Why do americans say Obama is black?

[Final-Fan]

shio said:

Kasz216 said:
Nice job... you know.  Missing the point. 
We've come FAR farther then Europe has on Racism then MOST of Europe in a SHORTER amount of time.
Affirmitive Action may or may not be racist.
But it sure seems to have provided results.
Our overall statistics are FAR less racist than pretty much any other countries I've come across.... espeically countries like France who play the "No race card."

Your system fails... period. 
Most of Europe is more Racist then America.  This has been proven categorically with data.  Just admit it and move on.

You really don't know how to hold an argument. The vast majority of the black people in Europe came from migration, and they definitely have an easier job of getting work than the eastern europeans immigrating to the west.

The fact is, the white people in Portugal aren't morally obligated to give anything to black people, nor any other minority. Everyone is responsible for their own path.

What Affirmitive Action has done is breed more fear and racism. I remember not so long ago, a white cop arrested a black teacher for slander and racist insults, yet the poor cop was hunted down by the media and ignorant racist people. His partner, a black cop, defended him and told everyone that his partner did the right thing, yet a portion of the black community insulted and harassed the black cop and his family, telling him that he was betraying his race for helping his friend. Even Obama (someone I think is racist), did nothing to calm everyone down, and just wanted to pull a promotional stunt.

Conclusion? Because of the pressure of ignorant people, the police was forced to release the black asshole with no charges. Tell, me where is the justice in that?

So the way to hold an argument is blanket assertions and a random anecdote ... that's misrepresenting the situation that happened? 

To save myself some effort, I'll let Obama tell the story: 
"Well, I should say at the outset that Skip Gates is a friend, so I may be a little biased here. I don't know all the facts. What's been reported, though, is that the guy forgot his keys. He jimmied his way to get into the house. There was a report called into the police station that there might be a burglary taking place. so far so good. Right? I mean, if I was trying to jigger in -- well, I guess this is my house now so it probably wouldn't happen. Let's say my old house in Chicago. here I'd get shot. But so far so good. They're reporting, the police are doing what they should. There's a call. They go investigate what happens. My understanding is at that point Professor Gates is already in his house. The police officer comes in. I'm sure there's some exchange of words but my understanding is that Professor Gates then shows his I.D. to show that this is his house. And at that point he gets arrested for disorderly conduct, charges which are later dropped. Now, I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts what role race played in that, but I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry. Number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. And that's just a fact.

"As you know, Lynn, when I was in the state legislature in Illinois we worked on a racial profiling bill because there was indisputable evidence that blacks and hispanics were being stopped disproportionately. And that is a sign, an example of how, you know, race remains a factor in this society. That doesn't lessen the incredible progress that has been made. I am standing here as testimony to the progress that's been made. And yet, the fact of the matter is that, you know, this still haunts us. And even when there are honest misunderstandings, the fact that blacks and hispanics are picked up more frequently and often time for no cause cast suspicion even when there is good cause, and that's why I think the more that we're working with local law enforcement to improve policing techniques so that we're eliminating potential bias, the safer everybody's going to be."

So a cop goes to a house that some guy was breaking into, and it turns out it's HIS HOUSE.  Even if the professor ended up yelling at him (with absolutely no provocation I'm sure), I don't think it's an arrest-worthy scenario.  Really, now, arrested for disorderly conduct for words exchanged in his own house?  Within the law, surely, but also a dick move.  Are you honestly surprised charges were dropped? 

On the other hand, if the officer and his partner were harassed, that's a shame -- but that sort of thing happens when someone gets negative publicity of almost any kind, no? 

And while I'm at it, the second part of Obama's quote is informative why we would call him black.  Do you think when black people get disproportionately pulled over, that mixed-race people aren't?  Of course they are.  So because of things like that they would naturally identify with blacks instead of whites.  And I'm no expert but I don't think that they've carved their own independent niche in our culture, so to insist that we address them differently is dumb IMO. 
Kasz can probably correct me on everything I'm wrong about