is mixed race. He doesn't have the same skin colour or facial features that most people would associate with an African-American.

But I think the point is wider than that. I'd like to think that the real victory over racists isn't when a black man is elected to the White House, but when we've stopped caring what colour he is.

I'd like to hope that Obama won the election because the though of 4 more years along the same lines of the last 8 has made American seek change.

I'd like to think that Americans voted for Obama because they want out of Iraq, because they don't trust Republicans to mend the economy they were responsible for breaking and because they like the idea of income redistribution rather than the richest Americans just getting richer.

And most of all I hope people stop calling him the first black President. Not because he isn't black (he isn't though), but because it shouldn't matter what colour he is

Puncheon

My God, the metropolitan middle-class obsession with race/colour is boring, boring to the rest of us in the real world, who have never really cared one way or the other. Provided the guy/gal is the best person for the job I really don't care if they are from the same colour group as Kermit the frog. I do care, however, when obvious no-hopers are inflicted on us because of what they are, eg the current media practice of inserting ethnic females into every vacancy, no matter how idiotic and incompetent they may be. This is the kind of thing that creates the very thing the lefty-liberal establishment spend all their time rabbiting on about. Give us a break, purleeeese.

toots

Yes indeed. And, as a matter of interest, since when has it been an example of 'The American Dream' in action for an Ivy League Law Professor to become President?

Lyddie

As a caramel colored American, I have to say that I am proud of Barack. And so is my "actually" black father who happens to be the son of a biracial father and a part native American and "actual" black woman. Every Black family in America has someone like Barack in their family. The color line in America has always been a strange thing. Few Black Americans are what you call actually black.

Will Cooling

I can't decide whether you're an idiot or a bigot. Probably both.

Familiar Clown

Harry Belafonte was very popular fifty years ago, so, what's new pussycat?

cinnamon roll

I have news for you: white Americans also discriminate amongst themselves. The lightest are almost always the most highly regarded and the darker ones, the olive colored ones the least regarded. This is a nasty little dirty secret well known amongst whites. You see evidence of it in the color of skin of celebrities, politicians, and even who is elected as prom queen.

hence72

By reading this online have I spoilt my magazine reading experience? When I get home to find my subscription on my doorstep, will this article be inside and thus ruining 5 minuets of a train journey when I shall have no reading material and be forced to acnowledge my fellow passengers? Excuse my ignorance, this is my first time on the webpage but how does one distinguish from which material is published also in the magazine and which is exclusive to the net. I dare not read any more until this problem has been cleared up.

Gina Boyer

Mr. Young,

I hope that you are not half as idiotic as this makes you seem.

Andrew Prince

The reason Barack Obama is considered black is because of the same discredited 'one drop rule' that was instituted by the white race during slavery. And despite it being descredited, a dwindling segment of people in the US are trying hard to save it. So Obama and people like him have to re-affirm who they are.

Bi-racial is not a race. It's not even a full description because one cannot deduce what race someone is from if all they are looking at is a piece of paper with bi-racial written on it. Obama identifes himself as black and that's what is important.

It was Thurgood Marshall who said: "It is evil for a nation to use arbitrary racial categories to classify its citizens".

Think about it, if it wasn't for racism he wouldn't need to identify himself as black and the world would not be as elated by him winning the US presidency because he would be just another politician.

kar

1. It was the economy, stupid.

2. Oh yes he is. If you had studied US civil rights history, you would know about the existence of the "one-drop" race laws in the South (having 1/32 African ancestry was enough to classify a person as black) pre-1964. So yeah, Obama is "actually black" by that rule.

3. A more accurate argument would center on the fact that Obama is not descended from enslaved Africans, nor did he spend his formative childhood years in America (and experience US racism and the "stain of slavery" firsthand as a child) the way Condoleeza Rice did (one of her grade school classmates was killed in the Birmingham bombings).

Calraigh

'' Barak Oboma '', really Toby? REALLY?
I suggest refraining from further comment until a) Britain elects a ''proper'' black Prime Minister- none of those pretenders now, you hear me? and
b) You learn how to spell and your editors learn how to proof-read.

How sad.

Winston

I think those are the sort of things you're only allowed to say in the privacy of your own home.

Ray

You're right, Toby, But it's a start, and that's why it is important.

Besides, not all of America's favourite black icons are light-skinned. Luther Vandross, Eddy Murphy, Missy Elliott, Denzel Washington and Will Smith are all living proof that it how good you are at what you do, plus how personable you are as an individual, that prompts white audiences to draw you to their hearts.

CC

"Only one drop" was the rule, pre post-racial America.

Oli Rhys

Bravo! You can see the King wears no clothes!

King said he dreamt of the day when a man can do something and his skin colour is irrelevant. Yesterday was not that day - or we would only be celebrating the democrats in power - not the colour of the new president's skin

Jimmy the Salmon

I'm not sure whether people feel unified by their particular shade. Sure, Obama isn't 'African-American', but rather, half Black-African half white-American. But that's besides the point. This is a symbolic event, rather than a time for minutiae discussions on his relevance to different gradiations of skin colour.

Your Jewish uncle may tan in the sun, but he's still a 'white guy'. But, to non-nit picky persnickety Americans - Obama will always be black.

idle

The point seems to be that, to the meedja, even being an octoroon makes you black.

I'm sure this works in reverse in some (black) countries where people with a tiny bit of Caucasian blood are referred to as whites. Do I remember correctly that Bob Marley, PBUH, was given a hard time at school because he was the son of a white Jamaican?

Tiberius

It's okay, hence72.

Magazine articles are not re-produced on the blog, certainly not in full.

Matthew Blott

I've spoken to a few black friends who have made this point to me - namely light-skinned black people tend to get more favourable media attention. In the West Indies during colonialism (and to some extent still today) it was the case the lighter your skin tone the higher your social status.

Fergus Pickering

Oh for God's sake, Young, get a life. Any smart seventeen-year-old could write this sort of thing. There are plenty of very black Americans with lots of money and influence. There are plenty of very Jewish looking Jews and plenty of very ugly Anglo-Saxons in positions of power and influence too. Repeat a hundred times, 'I am a very silly person'.

Sharkey

"Great. But when are they going to stop discriminating against people who are actually black?"

What does 'actually black' mean? How black is 'actually black'? How does Toby Young decide when somebody is 'actually black' and not just apparently or allegedly black? Is slave ancestry the sine qua non of Young's blackest blackness?

Is Toby Young qualified to venture an ontology of black America? By dint of what experience, might I ask? His tenure at that multi-ethnic melting pot called Conde Nast? The fact that his father-in-law is Jewish?

