Barack Obama is black. He is not biracial, much less white.
Some say that in American society you are whatever you say you are. Like Tiger Woods calling himself Cablinasian. If only. But even from that point of view, Obama is still black: he has always called himself either “black” or “African American”, never biracial, never mixed.
Yes, he was brought up by the white side of his family, mostly by his grandparents who grew up in Kansas. Yes, he barely knew his black father from Kenya or any other black people while growing up. That is why Steve Sailer says he is a white man trying to act black – a wigger.
But what makes you black in America is not your upbringing but how you look.
So even during that supposedly wholesome white Kansan upbringing that he had, he had white coaches who passed him over for less able white players. He had few if any girlfriends because only black girls would date him and there were few of them at his private school in Hawaii.
When whites do not accept you because of how you look but blacks do, then you are black. Not just black but “black enough” in all the ways that truly matter.
So Obama is not just black but he is also black enough.
When neither whites nor blacks accept you – you are too black for the whites and too white for the blacks – then you become biracial. That was not Obama’s experience, so he is not biracial – except in the strict sense of the word, a sense that is useless when talking about black Americans since most are part white. Some are even mostly white by blood.
Some seem to think that having a white parent and a black parent is something new, something the 1960s brought in. Hardly. The mixing of the races may have been looked down on (and still is in many quarters), but it has been going on in America a long, long time, almost from the very beginning of the country. There are plenty of light-skinned blacks to prove it. And DNA tests on white Americans show that a tenth of them are mixed with black too.
But then why this urge to see Obama as biracial?
Is it because we are entering a new and better day when the colour line is going away, when the One Drop Rule is becoming something only found in history books? I wish.
Partly it is because biracial people, understandably, want to claim him as one of their own, but mainly it is because many white people do not want to admit we will now have a black president. It is easier for them to see him as biracial or mixed or half-white.
Anything but black.
Calling Obama biracial would not be progress: it would allow whites to hold on to their racist views about blacks. Thank God Michelle Obama will be the first lady.
See also:
That was a perfect article. Thanks! And yes, judging from what we have seen thus far there will probably always be controversy on whether Obama is black or biracial or whatever, but Michelle Obama is never going to be anything other than a black woman, and Thank God for that!
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I agree that it’s ridiculous, and revealing, for whites to argue that Obama’s not black. I don’t think, though, that it’s only his appearance that makes him so (if that’s what you’re saying). It’s also his decision to be black–his own declaration that he’s black.
I wondered about this too: “But what makes you black in America is not your upbringing but how you look.”
Are you sure? What about people raised in black families who can pass for white? I don’t think Adrian Piper, for instance, would take kindly to your implication here that because she looks white, she is white.
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Some blacks, like Adrian Piper, can pass for white. For them it is a choice. But for Obama and most blacks it is not. Obama did not “choose” to be black – it was thrust upon him.
Think of it this way:
You are now white, but what if tomorrow morning you woke up looking as black as Obama does? Like reverse vitiligo or something. And suppose you told everyone you are white, not black. That might work with your family and friends, with anyone who knew you from before. But what if you had to find work? What if you had a run-in with the police? What if you wanted to date? What if you looked for a house? The way you look would affect all that. If you said, “No, seriously, I am white,” people who did not know you would think you were a bit mad. In your private circles you might still be white, but in the larger society you would be black. Whether you liked it or not. Your “choice” would not matter.
So, yes, it does come down how you look, not how you were brought up. And, apart from certain cases like Adrian Piper, it is not a choice.
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Right on, Abagond.
All these “Is Obama really black?” topics that pop up all over the internet sicken me really. It’s such sideways racism.
Would the same white people who try to debate away or distance Obama from his appearant blackness still be doing so if he weren’t famous and he was caught robbing their house? Would they still be arguing that he’s “not black”?
My only gripe with your article is the mention of “light skinned blacks” being the indicator of the black/white mixing which colors the black American genealogy pool. That’s actually quite biased and misleading because…umm…the VAST MAJORITY of black Americans have European blood. According to various studies, 15%-25% is about average for your typical black American.
Skin shade has no real indication of how much non-African blood one has or doesn’t have. Genes and actual family history do. And most “light skinned blacks” are not any “whiter”, gene-wise, than your typical black person. Don’t get it twised! 😉
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“VAST MAJORITY of black Americans have European blood. According to various studies, 15%-25% is about average for your typical black American.”
