Obama not black?

I was watching a rerun of the Colbert Report and he had a guest that came on disputing Obama's "blackness". She claimed that since his father immigrated here from Kenya is 1959 (I think that's what she said) that he is not the same as those who are considered "black" in America today. According to this woman, "black" people are the descendants of West African slaves brought to America. Since Obama isn't the descendant of a African slave, he is not "black". African-American, but not black.

Now I have a problem with this. She says this under the guise that she wants to respect Obama's unique and rich heritage of being the son of a Kenyan immigrant but please. It seems like people look for ways to hate each other. Obama didn't "go through the same hardships" black people in America went through.

As far as I know, no black people alive today were ever slaves. What's the point in giving Obama another label, and pretty much calling him unworthy of being black?

Originally posted by Marxman
As far as I know, no black people alive today were ever slaves. What's the point in giving Obama another label, and pretty much calling him unworthy of being black?

Pretty much. And it's a big pile of shit. The man is black. Just because he's never been broke-ass poor doesn't mean he's not black.

Maybe to take the black vote away from him? I dunno. She sounds like a biatch.

Originally posted by Marxman
I was watching a rerun of the Colbert Report and he had a guest that came on disputing Obama's "blackness". She claimed that since his father immigrated here from Kenya is 1959 (I think that's what she said) that he is not the same as those who are considered "black" in America today. According to this woman, "black" people are the descendants of West African slaves brought to America. Since Obama isn't the descendant of a African slave, he is not "black". African-American, but not black.

Hmmm. I definitely smell the opinions drawn from someones... hat. This woman's spouting is possibly the stupidest thing I have heard for some time.

What about the white Americans? By golly, if you aren't descended from a family that kept slaves you aren't a white American. You're a grey one, like Obama - in some sort of strange nether world of this womens fantasies.

Now I have a problem with this. She says this under the guise that she wants to respect Obama's unique and rich heritage of being the son of a Kenyan immigrant but please. It seems like people look for ways to hate each other. Obama didn't "go through the same hardships" black people in America went through.

Yeah, I am fairly sure this women hasn't gone through the same hardships as the slaves either. Unless she is well over a hundred years old.

As far as I know, no black people alive today were ever slaves. What's the point in giving Obama another label, and pretty much calling him unworthy of being black?

There is no reason. Some people have opinions, and regardless of how crazy like them to be known. Personally I don't think race should matter at all, but Obama is no less a person because his family weren't slaves at some point.

Originally posted by Marxman
I was watching a rerun of the Colbert Report and he had a guest that came on disputing Obama's "blackness". She claimed that since his father immigrated here from Kenya is 1959 (I think that's what she said) that he is not the same as those who are considered "black" in America today. According to this woman, "black" people are the descendants of West African slaves brought to America. Since Obama isn't the descendant of a African slave, he is not "black". African-American, but not black.

Now I have a problem with this. She says this under the guise that she wants to respect Obama's unique and rich heritage of being the son of a Kenyan immigrant but please. It seems like people look for ways to hate each other. Obama didn't "go through the same hardships" black people in America went through.

As far as I know, no black people alive today were ever slaves. What's the point in giving Obama another label, and pretty much calling him unworthy of being black?

I've met some blacks and some African-Americans, they are not the same, and putting them in the same category is what causes a lot of problems, those two are not the same entity, they look similar but that's it. Once people start understanding that, they can see that differences doesn't mean hatred, it just means each group respects his or her own respective label that THEY GIVE THEMSELVES.

That's free will.

I wish blacks would stop harassing anyone with slightly negro features and making them out to be them, when we all know it's not true.

There are fundamental differences and it's not a disrespect to anyone by noticing them, the only ones who are scared of the difference are the ones who feel they will lose more out of the equation.

And I don't believe it has anything to do with slavery, but with mentality, the mentality that your parents teach you. It's a different mentality for someone who is a first generation immigrant. And he is mixed race, if he wants to only claim his African origin, that's up to him. Black is not exactly every color in Africa, and not all aFricans worship blackness or black or nubian culture. Blacks have voted for people who aren't the same color, so I can't see why they would feel so offended by someone who looks similar to them but who simply was raised with a different cultural mentality. So, I can't see why open minded blacks wouldn't vote for him, if they liked him, anymore then they would vote for any person who is within their interest, and the interest shouldn't be to turn this entire nation black, as it shouldn't be the interest of gays to turn this entire nation gay, although this nation does allow both, it's not to dominate the entire nation.

Who gives a shit? He's an intelligent, principled and charming guy; what else is there worth considering?

Originally posted by AngryManatee
Maybe to take the black vote away from him? I dunno. She sounds like a biatch.

She said she is black but Obama is not. She wrote a book called "The End of Blackness". I did a little search on google, her name is Debra Dickerson. Her book is a call for all black people to "get over" slavery and racial oppression. In this book she discusses how racism no longer blocks blacks from "playing the game".

Now while I agree that people should stop victimizing themselves and making a "them" and an "us", racism is still a very real thing. ignoring it is just as bad as being racist. While this woman seems to be trying to end the self-victimization of black Americans, it seems to me that she's actually trying to have blacks lose their identity.