So many questions, so little interest in the answers.

Appalled American

It is, at the very least, seriously lacking in grace, to start spewing about things you haven't spent enough time in the country in question to understand well enough.
Most people who are in another country on an occasional, semi-regular or even permanent basis know not to start lecturing about, say, the pros and cons of separatism in Quebec, or put in their two cents about what the Nazis did in Germany around the watercooler in their Munich office. This is because outsiders do not have all the information and experience that the people who grew up in that culture do, and your limited input on their issues is not needed or appreciated.

You can't even spell President Obama's name correctly and your poorly constructed thesis about his blackness (or beige-ness?) is offensive, and betrays your appalling ignorance of our complex and deep-rooted racial problems. The black people that voted for him clearly think he's black, as did the two white supremacist wackos with their plot to kill him.

What about Michelle Obama, Toby? Is she black enough for you?
Is Oprah, one the world's most successful women, black enough?
Actress, comedian and host of "The View" Whoopi Goldberg and Nobel Literature winner Toni Morrison both look pretty black to me. But then again, your idea of our creative talent is Beyoncé Knowles.

Do you know why there are a lot of light-skinned black people in America on TV and in politics? Because there a LOT of light-skinned black people in America in general! If you don't know why that is, then you have some history reading to catch up on.

Your paper bag test that lumps Tyra Banks together with Colin Powell was one the most striking examples of poor taste imaginable.

However, Toby, the fact that you think we voted for Obama because he was black is perhaps most insulting of all. We elected him because he was the best candidate, we would have voted for him if he had been purple, and we will celebrate that as long as we want.

black_enough

Toby, you have no idea what you're talking about. As a "light-skinned" woman of color, which in your book only makes me partially black, I've had to put up with the same kind of crap spewed in this enlightening post of yours for my entire life--enlightening, because you've demonstrated to your reading audience that you don't know the first thing about race in this country. Ever heard of the "paper bag" test? Look it up, and sorry if he's on the wrong side for you. But, guess what, black people come in all shades from the lily white (like my mother) to the very dark. Unless you prefer to categorize us in Antebellum terms (quadroon, octoroon, so on and so forth), you need to open your eyes. Being "black" does not equal one color fits all.

Tom

This, in a nutshell, is how to lose friends and alienate people.

Chris Gudgin

You're an idiot. I want to argue against you but it really isn't worth the effort.

Verity

I have said, and been berated for it, that Obama is not black and is not Afro-American since the beginning of his campaign. Given the history of degradation and misery - that they somehow, God knows how, rose above - of the black slavery era, I think it is offensive for Obama to misrepresent himself as being part of this experience. He's half black and half white and his family had absolutely no involvement in the slavery experience.

And as we're naming talented black Americans who have made fortunes from the entertainment industry, don't forget Ella Fitzgerald - I can't imagine any interviewer addressing her as anything but "Miss Fitzgerald" - Dorothy Dandridge, Diana Ross and all those great girl groups, those incredible black male groups like The Four Tops, The Four Seasons and so on. This style of music was invented by black performers, not white entrepreneurs. Arthur Ashe was a tennis champion 50 years ago.

Obama presenting himself as some kind of black Messiah was revolting. I think he looks like a sleazy nightclub owner in a Humphrey Bogart film.

Mass hysteria is a wondrous thing.

Verity

PS - I forgot to mention my favourite male columnist after Mark Steyn, Thomas Sowell.

David Lindsay

As a mixed-race person, I am sorry that Obama defines himself as black. But I am still delighted that he has won.

He is indeed the first “bi-racial” or “post-racial” President. Just not in the way that everyone thinks.

The black churches are the heart and soul of the black community in United States. Obama courted them assiduously. And they got out the vote for him. So he now owes them in a major way.

Those churches are Baptist, Pentecostal, and of like-minded tendencies within other denominations. They are Catholics who do not like the Modern Rite because it sounds too much like their white bosses and landlords, whereas the Latin Mass did not. And they are pockets of extremely traditional Anglo-Catholicism, which has always had a radical political edge. The grand old man of Civil Rights in Obama’s own Chicago is Squire Lance, a very active member of Opus Dei.

Much, in fact, like the British black churches, the heart and soul of the black community in United Kingdom, and the reason why London is a slightly more churchgoing place than the country at large.

And much like those white Americans who, at the same time as they voted heavily for Obama in California, and comfortably for him in Florida, also voted to define marriage as only ever the union of one man and one woman.

Those ballot propositions had very strong support from the black churches, just as the Obama campaign did.

This is the black-white alliance, the mixed-race alliance, that has put Obama in the White House. It is morally and socially conservative. It is strictly realist in foreign policy, not least because the blacks, the Irish Catholics, and the Scots-Irish Southerners and Westerners disproportionately go off and fight America’s wars.

And it is strongly opposed to illegal immigration, to excessive legal immigration, or to any reduction in the status of the English language in America. On those last three interrelated issues, nobody feels more strongly than the blacks, who have just voted by ninety-five per cent for Obama. And he knows it.

These are the people, black and white, who have put Obama in. And these are the people, black and white, who could and should put him right back out again in 2012 if he does not deliver the goods on all three of economic populism, moral and social conservatism (at the very least, do not make matters any worse), and foreign policy realism.

One way or another, all of those include immigration as strictly limited and strictly legal, and English as the language of the United States severally and collectively.

Yes, of course the Democratic nominee in 2012 is going to beat Sarah Palin anyway. But Obama has no absolute right to be the Democratic nominee.

Robert Rea

Toby, you're a very silly little boy. So Obama isn't black? Funny. Try telling that to the "coffee-coloured", or the "bi-racial" or "mixed race" or whatever you want to call it, citizens of the US who suffered under the segregation laws. No-one seemed to make a distinction then between shades of blackness, or whether you originated from slaves or from free-born Africans. They were all discriminated against in exactly the same way. So maybe you'll have to forgive black Americans for not making the fine distinctions between different degrees of blackness. Maybe they reckon, after years of experience, we whiteys prefer to lump them all together. What do you think, Toby? Or is this too complicated for your tiny little mind to comprehend?

Punk Economist

Hmmm. I wonder if anyone has a book to sell?

Alex Cohen

Two observations. 1) As a newcomer to this website, you have ensured that I will never return. Your desire to distinguish between 'real ' and 'fake' African Americans is disturbing and misguided. With the abundance of information provided by the Internet, I can assure you that I do not waste my time on websites featuring amateurish attempts at legitimate journalism. 2) Rather than chastising progress, you might try embracing it. By focusing on the hue of Obama's skin color, you neglect to mention his rise from poverty, African lineage, a profound lifetime achievements. Your work is mediocre, sir, at best.