I don’t think, it’s 15%,it’s less and you should be proud, just like whites in the US is proud to be white.
Why is there mixing? It’s because of the KKK and gang rapes and also the slave masters. Slavery in Briazil went on longer then USA and that why there more light skinned people in Latin-American isn’t because there mix-race marriage going on it’s because white men use to leave there wife safe in europe while their raped and raped and killed Africans and Native Indians. Racism is the norm in Brazil.
I so sick of people thinking if all of us is light skin the slave masters will accept us more well just look at Brazil black people of all shades are treated the same. I live in New York, and black people of all shades are mistreated. I am so-called light skinned why because my great grand mother was raped nothing to be proud of. Obama is a blackman full stop, both my parents are black and in my family we come in different shades beautiful ebony to light brown like Obama. If both Obama parents were black and he had the same skin colour we all say he a black man. Both my parents are black my father light skin and my mother dark skinned my colour is between my mother and father I am the same colour as Obama I am a black woman. My father is much lighter then Obama this doesn’t stop the whites in Brazil from mistreating him and being racist towards him and his family who are all very light skinned. By the way Brazil is a very racist country and there are lots of so-called light skinned blacks. African American should be happy for the one drop rule it’s make black people in the US work together we don’t have a civil rights like the US you should be happy and proud for dark skin Dr Martin King, because noway will there ever be a black leader in my country. I hate Brazil and the lies it export that it’s a non racist country. Black Brazilians play around with racism and are so in love with they white master they don’t realise that racist as made them the lowest form of life in Brazil. It’s just recently that Brazilian as seen Black Americans and realise there are still in slavelery.
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Interesting post. It had been my impression that many of the “is Obama really black” pieces one sees on the internet were from black writers, not white, but perhaps I was mistaken.
I was struck by this quote: “When neither whites nor blacks accept you – you are too black for the whites and too white for the blacks – then you become biracial.” My personal experience, among my friends, is that this is often the plight of continental Africans. Many of these folks were educated in boarding schools either in England or run by English. They often go on to higher education in England or the Ivy League.
Once in the US, black people deride them for acting “uppity” or “superior” or “white,” while at the same time, as you note, whites, driven by physical appearance, see them as black indistinguishable from black Americans.
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Obama is whatever he says he is
But make no mistake about it, people are happy to say he is not black right now. However, where were people claiming Obama was half-white when Rev. Wright scandal came out? Where were people claiming Obama was half-white when Hillary/Bill were using covert racist tactics against him? Will people claim he’s not black if he turns out not be a good president?
Here’s the general rule that I’ve noticed:
Person of accomplishment= anything but black but God forbid, Obama messes up=back to black.
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It had been my impression that many of the “is Obama really black” pieces one sees on the internet were from black writers, not white, but perhaps I was mistaken.
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I hope you realize that just because a couple of black writers put out fluff pieces about someone’s blackness, doesn’t mean they represent all thoughts of black people. Heck, to this day, black folks are wondering is Clarence Thomas really black?
What I have noticed is questioning someone’s blackness doesn’t mean their “physical” blackness but whether you are down with the struggle and are you going to look out for the interests of black folks up in Washington.
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I agree: if he screws up as president, then all this talk about his being half white will suddenly stop.
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The mainstream media in America is owned and operated by white people. They will only put on blacks who have “safe” opinions. Kanye West after Katrina is about as close as you are going to get to hearing raw black opinion on television. There is a reason Juan Williams and Amy Holmes are talking heads on television.
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sometimes i wonder why people keep talking about him? a lot of people say, “he’s black”, “he’s biracial”, “he’s this”, “he’s that”. obama looks at himself as a black man and so do i. yea he is mixed but there would some racist white people that looks at him as biracial instead of being black because like agabond said they don’t want to admit it. then you have some blacks thinking he’s not “black” enough to be president. cut the crap because we finally have a man of color that’s our president in this generation when nobody thought it could happen and now we’re debating if he’s black or not? well at least michelle obama is black.
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mynameismyname:
Does lighter = whiter?
I know some people are shocked by what their DNA tests say. Skin colour, it turns out, is not a good guide for tellling how European a black person is. Yet, black Americans on the whole are lighter than the people in West Africa and I think it is more than just the lack of sun in America. I think it has plenty to do with the mixing of the races.
