President Obama is black, and no one should try to take away from what that means for the black community. But, people shouldn't bash others who are of mixed backgrounds who also see themselves in him and are excited about that. I will not side with people who bring up the fact that he's half-white as a 'consolation' or justification for why he's 'okay', but I won't tell someone who's bi-racial or multi-cultural that they cannot also celebrate that.
@JSouth: I'm not sure you can speak for Obama. I think part of the point of being biracial and proud of it, is NOT CARING how other people are defining you, by looking at you. Standing up and saying "I'm NOT whatever YOU say I am, just because you say so." Screw that.
I am proud of his accomplishment as a black man in a white man's world, but it doesn't have to denigrate his nuanced, mixed heritage.
i wish it didnt matter so much, but really, im "white" as some would say, and hate it. I have German, Irish, Danish, Cherokee and who the fuck knows what other sort of blood...And I enjoy knowing that culturally, I have some interesting things going on, when i look at the specifics. Ive always thought that the US was sort of lacking in the culture department.
I'm like a sponge, i soak up all this stuff about different cultures, dances, food, music, art etc...I wish it would be more prevalent and common instead of a special event type thing.
@ForgetfulBitch [doesn't have a job, but she voted!]: Please don't hate who you are! And as a non-American who has lived in the US for a lot of years, America does have a culture, a really rich and beautiful one. Others (mainly European) often try to put American culture down but I think it's amazing. The US has a multitude of things wrong with it but what other country would be brave enough to put all their shit out for the world to see. Most other countries claim they don't have a problem with racism, all evidence to the contrary. America is willing to face itself, warts and all, and try to improve. The US isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't believe for a minute that any other country would have taken the step America took on Tuesday. No matter how black (or not black) you think Obama is.
I love being multi-culti!! Like anything, being mixed is personal. I have always thought it was your own choose to be black, or to be mixed, or whatever. Trying to be white-only was the only option that seemed a bit deluded.
I am a proudly white-bred bi-racial person, and I identify with Barack Obama, what can I say?
This thread is, frankly, chock full of needless hostility - from all sides of a multifaceted issue that can be and should be discussed without terms like "colonial mentality." But instead, it seems to have turned into a bunch of mudslinging about who has a purer view of the realities of race in this country.
I tell you what - no one's going to get closer to the realities of race in this country by screaming and shouting down other experiences simply because they don't happen to be your own.
@PilgrimSoul: I think this is the most alienating thread I've read on Jezebel. People being told than their own feelings about being biracial are illegitimate, people being told them deserve to be discriminated against, and people posting as though Jezebel readers only accept Barack because he's half white.
Yes, it does seem the media is trying to "legitimate" Obama's already profound win by discussing his bi-racialness. However, on this board, it is giving us an opportunity to discuss an experience that has heretofore been examined under the scope of miscegenation, slave-rape, mingling, mutthood.
I am not limiting your pride in being black nor your pride in your african-american president. Please do not diminish my right to speak on MY experience, do not tell me to STFU, simply because I don't look black and can never be 100% black. My momma is 100% black she would probably smack the anger of you if she could.
@snatchatron: Are you imply that because she is 100% black, she'd do the smacking, because blacks are well, violent, but since you don't look black and can never be 100% black you won't do the smacking?
That, does not sound nice at all. I reject your stereotype of a "100%" black person, and suggest that a 100% black person may well simply disagree with you, even strongly, but need not resort to violence? Even a black but not "officially 100%" black person, like our American President Barack Obama, believes in being willing to talk with even those called 'enemies.' He isn't going all violent on folks, that was what the 100% white President Bush has done over the past terms and that is a big reason why people rejected the GOP a few days ago.
Don't go all Sarah Palin on me.
Darn, people love to irritate black folk, but once you turn it back on them, they get all cranky.
@noasalira: You need to chill out, seriously. I think you've made your point, and a good chunk of it is a point that needed to be made. But now you are just repeating yourself and/or attacking other people, with frankly very little provocation. And now this thread, which could have been a good forum to discuss all the intersecting identities some people feel compelled to acknowledge, is just dead.