Amanda

1. To those who are arguing that Obama is not "African-American" because his father was African: He is an American citizen descended from Africans. I don't see how you can get much more African-American than that.

2. Appalled American and black_enough have summed it up beautifully. In America, appearances matter just as much as actual blood lineage. Most Americans wouldn't say that Obama looks like a "skinny white guy with a tan." I'm sure he's had negative experiences as a result - experiences that Mr. Young probably isn't and will never be in a position to comprehend. A person's racial identity is only affected by his or her appearance inasmuch as it changes the way society views that person. The way people see themselves and the way others view them - that's how racial identity is created, not through some arbitrary color spectrum.

3. Does anyone seriously believe that the complexity surrounding racial issues in the United States can be boiled down to "white guilt" over slavery? The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified in December 1865. The civil rights movement didn't come into existence until the 1960s. The legacy of racism in the United States may have begun with slavery, but it extends well beyond that. I don't imagine there are many people left in the American South who would advocate sending Obama out into the fields to pick cotton - but I guarantee you there are plenty of people, there and elsewhere, who think that his background and appearance affect his intellect and that he has risen above his place. Slavery is not the whole story. Your assumptions that it is are indicative of your ignorance on this subject.

4. I'm sure there are plenty of people who voted for Obama because they felt his appearance reflected their own, because they believed the election of a black person was long overdue, or for some other reason. But many of us voted for him because we agreed with his worldview and believed passionately in his proposed policies and his advocacy for change. Many of us voted for him because we want to regain our respect in the international community. Many of us voted for him because we simply disliked John McCain, or his policies, or his campaign, or his running mate. There are so many reasons why people might be excited by this election, and many - although not all - of them have nothing to do with race. Please don't cheapen our moment of pride by making ignorant, uneducated, and possibly erroneous assumptions about our motives.

GZizzle

Verity, when did he present himself as the black Messiah??? Did I miss that?
It seems to me that he never played the race card -- everyone tried to for him. What I think is revolting is that you would characterize him that way with no basis whatsoever. And no one gives a crap how many talented black Americans you can list off the top of your head, it still doesn't excuse your vile comment.

Jennie

Maybe Obama defines himself as black. But I doubt he'd even have been selected as a presidential candidate, let alone become president, had many who voted for him considered him to be an 'honorary white'. That is, he 'talks white', he doesn't campaign on black issues. If he had done so, he would not be going to the White House.

Paul Walter

It's a American versus British semantics thing. We call Lewis Hamilton and Theo Walcott "mixed race". The Americans call them "black". Obama calls himself black. It's as simple as that.

L Wellsted

Maya Angelou referred to Obama as Black. That's good enough for me, and symbolically it'll be good enough for a lot of kids growing up with someone more like them than Dubya in the Whitehouse.

Mean spiritedness is a low & bitter thing.

Al

Two points from a yankee:
1) It is ridiculous for any Caucasian to claim any marginally ethnic groundbreaker as "their own", and so we don't.

2) The whole point is that he won without making race an issue. If he had played liberation or black identity politics and won, it would be a seismic shift in the balance of power, but not any kind of postracial bellwether. Similarly so if he won on the strength of white guilt. Instead, he made calm, compelling, rational arguments and articulated a consistent and coherent vision and that is the basis on which he was chosen. Our country -- who would have refused to serve him coffee 50 years ago -- just elected a black (In the American racial spectrum, black/white is binary) man with a missing father, an acknowledged cocaine history, and a middle-eastern sounding name solely on the strength of his arguments and character. It is this fact that has people spontaneously weeping even a day after the initial shock.

The older people remember that time 50 years ago, and they remember King's dream, and they celebrate not so much the color of the man's skin -- which Mr. Young can't seem to get past -- but the fact that he was chosen on the content of his character.

For my generation, whose political memory consists primarily of Clinton's juvenile antics and the last 8 years, what happened on Tuesday represents a different kind of emancipation. So many of us, across the sane portion of the political spectrum, have spent our adult lives as slaves to the tyranny of small men with small minds -- to political machines and wedge politics. And yet here we are. For the first time for many of us, there is tangible evidence that the promise of this nation survives. That in an empire in decline, in an economy on the brink of collapse, the soul of America worth living -- and dying -- for is intact for our generation. The legacy of 1776 just might have survived its greatest test, and that is why we celebrate. This generation is ready to lead, ready to climb to the top of our city on the hill and rekindle the dying fires, to drive back the shadows of hate and fear; once you've felt that way, it's hard not to have a little swagger in your step.

Nicholas

I find this thread incomprehensible. Although I have serious misgivings about Obama, they relate to how far left his entourage and lobbyists may take America. Blair came in on a centre ticket for change and was surrounded by so-called left liberals concealing some very extreme left ideas, focussed mainly around political correctness and clichéd left wing "causes". I hope that doesn't happen with Obama.

As for his colour, he is a human being first. Our journeys may begin very differently and proceed on different paths but they all end the same. Some carry very different scar tissue to others. Make allowances for it. Amanda's point 3 is very pertinent. When the British were fighting the fascism of Hitler, young African-American pilots had to overcome huge obstacles for the right to fly in the struggle and to show their worth. And they did too. But they returned to a segregated south. It is not an experience or legacy so easily shrugged off.

Marian C

Oh for heavens sake Toby what century are you living in. Your whole editorial is nothing more than total nonsense.

Donna

Thanks goodness! Finally someone qualified to determine for the rest of us who is and who isn't "actually" black.

Matt

A little bit of research, Toby, would have informed you that 60% of African-Americans have European ancestory, and another 15% have Native American ancestory. Are they not black either?

Yes, he's technically biracial, but accepting how artificial the constructs of pure race are -- as defined by American society, by how he's been treated his entire life & by the census -- he is black.

Emma

You, Sir, are an idiot.

Terence M Reaves

What a stupid ignorant piece from a moronic journalist. Of course the man is black. Sired by a Kenyan from the Luo tribe,
he's a black boy alright.
And not only is he black, he's a black marketer. A peddler. He peddles hope and change in one-size-fits-all. Just over half the voters voted for him against John McCain. Big deal! Now he's been sprinkled with gold dust and the Martin Luther King shots are popping up everywhere. what a farce! Of course the man is black - that's the deal.

