Not So Black And White

Here's an interesting article about how some Americans, particularly white Americans and mixed-race Americans (like myself) view Barack Obama: he's not black.

A perplexing new chapter is unfolding in Barack Obama's racial saga: Many people insist that "the first black president" is actually not black.

Debate over whether to call this son of a white Kansan and a black Kenyan biracial, African-American, mixed-race, half-and-half, multiracial — or, in Obama's own words, a "mutt" — has reached a crescendo since Obama's election shattered assumptions about race.

Obama has said, "I identify as African-American — that's how I'm treated and that's how I'm viewed. I'm proud of it." In other words, the world gave Obama no choice but to be black, and he was happy to oblige.

But the world has changed since the young Obama found his place in it.

Intermarriage and the decline of racism are dissolving ancient definitions. The candidate Obama, in achieving what many thought impossible, was treated differently from previous black generations. And many white and mixed-race people now view President-elect Obama as something other than black.

Me, I've had people assume I've everything from Samoan to Indian (Native American and from India itself), Dominican, Puerto Rican, Mexican, North African, Arab, and just about everything else. One one hand, Obama identifies himself as African-American like I do, and the world respects him for it: enough so that he's President-Elect. On the other hand, the insistence of having to classify people as a particular ethnic or racial group has always bugged me to an extent.

It's very interesting to note that a whole lot of people have different opinions about Obama and his racial identity. There's no denying having him in the White House is massive progress for race relations in general. But yeah, people see in him what they want to see in him.

Barack Rorshach Obama.