@HalfBloodPrince: I know that you are referring to the dumber of the above articles...but do you feel embracing his white heritage is taking away from his blackness?
h, nd y prtclr mxs f b-rcl ppl wh brthlssly rshd t sy "ys, h Gd ys!! Thnk y fr tllng th trth, m nt blck, nt frcn-mrcn! My grndp ws Ntv mrcn! Lk t my "gd hr!" Lk hv brwn skn, nt blck skn! My hsbnd s blck bt r chldrn nly hv tns! My hr s nly ltl knky, lk Jwsh ppl!! Wt, nbdy vr thnks m blck!! Thy thnk m xtc! m xtc! m NT sm blck prsn! hv wht frnds! Wt, wt dn't hnd m tht cpy f ssnc mgzn! Tk t wy!! My mthr s 1/2 Rssn, 1/2 Grk, 1/2 rsh, 1/2 Jpns, nd my fthr wnt t cllg! H cn't vn d th lctrc sld swr!!! lk prl jm!! Mry j. wh? **cryng** dn't knw th wrds t th blck ntnl nthm!!! N, n ddn't w g t prvt schl tgthr??? Fr th lv f Gd, y knw m!!!"
ky, stf, y r nt blck, w gt t. Fr th rcrd, y r ls nt blck whn grp f rcst wht mn r chsng y dwn th strt t clbrt strm thrmnd's brthdy, d nt sk m f knw gd hr sln, nd dn't tw wks frm nw pst sm stff frm tht "blck pnt f vw" bcs yr thr nn-blck Jzbl cllgs fr sm rsn thnk y'd b gd prsn t wrt t. Rmmbr y r nt blck, s gn, stf.
@noasalira: Preach on Sister. Now that Barack has won its all of a sudden cool to examine his duality as a mixed person. Obama has never called himself Biracial he is a BLACK MAN.
@noasalira: What the hell? We're all fighting again, already? Can't someone just talk about her experience without someone else trying to delegitimize her. Sisterhood? Tolerance? Barack Obama, anyone?
The social constructs surrounding racial categories and what people of 'x' race should and act like are fascinating.
I am white British/Irish (and you don't get much pastier and paler then that), but because I wear hijab, some people cannot believe I'm white, not just white people but people of colour too. My husband is Arab, but light skinned, so most people think he's Greek or Italian.
I'm currently pregnant with our child, who will be biracial and I wonder what her experience will be?
One day, I'm going to have a biracial baby... and yes, I WILL tell my child how special he/she is. But I guess I'd do that no matter what color they are. Gobama!
Barack Obama is of course black, because that's how he identifies and will be identified by others. I think there's something interesting about his success as a "black" politican though, and it does have something to do with his mixed racial background-- for some people it made him less threatning, and symbolic, and in practical terms, it did mean that portions of his unbringing were able to be more neatly made into an American dream story-- Kansas is still "real America," in a way inner city Chicago apparently isn't.
I used to be gung ho about having people not identify me as mixed, because I felt like they were usually doing it to take something away from me, to compliment me for doing something they wouldn't expect from a black person, and then to try to contextualize that by pointing out that i was some fraction whute, and not "really" black, so that their racism could remain in tact. And I spent so long insisting that I was black and it didn't matter who in my family wasn't that it was college before I had to admit to myself that my only living grandparent, the only one I'd ever met, was a white woman, and it meant something about my relationship to history, and my sense of family.
On a smaller note, I always thought Oreo had nothing to do with a person's being mixed, and was about behavior "black on the outside, white on the inside." or at least, that's how the lovely junior high girls who called me that explained it to me.
Hey folks, don't give up, maybe the next black President won't think he is black.
Maybe he'll call African-Americans, "Them" and "Those people"
Until then, please don't try to ruin the buzz for us black people.
Black people like Michelle Obama.
Like that 106 year old Black woman who voted for Barack Obama, that Obama mentioned in his speech, the African-American woman that Barack Obama was so happy about because he knew she was so happy that she could live to vote for and see a black man as President.
Because see, he knew why she was happy.
Because he is black.
African-American
Black African-American
Like his wife. And he is kids.
Black like that.