Originally posted by Oncewhite
I've met some blacks and some African-Americans, they are not the same, and putting them in the same category is what causes a lot of problems, those two are not the same entity, they look similar but that's it. Once people start understanding that, they can see that differences doesn't mean hatred, it just means each group respects his or her own respective label that THEY GIVE THEMSELVES.

That's free will.

I wish blacks would stop harassing anyone with slightly negro features and making them out to be them, when we all know it's not true.

There are fundamental differences and it's not a disrespect to anyone by noticing them, the only ones who are scared of the difference are the ones who feel they will lose more out of the equation.

And I don't believe it has anything to do with slavery, but with mentality, the mentality that your parents teach you. It's a different mentality for someone who is a first generation immigrant. And he is mixed race, if he wants to only claim his African origin, that's up to him. Black is not exactly every color in Africa, and not all aFricans worship blackness or black or nubian culture. Blacks have voted for people who aren't the same color, so I can't see why they would feel so offended by someone who looks similar to them but who simply was raised with a different cultural mentality. So, I can't see why open minded blacks wouldn't vote for him, if they liked him, anymore then they would vote for any person who is within their interest, and the interest shouldn't be to turn this entire nation black, as it shouldn't be the interest of gays to turn this entire nation gay, although this nation does allow both, it's not to dominate the entire nation.

Originally posted by Marxman
Quite. The worst thing about this, [b]SHE'S BLACK!!!

She said she is black but Obama is not. She wrote a book called "The End of Blackness". I did a little search on google, her name is Debra Dickerson. Her book is a call for all black people to "get over" slavery and racial oppression. In this book she discusses how racism no longer blocks blacks from "playing the game".

Now while I agree that people should stop victimizing themselves and making a "them" and an "us", racism is still a very real thing. ignoring it is just as bad as being racist. While this woman seems to be trying to end the self-victimization of black Americans, it seems to me that she's actually trying to have blacks lose their identity.
I'm not trying to lump anybody with a little bit of color in their skin together. I grew up with mostly black friends. I didn't have a white friend until high school. I know the animosity that black people have towards Africans and Haitians. My point is why is it there? Why is race an issue in the first place? Maybe I'm a part of the problem by bringing this to your attention but I feel it needs to be known that whether Obama is black, white, Puerto Rican, Chinese, Arab, whatever, it shouldn't make a difference but rather his qualifications should be what we judge him on. [/B]

Well, someone started the thread about his race, so you have to ask them why race is so important in this subject.

I feel that there is a desire among some blacks to retain black culture mentality, could be negro spirituals, roots, particular type of dance, walk, and talk and financial mentality, educational mentality, family values, and again, religious/spiritual beliefs, type of foods that they eat (and the combinations of certain foods which may be very unhealthy, a lot of fried food, chitlings -southern dish, etc), values on how you treat another person, how they teach children to deal with stress and rejection and jealousy and disappointments (the negative stuff in life that slows people down), those are cultural things that make a person black, not the facial features.

I didn't read her book, but I doubt she's trying to make black Americans lose their identity, seems like an avenue for those who have an open mind to branch into a different level (mind you, i didn't qualify that level).

This argument is stupid. Obama had a black father and a white mother. He is black because people says he is, because people say he looks black.

Obama has said he doesn't care about his race label. He himself acknowledges that his family reunions look like UN general assembley meetings.

Originally posted by Marxman
Quite. The worst thing about this, [b]SHE'S BLACK!!!

She said she is black but Obama is not. She wrote a book called "The End of Blackness". I did a little search on google, her name is Debra Dickerson. Her book is a call for all black people to "get over" slavery and racial oppression. In this book she discusses how racism no longer blocks blacks from "playing the game".

[/B]

i know what it's like to be harassed by black folks, it's really an experience. trust me, some think/assume that b/c your skin is dark that they have the right to dictate to you who you are and your sense of reality. i had a GAY "BLACK" GUY tell me about my race, and was dressed AS A WOMAN, but was TELLING ME WHO I WAS, I'm like, NO SIR, YOU dressed as a woman can't tell me that i'm confused about who i am.

I should say "he was trying to tell me what race I belong to" but he was dressed in drag, pretending to be a woman, so it was odd that someone who was wanting to be a female (perhaps b/c he has a female spirit in him) decided to comment about what race I should belong to...and the guy was a complete stranger.

He's a mulatto, he's as black as he is white. Simple as that.

Oncewhite, I'd ask you to keep your ridiculous idea of you being a white woman trapped in a black man's body, or whatever it is you claim, out of this discussion and stick to the topic.

Obama and the differences between black people and Africans are just the background information to the actual question of this topic.

Why do people look for differences between themselves and other people? Can't we accept the fact that we are all human? When will we see that our differences shouldn't be something we use to segregate but rather they should be celebrated and cherished? Why isn't it good enough for us to see that Obama is either qualified or not qualified for being the President of the United States and not make it about his race? Same with Hilary. Is she qualified or isn't she? Why make a big deal about her being a woman?

the right wing is launching a sort of uncle tom swiftboating campaign. also they want to paint him as...well...a terrorist.

i love it though. let the stupid whores give into the hype and expose themselves for what they really are. when these pricks panic (as they're doing now) they shoot themselves in the foot.

by mid-08 he'll be able to say he overcame racist attacks etc. and come out even cleaner as if that was possible.