RJFOSTER

As an American I take offense to your ignorant writings. As a black American(which I am perceived by white Americans no matter the shade I am) I am angry. You have no expertise when it comes to the matters of race as it relates to America. I would say the of an American writing who made similar comments if a half Indian/half Anglo individual was made Prime Minister(which I can say confidently will not happen in the UK for a long time). I don't take offense at you attempt to analyze race and this country. I take offense that you are a mediocre writer trying to reach far beyond your limits with subject matter even the most knowledgable have a hard time articulating. If your only true reference point is your father in law's tan, then you sir are the luckiest writer in the UK and the Spectator's editor is lazy. You have not drawn any new light on the subject, which could be thoughtfully analyzed, but have shown yourself as an ignorant bad writer. To call you a bigot would wrongly imply that you had some expertise.

biggestaspidistra

"I can't decide whether you're an idiot or a bigot. Probably both."

Yes both. And also why the Conservatives are unelectable despite the incompetence and destructiveness of Newish Labour. Experience of the world is not twitching back the curtains and making aren't we clever remarks about the neighbours.

Toby, you are pathetic.

biggestaspidistra

Oh that Toby Young! A talentless hack with the right family and friends. Thank you wiki. Last word from Graydon Carter: "Those who can't teach, write. Those who can't write, write about themselves —-- in Toby's case, endlessly".

S

God Toby you really are a moron. For God's sake, when people look at Obama they don't see a percentage, do they? Do me a favour, go buy a US history book, read it, understand it, then stop pontificating about things you know nothing about.

S

oh and by the way, I once had the misfortune to read one of your books. I want those 15 mins of my life back!

Jacob

Wow finally an article that speaks the truth! I've been waiting for someone to be un-politically correct enough to publish the obvious. Every sentence in the article is accurate. Those that are angry about the article are probably those African Americans that desperately want Obama to be something that he's really not. But the media went along with the whole "African American" thing, so enjoy it while you can.

You can call me or Toby racist, but we are just speaking the truth; the only TRUE racists are the African Americans themselves. Seriously...97% of them voting for Obama? NINETY SEVEN PERCENT? That is clear evidence of people choosing someone just because of the color of their skin. Half of them probably can't even accurately state his position on the issues.

Craig Strachan

Verity: "He's half black and half white and his family had absolutely no involvement in the slavery experience."

Nope. President-Elect Obama has slave owners amongst his white ancestors, while his wife and children are descended from slaves.

Steve C

That last paragraph is almost as painfully cringe-inducing as watching Palin be interviewed by Couric.

Attrill

"he doesn't campaign on black issues. If he had done so, he would not be going to the White House."

Of course not. Just as anyone who ran a campaign based only on immigrant issues, corporate issues, rural issues, urban issues etc. would not have won. In fact, Sarah Palin hurt McCain's campaign by narrowing their message to rural evangelical voters and excluding the rest of the country. The US is a diverse country and anyone who hopes to win has to have a message and policies that go beyond identity politics and speak to to the real needs of all Americans, no matter their race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, or income. That is what Barack Obama did, and why he won.

(and never mind the false construct of 'black issues' in the US, I doubt you could find a definition that the majority of African-Americans would agree on)

J.D.

Barrack Obama is just as white as he is black. Black Father and white mother.

So what is wrong with calling him the white president-elect? or the mixed president elect?

Andy Gardiner

You might have saved yourself a lot of effort and embarassment if you'd written only the first four words of this piece and left it at that.

Luke

OK, let's put history aside. We aren't living in a day where we need to define how much "African" makes you black. We are dealing with genes. As stated he is half black, and half white. I will never take away the fact that this is a first, and that this is a major step for us in America; but, the nation is all but writing off his mother's side of the story by calling him black. If I (white) had married a black woman, and we had a child who eventually did something amazing, and the world spoke of this black man who changed history, I might feel a little left out of the picture. America only wants to recognize him being "black" because it is new. As for me, he is half and half, and just as much as someone can call him "black", I can call him "white" because there is an equal amount of both genes.

Remone

Possibly the stupidest, most ignorant thing I have read in a while. Malcolm X's grandfather was white, he was lighter than Barack is he not black?
There are a lot of what you would term pure black people in both Britain and probably Kenya with "White" where do they stand on your Black axis?

This is a weak and stupid piece.

Rebecca

Hmm -- "slaves were black"? How about the enslaved children of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings -- the most famous but far from the only examples of biracial American slaves? were "biracial"?

I wouldn't have disagreed if Mr. Young had limited his point to saying that dark-skinned black Americans face more discrimination than light-skinned black Americans. But the assertion that Barack Obama is not black betrays a total lack of understanding of how race operates in the U.S. And the idea that Obama's election is not a significant moment in our history is nothing short of moronic. Can Mr. Young actually believe that Obama could have been elected a generation ago?

Bookfraud

could it be that toby is pulling a fast one on us? the only reasonable rationale for this hot mess is that it's a meta-joke in which he's just talking like an idiot instead of actually being one.

if it's the former, it's some weak tea, and not particularly funny. if it's the latter, toby, it's bad enough to be risible.

MD

Oh, please. Why don't you work on racism in your own society before lecturing us Americans. As what you Brits call an Asian (and Americans sometimes call an Indian-American, or just plain American) spare me the lectures.

monkey-in-a-boat

OMG. My husband just told me about this ridiculous piece of (I won't say writing)...what an idiot. Firstly, what I don't miss about living in the UK (we live in the US) is the foolhardy rhetoric which white folks think they can make serious reflections on. Secondly, another thing I don't miss about living in the UK is that the issue of race is always commented on by white people as if they are race-less. And thirdly, if it were Hillary Clinton who won (God forbid) would we be discussing her racial background...no I don't think so.
This is just an asinine marketing ploy to court controversy over something which Young the Idiot knows nothing about.
Your 'writing' should stick to two things that you know about...mmmmm...baldness and luck...how else did he get where he is?

Xeno

He is more true black than alot of blacks in America (being born of Kenyan birth). Almost 80% of blacks in america have mixed heritage. So what does it mean to be black? Is it merely the color of your skin? Is it merely the color of your father or mother? Or is it something deeper and more meaningful?

Elizabeth

As a Brit, you obviously can't be expected to understand the nuances of America's racial identities or racial history, so I'll lay it out for you: in America, if you're half-black, you're black. (And as a technicality, Obama is not "half African-American." His father was not African-American, he was African. His mother was a white American. Which would make him... African-American.)

If "half-black" Obama was born three hundred years ago, he would not be half-free. He would be a slave.

If "half-black" Obama tried to vote one hundred years ago, they would not let him cast his ballot half the time. They would arrest him.

If "half-black" Obama tried to sit in the front of the bus fifty years ago, they wouldn't let him do it on even-numbered days, or maybe let him sit in the middle. They'd throw him off the bus and maybe commit violence upon him.