Okay, I officially can no longer hear or see people who claim that Barack Obama is not black, not really black.
I submit that Barack Obama feels quite the same way.
Because he is Black. African. African-American. of African descent. An African in America.
Black like Malcolm X. Look at his speech in Sumter, South Carolina.
Hoodwinked. Okey Doke.
Cannot hear you. He can't believe the Okey Doke. Can however, be your President.
@noasalira: You know what? I am personally thrilled that he self-identifies as Black - I'll take it - and celebrate it - and I don't have to BE Black to celebrate it. I do give you that I might just be celebrating a leetle bit harder if I was - but I'm not really sure that's possible without my head asplodin.
I spent much of my childhood in the States, where people had a hard time believing I was Peruvian (green eyes, light complection, no accent from learning english at an early age), and I still get weird looks when I'm abroad and tell people where I'm from.
Our previous president was what some call "cholo", he came from a poor family and shone shoes when he was a kid so he could go to school. He had brown skin, was short and had Andean features. It was a big deal for a while -and then people sort of forgot, and focused on the real issues. It was a big deal to see him as president, so I think we can somewhat relate.
Racism is a big problem in Peru and other parts of South America, even though most of us are what is being discussed here as "mixed": European and native (Andean and Jungle) as well as African and Asian. Its almost impossible for anyone to say they are "white".
Whenever this comes up, I always remember a kid in school (in the States) who called me "fake Peruvian girl" because of how I look and said he was more Peruvian than me because of his Inca nose. He didn't know any spanish though.
@ChinaTudela: I'm Boricua and I grew up knowing that, while it might not be apparent, I am mixed-race, I have black ancestry and that is something to be very proud of - and it is also the norm there.
@noasalira: You are talking nothing but sense. If anyone is wondering if the election meant a change in racism, they just need to read some of these comments for the answer.
Sadly, a lot of people are fully unconscious of their own racist belief that someone who could escape being called Black and/or African-American, even half-way, would not take that escape route.
They cannot accept seeing and interacting with black people around them, and link that man to those people. They live each day having 'black friends' that they can accept because those friends aren't like 'typical black people.'
In their minds, their black friends and other select black people are not "typical black people" because they are intelligent, well-educated, because they have professional jobs, because they speak "proper english," because they aren't criminals, because they own houses in the suburbs, because they are well-traveled, because don't dress like rappers, because they grew up with two parents or are two parents with children --- because they don't fit any or all of the stereotypes, perceptions they have of 'typical black people.'
They make exceptions like that to prevent reality from weakening their racism against black people.
A lot of people around the world watched the reaction of black people in the U.S., and were shaken at the emotion. They thought, "Hey wait! Why are THEY so happy?" They watched African-Americans they 'admire' from Colin Powell, to Jesse Jackson, Juan Williams on Fox News, Condoleeza Rice, Donna Brazile, Oprah Winfrey, along with regular a bunch of "typical black people" in the streets of the most urban communities, all break down into tears with emotion that showed a unity of mind and spirit, of heart and soul, that they absolutely never thought existed, don't really feel comfortable with existing.
They watched black people around the world, reflect that same emotion, those same tears, that same emotion -- even Black Iraqis were quoted as express the joy that a black man is now U.S. President and what that means for black people.
Remember those early stories saying that Barack Obama would never get the support from African-Americans that the Clintons had because he wasn't 'one of them'? Bullshit, most of us knew then, and wondered who was planting those stories, and BULLSHIT the world knows now because they saw the masses of African-Americans who rushed to register to vote for the first-time in their lives, who braved lines hours long to vote, and who broke down with emotionalism that said one thing -- he is one of us.
And he knows he it too. So does Michelle, and so do his two daughters.
This kind of "he isn't really black like them" backlash was inevitable, and Barack Obama has had his life to deal with these kinds of mentalities.
His own beloved Grandmother loved him dearly, but was afraid of "black men." Notice how Obama told that story, one of the dearest and closet people in his life couldn't quite accept him for what he knew he was -- a black man. He loved her anyway, and didn't let that sway his identity at all.