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Exactly, Aba.
Are people really that color-conscious? The impurity of most black Americans does show up physically (IMO) more so in features than just whatever shade their skin is.
Black Americans as a whole look like diluted West or Central Africans. But then again, West Africans, as a whole have a wide array of phenotypes as well. Black people in general are the most diverse looking. There is no single “black” look.
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I agree with lil’vina. The point is we have a man of color in the White House.An impossibility until now.
I also agree with mynameismyname: skin tone is not always a definitive indicator of someone’s mixness.
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thanks kat. i look at the man as being a black man who’s our president, even though he was raised by his mom that was white. and just because he was raised mostly by whites doesn’t mean he’s trying to be white. he was raised to be a man that he is today, our first black president. now people want to say “well he’s not black he’s biracial”. so what if he is? some whites are gonna look at him as being a black man or even biracial and not a white man, even though he’s mixed. and i agree with mynameismyname, there really isn’t a single black look because most blacks today are mixed with something. all i’m saying is i’m happy that we have a man of color that’s our president because if it wasn’t fot him, we probably would’ve had john mccain as our president right now.
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Abagond said – “But for Obama and most blacks it is not. Obama did not “choose” to be black – it was thrust upon him.”
This seams to conflict with your “There is nothing wrong with being black” post. The word thrust sounds very negative.
On a side note – I have been working for a long time on a fictional story. After reading your blog for several months I have made a huge decision. A little bit scary but it feels right. My charcter was formaly a women of scottish decent – who didnt fit in with the city life (very much like me). But the conflicts and the charcter were a bit flat. I have decided to make her half american indian. When I decided to do this it felt right…it made her make more sense. My great grandmother is Taos indian and I have always felt a connection to her…put I am not indian.
But – being white – I need to do ALOT of research into what it is like to be a minority. My character would be dealing with the opposite issue than what is listed above. The world see’s a white women. But in her soul, in her depth, in her core…she doesnt belong. But her mothers people – they do not see one of their own – they see a white women. And her struggle to find herself outside inspite of what world says she is.
I welcome any and all input.
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But make no mistake about it, people are happy to say he is not black right now. However, where were people claiming Obama was half-white when Rev. Wright scandal came out? Where were people claiming Obama was half-white when Hillary/Bill were using covert racist tactics against him? Will people claim he’s not black if he turns out not be a good president?
Here’s the general rule that I’ve noticed:
Person of accomplishment= anything but black but God forbid, Obama messes up=back to black.
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That point needs to be re-iterated again again to showcase White America’s disgusting hypocrisy. Funny throughout his whole 2 year campaign no White person could identify with him–didn’t know him like Palin, Bush or McCain. Funny how they emphasized his Hussein obama to scare Whites and jews, but now all that’s changed now wthat he won. If he had lost, he would have been another failed black politcian, but the fact that he galvinzed the whole world–somehow he is more and better than being simply BLACK.
Thank god for Michelle Obama is right.
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going back to “things white people do”
I was talking about to a coworker about my book idea..she answered with “Right – this is a relevent issue today – take obama and (suddenly lowers voice to a whisper) people viewing him as black vs. bi racial” and goes on to talk about well bascially what you talk about above.
But circling back on our previous comment about white people thinking “black” is a bad word. It was weird – It was as if she had said something really offensive and then she glanced around to see if anyone was listening.
The more I read your posts and then observe every day life I think you are right to some degree….race and race issues is the elephant in the room.
We are so considered with “polite society” that we not only dont talk about it – we act like the problem doesnt exsist.
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Davida, you said:
Abagond said – “But for Obama and most blacks it is not. Obama did not “choose” to be black – it was thrust upon him.”
This seams to conflict with your “There is nothing wrong with being black” post. The word thrust sounds very negative.
The people doing the thrusting in this case, the whites, assume that being black is a bad thing. But just because they think so does not mean it is.
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Davida, you said,
We are so considered with “polite society” that we not only dont talk about it – we act like the problem doesnt exsist.
Right, as if that would make it go away. Not.
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Davida: what your character faces is like what many biracial people face, being caught between two worlds, never fully belonging or fitting into either one.
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Right its the elephant in the room
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You should do a post ASCII Art
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Damn – that totally looked like an elephant in the room when I typed it
it took out all my spaces…
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That is WordPress for you.
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Whites historically never acknowledged mixed/bi-racial people. They instantly labeled these people as “black”. And it continues today.