If "half-black" Obama tried to walk past the police guarding a bridge out of New Orleans one year ago, they wouldn't have let him cross because he was half-white. They would have aimed their guns and turned him back to the heat and the filthy flood waters where people were dying.

Maybe you should try doing what American democracy did on November 4: listen to how the American people actually define themselves, instead of imposing your paternalistic Anglo-Saxon arrogance on us.

JSG

It's amazing how some people would prefer a twist of Dr. King's dream.

They would much rather live in a nation where we will be judged by the color of our skin rather than the content of our character.

Bronson

Almost zero African Americans are 100% black.

He may not be black but he's African American... like the rest of us in the US.

Chu

As an daker complected African American, I already know that there are phobias and trust issues for white Americans. But what you must realize is that it will take time to recondition this country's way of thinking for both black and whites. And for most African Americans we still live by the paper bag rule, because society does, especially white America. As long as you can be identified as black when you walk in a store or apply for a job, your black, not bi-racial. And in closing I never remember anyone making that bi-racial comment when Halle Berry won her Oscar for Best Leading Lady.

Nunio Bydnis

Hrrmmm uhh.. The Four Seasons are black eh?

Someone hasn't seen the Sopranos :D

Martin

Toby,
You are ignorant. In the future please do not offer your opinion on issues you CLEARLY know nothing about. Or at the very least do a tiny bit of research before blundering in like an elephant on crack. My daughter is biracial (African and English) and when my wife and I were going through the adoption process we were cautioned (unnecessarily as it happens) that it does not matter if a person is half black and half white or not, to our society they will always be viewed as black by all races. That's not a racist view its simply a fact. In the case of my family our races (I'm British - butt white to the point of being pale blue, my wife is Italian and fairly dark for a Northern Italian, and my daughter is about the same hue as my wife and the new President Elect) have not been a hindrance in any way that matters and as the old saying goes, "your family is what you say it is". That being said though, my daughter is never taken for anything but black, she is black in every sense of the word that matters to society and so is Barack Obama. in future, ask someone that knows before stating your uninformed and ignorant opinion.

Thank you,
Martin, Lisa, and Mia.

anobserver

TOBY YOU ARE FROM THE UK, MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU KNOW.
IN AMERICA OBAMA IS BLACK. PERIOD.

robert engle

What drivel.

jagrivera

toby, next time instead of writing your very important article, can you just post a picture of a color scale and indicate which shade of brown skin would be acceptable on a "black president" - then next time we'll be more clear on who to vote for. gosh thanks.

Jennie

Attrill, I didn't say that Obama avoided campaigning 'only' on black issues; I said that he avoided them altogether.

If Obama had included any black issues in his campaigning, even though he included a wide variety of others, he wouldn't even have been adopted as the Democrat candidate.

In other words, most whites regard Obama, to all intents and purposes, as one of 'us'.

HBg

Geez Young. Once again from the top (sigh); black man, white woman--black baby. white man, black woman--black baby. Cah-peesh?!

Robb Chadwick

I understand the author's point. However, since I live in a part of the American South, I can tell you that the average Caucasian citizen does not distinguish between someone who is totally of African descent and someone who is mixed half & half. I don't think it is much different anywhere in this country. In fact, I would say that the fact that President-Elect Obama is half Caucasian is of more interest to African Americans than to totally white citizens of the USA. (Another poster spoke about a single "drop" of African blood defining an individual's race. In reality, the rule of the past was 1/16 or, to put it a different way, a single great great grandparent was what was required to be considered black. Fortunately we have gone far beyond those times; and even though there are racists left in this country, I am proud to say that it doesn't exist on a very external level anymore. What exists internally is hard to estimate; but I do believe that we can be justifiably proud that most Americans were able to look beyond Mr. Obama's heritage and elect him for his superior intellect and abilities. It would also be a grave mistake to believe that all white people who voted for Mr. McCain are racists. I'm sure some people simply identified with his particular qualities more. I voted for Mr. Obama; and I'm proud that my country has elected him. It was a victory for all Americans.

todaline

Oh Toby, don't be silly. Tell me how many REAL black people you've met in the US! They're almost ALL mixed with a number of other races. Just like the others, including whites.

Craig Strachan

Bookfraud: "he's just talking like an idiot instead of actually being one"

Well, yeah, that's his whole schtick, isn't it?

Louise Jones

I think that the REAL truth about Barack Obama should be revealed -- he is really Swedish! They kicked him out of Sweden because he was not blond-haired and blue eyed. Therefore, he should not be President. The other story is that he is from Krypton, and they kicked him out for the same reason (check out the movie to see for yourself -- they kick out the three dark-haired ones).

Sarah

Jacob,

Accusing others of being "politically correct" is the first resort of the lazy when they can't be bothered to present a decent argument.

Yes, apparently 95 percent of black voters cast their ballots for Obama/Biden. But your supposition that black voters supported Obama solely because of race falls down in two respects:

1. There was another black candidate on the 2008 presidential ballot: Alan Keyes, running under the Constitutional Party. So why didn't Keyes split the black vote with Obama?

2. Under the aegis of the Republican Party, Keyes has unsuccessfully run for U.S. Senate three times: in Maryland in 1988 and 1992, and in Illinois in 2004 (when he lost to Obama). If Keyes had tied Obama in 2004, Tuesday night would have looked a lot different.

janeway

In what way are you furthering the cause of racial equality by dividing people into ever-narrower categories? How do you help black people by claiming that someone who calls himself black and is viewed by others as black, is not black enough? Do you thank that by taking this achievement away from the darkest-skinned people you are empowering them? Your easy self-righteousness comes from the same impulse as racism -- it gives you an easy way to feel superior to others. In reality this demonstrates your provincialism and small-mindedness. Now sit down and shut up.

N Jones

Obama is a lovely colour. Lucky fella to be born to parents of differing skin colour.

Raj

Toby Young: You're very ignorant. First of all: racial classifications in America are not based on the proportion of genetic imput from each parent. The traditional, and still widely-accepted rule in the U.S. is that one drop of black blood makes a person a Black man. There are some states which considered a 12.5% percentage of black ancestry as Black. Either way, Barack Obama qualifies. Yes, if Obama were British, then he would be "biracial". If he were South African, then he would be considered "coloured". Obama is an American. He has 50% Black African heritage (Kenyan Luo tribe). He self-identifies as Black. Therefore, he's Black by conventional American standards.

It's really funny that anyone is making a big deal out that. Barack Obama ought to know more than any other person on this planet what his proper racial classification is. It's kind of a moot point to second-guess him.