His whole life was navigating that kind of racist attitude, and that skill came in VERY useful to him becoming President.
So folks, if his own Grandmother who helped raise him couldn't make him think that way, why are you all so desperate to believe that he shares your view now?
So sad....too bad...
AFRICAN-AMERICAN PRESIDENT
BLACK FIRST FAMILY
Notice the lovely African-American wife and African-American daughters.
11/07/08
so sorry I didn't get to read it until now
11/06/08
11/07/08
I am proud of his accomplishment as a black man in a white man's world, but it doesn't have to denigrate his nuanced, mixed heritage.
11/06/08
I'm like a sponge, i soak up all this stuff about different cultures, dances, food, music, art etc...I wish it would be more prevalent and common instead of a special event type thing.
11/06/08
11/07/08
Like the awesome Julian Bond always said as he ran the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People..."White is a color, too."
It's all about how you appreciate yourself and others, and you seem like you're doing fine.
11/06/08
I am a proudly white-bred bi-racial person, and I identify with Barack Obama, what can I say?
11/06/08
I tell you what - no one's going to get closer to the realities of race in this country by screaming and shouting down other experiences simply because they don't happen to be your own.
11/06/08
As a biracial person. Geez.
11/07/08
11/07/08
11/06/08
I am not limiting your pride in being black nor your pride in your african-american president. Please do not diminish my right to speak on MY experience, do not tell me to STFU, simply because I don't look black and can never be 100% black. My momma is 100% black she would probably smack the anger of you if she could.
11/06/08
That, does not sound nice at all. I reject your stereotype of a "100%" black person, and suggest that a 100% black person may well simply disagree with you, even strongly, but need not resort to violence? Even a black but not "officially 100%" black person, like our American President Barack Obama, believes in being willing to talk with even those called 'enemies.' He isn't going all violent on folks, that was what the 100% white President Bush has done over the past terms and that is a big reason why people rejected the GOP a few days ago.
Don't go all Sarah Palin on me.
Darn, people love to irritate black folk, but once you turn it back on them, they get all cranky.
11/06/08
11/06/08
11/06/08
11/06/08
ky, stf, y r nt blck, w gt t. Fr th rcrd, y r ls nt blck whn grp f rcst wht mn r chsng y dwn th strt t clbrt strm thrmnd's brthdy, d nt sk m f knw gd hr sln, nd dn't tw wks frm nw pst sm stff frm tht "blck pnt f vw" bcs yr thr nn-blck Jzbl cllgs fr sm rsn thnk y'd b gd prsn t wrt t. Rmmbr y r nt blck, s gn, stf.
11/06/08
11/06/08
11/06/08
11/06/08
11/06/08
I am white British/Irish (and you don't get much pastier and paler then that), but because I wear hijab, some people cannot believe I'm white, not just white people but people of colour too. My husband is Arab, but light skinned, so most people think he's Greek or Italian.
I'm currently pregnant with our child, who will be biracial and I wonder what her experience will be?
11/06/08
11/06/08
I used to be gung ho about having people not identify me as mixed, because I felt like they were usually doing it to take something away from me, to compliment me for doing something they wouldn't expect from a black person, and then to try to contextualize that by pointing out that i was some fraction whute, and not "really" black, so that their racism could remain in tact. And I spent so long insisting that I was black and it didn't matter who in my family wasn't that it was college before I had to admit to myself that my only living grandparent, the only one I'd ever met, was a white woman, and it meant something about my relationship to history, and my sense of family.
On a smaller note, I always thought Oreo had nothing to do with a person's being mixed, and was about behavior "black on the outside, white on the inside." or at least, that's how the lovely junior high girls who called me that explained it to me.
11/06/08
Maybe he'll call African-Americans, "Them" and "Those people"
Until then, please don't try to ruin the buzz for us black people.
Black people like Michelle Obama.
Like that 106 year old Black woman who voted for Barack Obama, that Obama mentioned in his speech, the African-American woman that Barack Obama was so happy about because he knew she was so happy that she could live to vote for and see a black man as President.
Because see, he knew why she was happy.
Because he is black.
African-American
Black African-American
Like his wife. And he is kids.