Originally posted by Marxman

Obama and the differences between black people and Africans are just the background information to the actual question of this topic.

Why do people look for differences between themselves and other people? Can't we accept the fact that we are all human? When will we see that our differences shouldn't be something we use to segregate but rather they should be celebrated and cherished? Why isn't it good enough for us to see that Obama is either qualified or not qualified for being the President of the United States and not make it about his race? Same with Hilary. Is she qualified or isn't she? Why make a big deal about her being a woman?

BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT, my GOD. a person can be mixed with black culture, and look light colored but consider themselves black because they eat soul food, they talk with Ebonics at home, they do certain dances, they're involved in certain roots or spiritual work, they are into these things, a person can look totally dark but wasn't raised to eat that kind of food, talk that kind of talk, not into roots or spiritual work, and have a totally different way of addressing people, DIFFERENT, so it's wrong for those folks to be clumped with the soul food eating, ghetto talking, root working, negative sum mentality of blacks. If blacks like that GOOD FOR THEM, but DO NOT PUT EVERY NEGRO PERSON IN THAT GROUP, AND THAT'S WHY YOU ARE SO FRUSTRATED B/C IT'S SIMPLY NOT THE SAME culture. Similar looks maybe, but culture, NOPE, it's not the same, and blacks get frustrated trying to impose their culture on other negro looking or mixed (Africanish-Asiatic descendant) group. They tried it with me so I know they try this on others who are mixed or who aren't mixed at all, my thing is why not leave a person alone, if someone wants to be within the group, they usually will come ON THEIR OWN FREE WILL, NO NEGATIVITY TO BRING THEM THERE. Leave people be, there's peace there. Blacks are not the same as all Afro-Asiatics, sometimes they are the same, but not always GIVE PEOPLE THEIR FREE WILL TO DECIDE, A PERSON KNOWS THEMSELVES BETTER THEN YOU WHO IS TRYING TO POLICE EVERYBODY.

Originally posted by Marxman
Oncewhite, I'd ask you to keep your ridiculous idea of you being a white woman trapped in a black man's body, or whatever it is you claim, out of this discussion and stick to the topic.

🙄

Originally posted by PVS
the right wing is launching a sort of uncle tom swiftboating campaign. also they want to paint him as...well...a terrorist.

i love it though. let the stupid whores give into the hype and expose themselves for what they really are. when these pricks panic (as they're doing now) they shoot themselves in the foot.

by mid-08 he'll be able to say he overcame racist attacks etc. and come out even cleaner as if that was possible.

How can an Afro-Asiatic or mixed race person be an Uncle Tom when they get along well with whites?

Why can't it be that these folks of different skin colors get along b/c they have the same mentality?

The mentality is the same and that's why THEY (republican party) get along, but since YOU ONLY SEE RACE(clumping all negro looking people as the same, as coming from SLAVERY, you use the word UNCLE TOM WHICH IS A BLACK American EXPERIENCE, not a Haitian, Jamacian (Collen Powel), South American (Peru or Brazil), or African, or British-Africana, etc, they aren't UNCLE TOMS BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T COME FROM THAT KIND OF CATEGORY FOR SLAVERY, you see them as unlce toms BECAUSE YOU CLUMP them as one, I don't, I see the dynamics of people.

"Uncle Tom" is a phrase too... I believe that was the angle PVS was going for, duh.

On a funny note, you have a history of being racially negative towards blacks and painting them inferior to whites while being black yourself (at least you claim to be), that would make you an "Uncle Tom".

Originally posted by Marxman
I was watching a rerun of the Colbert Report and he had a guest that came on disputing Obama's "blackness". She claimed that since his father immigrated here from Kenya is 1959 (I think that's what she said) that he is not the same as those who are considered "black" in America today. According to this woman, "black" people are the descendants of West African slaves brought to America. Since Obama isn't the descendant of a African slave, he is not "black". African-American, but not black.

Now I have a problem with this. She says this under the guise that she wants to respect Obama's unique and rich heritage of being the son of a Kenyan immigrant but please. It seems like people look for ways to hate each other. Obama didn't "go through the same hardships" black people in America went through.

As far as I know, no black people alive today were ever slaves. What's the point in giving Obama another label, and pretty much calling him unworthy of being black?

He's Black.

Originally posted by Ya Krunk'd Floo
Who gives a shit? He's an intelligent, principled and charming guy; what else is there worth considering?

The vast majority of American voters give a shit.

Originally posted by Robtard
"Uncle Tom" is a phrase too... I believe that was the angle PVS was going for, duh.

On a funny note, you have a history of being racially negative towards blacks and painting them inferior to whites while being black yourself (at least you claim to be), that would make you an "Uncle Tom".

That's Ms. Aunt Tom to you!

And I don't have a history of being racially negative, I am not shy about explaining the issues that I have observed, you can take that as negative or just another person's experience, it's up to you.