It's a shame people are not discussing what Obama can or can't do for America. We've got idiots who want to split-hairs as to what racial groups he falls under when he has already declared it.

marbury

The only perceptive bit of Toby's post is the first sentence.

Matthew Parker

You are an idiot.

J. Peter Fuller

Barack Obama may or may not not be an Afro-American, but he definately is a second-generation African American.

Steve

May I point out that Obama may well be (in fact almost certainly is) descended from slave dealers and owners, both black and white. It is more likely that I (white anglo-saxon) am not. But I have no way of knowing.

Abbadon

I guess I'm wondering why it took a person of African descent being elected president to prove one has many possibilities in America. So I guess now the question is though, will 'Ameri-k-k-k-a" (to use Rev. Wright's comment) buy it when so many blame their problems on 'racism' for their plight?? Remains to be seen I guess. I for one would have been more impressed with a woman (Hill-dog fan here) getting 'the nod.'

Vulcan Girl

"You can call me or Toby racist, but we are just speaking the truth; the only TRUE racists are the African Americans themselves. Seriously...97% of them voting for Obama? NINETY SEVEN PERCENT? That is clear evidence of people choosing someone just because of the color of their skin. Half of them probably can't even accurately state his position on the issues."

It's obvious that you have no idea that black Americans vote Democratic AT LEAST 90% of the time. If black Americans voted soley based on race, there'd be a hell of a lot more black Republicans in office.

Jasper

Yeah, but his wife and kids are as black as they come. I love it, the White House is going to have a straighting comb in the Master Bathroom. This is truly a great country!

Jason

I love it when the CiF crowd get worked up. They look so cute! Marvellous.

Bella

Appalled American, I LOVE your response! It's perfect. I salute you and your intelligence.

And Toby, honestly, what on earth are you going on about? Have you been reading the Daily Mail again? Now, what have you been told about doing that.

Jerseylina

As a light-skinned mixed kid myself, I figured out what side of the line I fell on when a white classmate called me a "n*gger." And a dark-skinned black kid came to my defense.

Jack Schropp

You're an idiot. Barack Obama may not be descended from slaves. But his children are. Do you think he's not invested in that?

Bryan B

Guess what - in the US, if you've got a drop of "black" blood in you, you're black.

That's the way they see it there. To them, Tiger Woods is black. So are Mariah Carey, Halle Berry, Derek Jeter, Hines Ward, Bob Marley, and Alicia Keys.

All of them biracial... Yet in the eyes of the US public, all Black.

Mark

Rebecca's comments ring true, and Mr Young's simplistic assertion suggests he fundamentally "doesn't get it."

Mr Obama grew up as a black man, and presents himself as a black man. Regardless of his biracial lineage, he is black in America by virtue of his appearance and his self-identification.

His achievement is clearly remarkable - even moreso given the last 8 years under GW Bush.

It's a pretty good day in America. Actually proud to be American.

Steve Scott

Tony, maybe in the U.K. you'd look at Obama as bi-racial. In this country if you have any hint of black features, you're black. Maybe a light skinned black (which sounds ridiculous), but still "black."

I live in Indiana, former center for D.C. Stephenson's KKK. Talk to any white person around our rural areas and they'll tell you Obama is black. No one would deny that Obama would have been denied service at a lunch counter in Tennessee fifty years ago, or been forced to ride in the back of the bus or sit in the balcony of a theater. Whites in Mississippi wouldn't have hesitated to lynch him for being "uppity.'

In America, he's black.

Mike

Actually Bryan B, Tiger woods does not consider himself black (because he isn't)....neither do the others you mention probably. In my mind the people who voted on the colour of someone's skin are missing the point completely - this concept has to be 100% got rid of. I'm sure Obama would rather be there by merit rather that skin colour.

I have great hopes for Obama and truly believe he will go own in history as a great man. I live in hope that Africa at last might be addressed, starting with Zimbabwe and DRC.

Please sort Africa out!

Alan Partridge

If Barack Obama is black by virtue of having a black father and a white mother, couldn't he therefore equally be said to be white? America should stop bickering be united in its celebration of electing the 44th white President of the United States.

Ray W

First, I'm white, so let's get that out of the way. To Toby's point, a lot of white voters supported Obama out of white guilt, thinking that this would atone for all past transgressions and would make everything OK going forward. It does neither. Secdond, I can't speak for the UK, but in the US the degree of blackness is a big issue in the AA community. It's reinforced by leaders who get paid by promoting divisiness (J Wright). I was in a Subway which is managed by a light skinned black woman. A customer asked the employee where she was. The employee answered you mean the light lady, she's at the other store. The customer replied, no the lighter woman. This race was all about race. Obama's photo on JET magazine was darkened to make him look more black. His image on the last series of TV ads with the income tax calculator was so light he was practically caucasion.

steve

I believe he is both black and white and his white mother whom raised him should not be cast aside, Having said that if black america wants to embrace the fact that he is the first black man to be elected president so be it, It is now very evident that getting a education and hard work will get you very far in this country and should inspire the young black youth to get out of gangs and strive for greatness. There should be no excuses about race holding black america back.

Patti

Looks to be whites stopped to worry about it a long time ago, but looking at the voting patterns, blacks are more racist than ever. Of course I was just as disgusted when Clinton won, but now if I'm disgusted to have Dems controlling everything I'm a racist. Get over yourselves already.

M a r k

So Obama isn't black because one of his parents was white. Can we then safely assume that Bob Marley wasn't black either?

Terry

An American won the US Presidential election -- and there are still people with journalistic influence making these bigoted, petty, racial, hate producing comments. It appears to me the only way the writer would have been happy with the “election”, is to have Americans hire someone like Jessie Jackson by way of affirmative action. This way the writer would not have to admit the majority of the US citizens (of all colors) supported a person.

It is sad you had to shoot down the candidate with your light-gun measurement.

Terry

Leah

If Obama is the "first black" president now, what about when we eventually get a president that has 2 black parents? Should he be considered the 2nd black pres.?

And how was he raised "black" when he was raised by his white mother?

Also, many "blacks" are racist against bi racial people because they don't like white people. Whites are not the only racist you know.

And I owe nothing to African Americans just because they may have very distant ancestors that may have been slaves. I am of Native American and Irish decent, and my ancestors were enslaved when the United States was being colonized, but yet I am not owed anything by European descendants.

Tiffany

Yeah, OK Barack may not be "black," but Michelle Obama sure as hell is. If people honestly look back at all of the flack this woman has taken, the argument could be made that the electorate's uneasiness with her was due to the fact that she doesn't pass the paper bag test. It is sad and disturbing, but true.