The only reason why you are now hearing certain people (mainly whites) now acknowledging he’s actually mixed/bi-racial is because it suites their benefit and gives them ease, helps them sleep better at night, knowing he’s literally not a black man.
It makes them feel better knowing that he’s half white. They feel more comfortable.
You didn’t hear any of these types of questions from them when the campaign was going. Now that he’s elected and there is nothing they can do about it, they’re trying to find a silver lining.
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I am white – and I admit am racist in some ways – like abagond points everyone is.
However – I dont really care if my president is black or asian or what ever.
I dont care if my boss is of a different race. I dont sleep better because I think of him as mixed race.
I am not sure why people think the color of a person skin makes them a good or bad president, cook, or underwater basket weaver.
I personally disagree with Obamas politics but like him better than hilary…Obama I am can deal with…if Hillary won – I would have had to move to a island somewhere and make my own government. And she and I are both white and both women… Cant STAND that women.
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I care about Obama’s skin colour – and the skin colour of all other presidents too (as well as my bosses, for that matter). I think being black will make Obama a far better president because he will see America more as it truly is – much more so than a white person would:
And, on top of all that, he was brought up by white people, so he knows the other half far better than most blacks. He is the most American president we have ever had – or maybe ever will.
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LLUP: Right, since when did being half white ever matter to white people! Only now, suddenly. It is interesting to watch.
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i just mean – I wouldnt choose a president based on skin color. I get your point but – am more worried about the economy and security. I choose a president based on those things – and I dont think skin color impacts that.
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Aba,
You can say the same thing about many black Americans. They see both sides. They live both sides. Living in a white outer world yet based in a black inner world. Me and many others are just like Obama: we see what America really is yet we also know the “other side”. You have to in order to survive in this country if you’re not white.
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Right, blacks in America understand whites better than whites themselves do because they have to live in a white world. They cannot afford to wear rose-coloured glasses when it comes to whites or else they and their families will suffer. White life, on the other hand, is built on lies and not seeing things as they are. I think we have seen that in action on this blog in some of the comments.
But Obama goes beyond just that: he was brought up by white grandparents and a white mother and so I think he got a view of white America that most blacks do not get, an insider’s view. He has seen America from both sides to a degree that few Americans do.
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I read somewhere that about 65% of white people view Obama as biracial and not black, and about 74% of blk people view Obama as black. I don’t really remember and my numbers are probably off, but I know the poll was basically trying to say that most whites viewed Obama as biracial and most blacks viewed him as black. I wonder if a hundred years from now, in U.S. history class will high school students learn that the first black president wasn’t “actually” black, but instead biracial. IMO … Obama is a black man.
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i thought obama was black until your website said he wasnt. I dont pay much attention to campaigns and refused to get sucked into the media hype so thats probably why I missed it.
I pull up a list of issues important to me – see where the candidate falls and choose my candidate. The speeches, the debates…thats all dog and poney show and would never choose a president based on that.
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Wow, I knew many whites saw him as biracial or at least “not-really-black-technically”, but I did not think it was most of them!
My website says he is black. Reread the first line of this post, though I do point out that that opinion is not universally held.
I hope in a hundred years they have to explain what “black” and “white” mean and why a first black president was such a big deal in the first place.
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“mainly it is because many white people do not want to admit we will now have a black president. It is easier for them to see him as biracial or mixed or half-white.”
You have cause and effect the wrong way around. It’s not that many white people see Obama’s whiteness because he is the president. He is the president because many white people see his whiteness.
You are right, of course, that American society assorts Obama as “black” only. You are right that black appearance is the basis for such assortment. But Obama is culturally white, by and large, and white people pick up on this. We see Obama as “happens to be black” rather than “black”, and much less threatening. This made him much more electable than, say, Jesse Jackson.
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Exactly my feeling about US society.
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B. Hussein Obama is, both genetically and socially, somewhere in between Black and White.
Yes, the outside world may have treated him as a Black man, but he was raised by his White mother and grandparents.
Just like Derek Jeter, he is biracial.
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And it is ridiculous to say someone named Barack Hussein Obama, with a foreign born father, who grew up partially in a foreign country, who is a fan of Islam, is more american than someone like Richard Nixon, who was entirely descended from Colonial Settlers, had an American name, grew up only in America, and did not like Islam.
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