Black like that.
Okay, I officially can no longer hear or see people who claim that Barack Obama is not black, not really black.
I submit that Barack Obama feels quite the same way.
Because he is Black. African. African-American. of African descent. An African in America.
Black like Malcolm X. Look at his speech in Sumter, South Carolina.
Hoodwinked. Okey Doke.
Cannot hear you. He can't believe the Okey Doke. Can however, be your President.
Black President.
11/06/08
11/06/08
11/06/08
11/06/08
Our previous president was what some call "cholo", he came from a poor family and shone shoes when he was a kid so he could go to school. He had brown skin, was short and had Andean features. It was a big deal for a while -and then people sort of forgot, and focused on the real issues. It was a big deal to see him as president, so I think we can somewhat relate.
Racism is a big problem in Peru and other parts of South America, even though most of us are what is being discussed here as "mixed": European and native (Andean and Jungle) as well as African and Asian. Its almost impossible for anyone to say they are "white".
Whenever this comes up, I always remember a kid in school (in the States) who called me "fake Peruvian girl" because of how I look and said he was more Peruvian than me because of his Inca nose. He didn't know any spanish though.
11/06/08
11/06/08
BROTHERS
Hmm, who was he talking about?
Hmm, who was he calling "Brothers?"
Whose brothers? Seems like he was speaking to a black man, discussing black men, and he was calling them brothers.
Brothers, means Sisters.
And that means Black People.
African-American people.
BLACK BLACK BLACK BLACK
11/06/08
11/06/08
They cannot accept seeing and interacting with black people around them, and link that man to those people. They live each day having 'black friends' that they can accept because those friends aren't like 'typical black people.'
In their minds, their black friends and other select black people are not "typical black people" because they are intelligent, well-educated, because they have professional jobs, because they speak "proper english," because they aren't criminals, because they own houses in the suburbs, because they are well-traveled, because don't dress like rappers, because they grew up with two parents or are two parents with children --- because they don't fit any or all of the stereotypes, perceptions they have of 'typical black people.'
They make exceptions like that to prevent reality from weakening their racism against black people.
A lot of people around the world watched the reaction of black people in the U.S., and were shaken at the emotion. They thought, "Hey wait! Why are THEY so happy?" They watched African-Americans they 'admire' from Colin Powell, to Jesse Jackson, Juan Williams on Fox News, Condoleeza Rice, Donna Brazile, Oprah Winfrey, along with regular a bunch of "typical black people" in the streets of the most urban communities, all break down into tears with emotion that showed a unity of mind and spirit, of heart and soul, that they absolutely never thought existed, don't really feel comfortable with existing.
They watched black people around the world, reflect that same emotion, those same tears, that same emotion -- even Black Iraqis were quoted as express the joy that a black man is now U.S. President and what that means for black people.
Remember those early stories saying that Barack Obama would never get the support from African-Americans that the Clintons had because he wasn't 'one of them'? Bullshit, most of us knew then, and wondered who was planting those stories, and BULLSHIT the world knows now because they saw the masses of African-Americans who rushed to register to vote for the first-time in their lives, who braved lines hours long to vote, and who broke down with emotionalism that said one thing -- he is one of us.
And he knows he it too. So does Michelle, and so do his two daughters.
This kind of "he isn't really black like them" backlash was inevitable, and Barack Obama has had his life to deal with these kinds of mentalities.
His own beloved Grandmother loved him dearly, but was afraid of "black men." Notice how Obama told that story, one of the dearest and closet people in his life couldn't quite accept him for what he knew he was -- a black man. He loved her anyway, and didn't let that sway his identity at all.
His whole life was navigating that kind of racist attitude, and that skill came in VERY useful to him becoming President.
So folks, if his own Grandmother who helped raise him couldn't make him think that way, why are you all so desperate to believe that he shares your view now?
So sad....too bad...
AFRICAN-AMERICAN PRESIDENT
BLACK FIRST FAMILY
Notice the lovely African-American wife and African-American daughters.
They are black - like me.
Like us.
People of African Descent.
Like that black person passing you right now.
See them smiling?
Know why?
11/06/08