Jeremy

Toby, if Obama was a stranger you saw walking down the street you would consider him black, would you not? I'm willing to bet at least 9 out of 10 people would. Sure, he's light-skinned and you may guess that he had a white parent, but are we really going to get into the minutiae of what color of Benjamin Moore paint shade his skin is. He looks more black than white, and that's enough make you black in most corners of the world. You could make the argument that he is not "culturally" black, having been raised by the white side of his family around few black people, but race is as much if not more about perception than it is self-identity or ancestry. Ask a biracial person in a similar situation.

Jim

I love Obama, regardless of his skin color, regardless of his race. I don't see him as black or white. I think of him as both, and I think that's awesome. But, really, I just see him as the Savior of America.

thinking out loud

As a person who did not vote for President elect Obama (because I don't agree with his politics), I am offended by mr. Youngs opinion. It will not be long before other race baiters (such as Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton) will start to complain that Mr. Obama does not understand the plight of a black man because he lacks slave blood. It saddens me that in 2008, people still think this way. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be very proud that we have come so far from those dark days in our history. We should never forget about that period in our history, but to dwell on the issue that Mr. Obama is NOT black serves no purpose. Is there still racism in America, Yes. Does it affect the way most people live there lives, NO. My sincere hope is that by the time my children's children grow up. Racism (both from whites and blacks) will be a thing found only in their history books.

Meghann

It doesn't matter what race he is (actually he is Arab-American: in order to claim to be a minority race one must have 12.5%; he is 50% caucasion, 43.75% Arabic, 6.25% African American). It doesn't matter if he was 100% black!!! He is NOT our FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT. THOMAS JEFFERSON was.....look it up....OBAMA is our 6th.

Meghann

Oh, and I also think that America will not be truly race-biased until we stop labeling race all together.....just call us all AMERICANS......

Lisa

First suggestion you need to take an African-American History course. Then maybe you will realize that African-Americans are a mixture of many different things. However we are still black and we come in many hues of the color to prove that. My second suggestion would be to rent the complete series of Alex Haley's epic "ROOTS". It's a true story.
Please take these steps to cure your ignorance. If ignorance is bliss you must be in paradise :-)

BUM CAT

OBAMA IS NOT BLACK. HE'S JUST A DEMOCRAT FRAUD.

bulma

amazing how pp are souring to claim him. OBAMA IS BLACK SORRY
HE is a blackman who is biraial
he skin is brown/black so that makes him black
obama would have been a slave in 1800,mariah carey would not have been a slave cuz she looks white eventough her dad is black

Dr Pac

Excellent write up! Don't pay any attention to these other clowns! Tell it how it is. 10/10

Brent

He isn't Black nor White he is mixed raced, But if you saw him on the streets walking what woul you think he said Black or white?

Brent

And besides he prefees to be called black; and teh whites would not accept him being mixed raced.

Piers Register

I'm mixed race (half black and half white) like Obama, and I read a lot of ppl on this board saying 'Obama calls himself black'. Well, that's funny- because I have yet to find a single public statement by Obama when he has described himself as solely 'black'. Most recently, he jokingly described himself as a 'mutt' - which is an offensive word for a person of mixed racial heritage.

I simply cannot understand why it is so difficult for people to acknowledge that a person can come from two or more racial backgrounds. Some elements of the media have being absolutely disgraceful applying the one drop rule to every mixed race person without consent, and I'm glad there are people like Toby Young who have refused to folow the lemmings and jump on the 'first black president' bandwagon. Barack is half black and half white- not 'black' alone or 'white' alone but a mixture of both. If you can only look at the world and see black people, white people and irrelevent people, that's racism.

Piers Register

P.S: A lot of people have also noted the distinction between the way mixed people are treated in the US and UK, but a lot of mixed people in the UK are being riled up because we identify ourselves with all backgrounds as 'mixed' and we don't want the one drop rule here, but it is being forced on us by elements of the media. I like a lot of American things- TGI Fridays, muscle cars, theri national pride...but the one drop rule is one American import that should stay Stateside. American culture is not world culture- and no American has the right to tell ay mixed Briton how to ID him/herself.

Even if Obama does consider himself solely black, then that's not my problem. Obama doesn't speak for me- I do, and I say I'm not going to disown half my background to make some other people feel btr about themselves.

Amanda

Piers Register:
"It is my strong belief that the government has to treat all citizens equally. I come from that in part out of personal experience. When you're a black guy named Barack Obama, you know what it's like to be on the outside."
-9 August 2007 HRC/LOGO debate
You wanted a public statement? There you go.

As for your second comment, no one is "forcing" the one-drop rule on you or anyone else in Britain, nor is anyone from America telling you how you should identify yourself. The point that commenters have been trying to make is that the one-drop rule is a part of American history and has been of monumental importance in the way others have defined African American identity and subsequently how black Americans have defined themselves. If you and other "mixed people" in the UK choose to identify yourself as bi- or multiracial, that's fine. But to condemn the way other people view themselves, particularly when that self-identification is the product of a history that is very different from your own, is just as ignorant and problematic as you believe the media to be.

Every comment on here is referring to Obama and the way he identifies himself. No one has addressed you and your racial background at all, so I'm not sure where your offended tone is coming from.

Happy Black Person

I did not here CNN, ABC, WGN, or Fox News announce Barack Obama as the first Half Black President of the world. Sorry racist white people, Obama is BLACK!! No if ands and but's about it.

Never you mind.

GOD SAKE!! IF YOU WATCH THE NEWS!! IT SAYS AMERICA HAS CHOSE IT FIRST 'BLACK' PRESIDENT, IT DIDN'T SAY AMERICA HAS CHOSE IT FIRST MIXED RACED PRESIDENT DID I?!

Pure Chi

I agree there has been way too much publicity surrounding the 'first African-American' president. Technically, Obama is indeed bi-racial. But, in a lot of what I've read about the election on-line, it's sad because it's causing a lot of happiness, but also sadness. I read about a female pastor of a church in the south that said 'Hallelujia' God has redeemed us (slaves), 'Hellelujia' we have a new president and he looks like us. How sad...I don't think God sees color, number one. And, this would cause a division the other way around for anyone that is offended to hear such a thing from a pastor, no less! Why is it that we cannot see people as people and have to define each other by color? God doesn't, why should we? Someone once said, the more we 'segregate' ourselves saying we're black, white, lawyer, single, married, etc., the further we are from God...I for one believe that! Let's look at each other for the people we are and get past the skin color! God sees the heart, let's look there for a change. I for one didn't vote...I didn't feel one way or the other for either candidate. I thought if you could put the good points of each candidate together, they'd make one heck of a President, but I guess you can't go around cutting people in half, now can we? My only feeling is if Obama can do any part of what he says (the parts I was in favor of), then let's take it from that point on. We can only wait and see what happens once he's in office. Let's come together, not grow further apart.

Omaar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery

I'm going to Dispel all this "Slave Blood" .. Bull Spit, once an for all.

Europeans are Descendant of Slaves...Period

So much for the "Slave Blood Theory"

Slavery Via European to Europeans existed long before any African felt the sting of the Lash...

----------------------------

The ancient Mediterranean civilizations

Main article: Slavery in antiquity

Gustave Boulanger's painting The Slave Market.Slavery in ancient cultures was known to occur in civilizations as old as Sumer, and it was found in Every Civilization...

Note: Including Ancient Egypt, the Akkadian Empire, Assyria, Ancient Greece, Ancient Persia, Rome and parts of its empire, and the Islamic Caliphate. Such institutions were a mixture of debt-slavery, punishment for crime, the enslavement of prisoners of war, child abandonment, and the birth of slave children to slaves. In the Roman Empire, probably over 25% of the population was enslaved.

Scholars believe that 30 to 40% of the total population of Italy was enslaved.

Records of slavery in Ancient Greece go as far back as Mycenaean Greece. It is often said that the Greeks as well as philosophers such as Aristotle accepted the theory of natural slavery i.e. that some men are slaves by nature.

At the time Plato and Socrates the slavery was so accepted by the Greeks including philosophers that few people indeed protested it as an institution, although voices of opposition were raised against it. During the 8th and the 7nth centuries BC, in the course of the two Messenian Wars the Spartans reduced an entire population to a pseudo-slavery called helotry.

According to Herodotus (IX, 28–29), helots were seven times as numerous as Spartans. In some Ancient Greek city states about 30% of the population consisted of slaves, but paid and slave labor seem to have been equally important.

Ancient Greek art, showing a slave giving a mother her child.Romans inherited the institution of slavery from the Greeks and the Phoenician . As the Roman Republic expanded outward, entire populations were enslaved, thus creating an ample supply.

The people subjected to Roman slavery came from all over Europe and the Mediterranean. Such oppression by an elite minority eventually led to slave revolts (see Roman Servile Wars); the Third Servile War led by Spartacus was the most famous and severe.

Big Note: Greeks, Berbers, Germans, Britons, Thracians, Gauls (or Celts), Jews, Arabs, and many more were slaves used not only for labor, but also for amusement (e.g. gladiators and sex slaves).

If a slave ran away, he was liable to be crucified. By the late Republican era, slavery had become a vital economic pillar in the wealth of Rome. Slavery was so common, and citizenship restricted so firmly (only to native-born adult males), that the slaves in Rome far outnumbered the citizens.

Omaar

Hey you race conscious and "Slave Blood" theorist....

50% of African Americans have a White lineage, the Captured and Enslaved African Females came to America Pregnant after Months at Sea, in Chains and after enduring Multiple Rapes & Torture by their White Tormentors.

Obama is no Fool, he knows of this History.

When Obama attended Rev. Wright's church he saw people that Looked like him, starting with Rev. Wright, who is a matter of fact Lighter or Whiter than himself as well as others in the Congregation.

Obama knows that if you are not Physically White in Appearence, being White, is not your Reality, ask Halle Berry, Mariah Carey, Shemar Moore, former Pro. Soccer Player Kobe Jones or British Biracial Pro. Car Racer Hamilton Lewis...

Are they White...

Reality Hell No !!

You can try to Divide and Conquer by using a person's Bi-Racial lineage as a means to make Distiction, but most people know thats just...

Bordeline Bull Spit !!!

If they are just a plain old Biracial person walking down the street, to you they are Black...

That One Drop of Black Blood Rule...

Your Ancestors founded, remember..hmmmm

Big Note: Truth be told... Whites who say or think they are 100% White, had better have your DNA TEST RESULT PRESENT to confirm such a Belief.

I know of whites that have had their DNA test results and refuse to show them or allow access to their DNA testing...

I wonder why is that ???

Black in the Family Bloodline..thats why !!!

If they find that they have American Indian in the Family, they readily Claim it or anything else in the Family, otherthan Black.

A.D. Powell

There are plenty of people saying that Obama isn't "black." Indeed, there are plenty of people protesting the powerful American black elites who try to claim whites and other nonblacks as "black" against their will.

STOP RACISM

Does it matter we're all human.

yazmin alhaq

I agree with Obama's position regarding his self designation and he is absolutely right! It is not that he created that self designation but he realized and all "people of colour" know that was how, is how and will be the modus operadi per the categorization by white people (in USA) on anyone who approximates that phenotype.
Obama is obviously of his African and European roots so no problem exists regarding how people see him! He is as American as the Founding Fathers and he is of that group that they came from regarding regarding his ancestry!

Imwhitewithablackgrandfatherliterally

I think if anybody took a look at Rome's caesars, they would notice that they had two black caesars in succession to each other (google "Septimius Severus"). All the while, Rome had black slaves and white, olive, what have you (of course, slavery is an abomination regardless). Rome never gave too much thought as to what skin color meant (not entirely, I couldn't exactly vouche as I wasn't alive then) because in a true spectrum of politics, they lost time and power to such idiosyncratic ideals that we are and will continue tribulating over if we keep up this supposed rationale of "color theory". I, for one, could care less about a person's skin color.

Obama isn't black ...he isn't quite white either ...but there is one thing for sure, he is an American. He wasn't my choice for presidency (due to his governorship or lack there of in Illinois) but simultaneously, nor were the other canidates as I did not vote. I believe there is a lack of integrity in this country and a dozen (at least) of these replies imply as such. Then again, perhaps I'm just another 23 year old dishwashing automaton.

Colorless in terms of skin appearance is like telling the truth, it's the BEST policy.

Matt Thomas

How come when black people had no power every mixed race person was black, now a black man is one of the most power people in the world, mixed race people aren't white?

Drivel Toby Young and a journalist of your standing should be a tad embarrassed.

Steve

There is a reason he won't release his birth certificate... its because it says "caucasion".... if a child is born to a black father and white mother they are technically recorded as caucasion.... HE IS WHITE

Really?

i am seeing a lot of this "one drop rule" and it's nonsense that was used way back before the civil rights movement! P.S. You show me how slavery personally affected an african american and I will show you a liar. Do Irish immigrants still complain about what happened during the potato famine and how they were treated as immigrants in America? NO!!! That is my heritage! I'm not crying!!!!! Suck it up!!