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Forums - General Discussion - Why do americans say Obama is black?

shio on 11 May 2010
libellule said:
shio said:
My point is, regardless of how you call yourself, your race will always be determined by your blood, not who you hang out with.

It is the same the few men that feel they should be women and try to have a sex change operation. They'll never be women, even after the operation. In comparison, there's no way for a person to change race (what MJ did isn't the same)

well, on daily basis, it will be determined by how you look/act like, not by your blood.

example on me :

from 6-12

I m with a lot of black/arab guys, my spanish name sounds normal and i m considered as a white.

from 12-20

I m with a lot more of white people, my spanish name sounds exotic, people make joke about it and everybody know that I m half spanish / half armenian from my grand parents (despite being 100% french in my head). I m even, sometimes, called the spanish or the armenian ...

spanish/armenian is more of an ethnical thing, not race. Besides, armenians and spaniards are mostly white, which means you're probably white (if your parents are the typical armenian/spaniard)



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Signalstar on 11 May 2010

It's it US Law. Anyone with a significant percentage of black blood is considered black. Hell the term negro is still an official term for african americans because older generations still abide by it.



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libellule on 11 May 2010
NJ5 said:
Because in America being black is like a disease. Once you get some black genes, you're tainted as black.

(ok so I worded that to be intentionally controversial, but it's still true).

desease is too strong and to negative

but what you want to say is that "black gene" are dominant (are view as dominant)

so if you have a little piece of black in you ... you are black and not white anymore

Same happen in europe, and it is basically true for any white country



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libellule on 11 May 2010
shio said:
libellule said:
shio said:
My point is, regardless of how you call yourself, your race will always be determined by your blood, not who you hang out with.

It is the same the few men that feel they should be women and try to have a sex change operation. They'll never be women, even after the operation. In comparison, there's no way for a person to change race (what MJ did isn't the same)

well, on daily basis, it will be determined by how you look/act like, not by your blood.

example on me :

from 6-12

I m with a lot of black/arab guys, my spanish name sounds normal and i m considered as a white.

from 12-20

I m with a lot more of white people, my spanish name sounds exotic, people make joke about it and everybody know that I m half spanish / half armenian from my grand parents (despite being 100% french in my head). I m even, sometimes, called the spanish or the armenian ...

spanish/armenian is more of an ethnical thing, not race. Besides, armenians and spaniards are mostly white, which means you're probably white (if your parents are the typical armenian/spaniard)

yep true, at best I m "mediteranean", but my "race" is overall white

but what I m saying can easly be applicate to mixed people

Let's imagine, If Obama spend from 6-12 in Kenya (he is considered as white) and then from 12-20 in NA (he is black)
he will be in a similar situation than me in school

you got my example ?



Time to Work !

shio on 11 May 2010
Signalstar said:
It's it US Law. Anyone with a significant percentage of black blood is considered black. Hell the term negro is still an official term for african americans because older generations still abide by it.

what percentage? 50%? 40? 35? 30? 25? 20? That sounds idiotic to me.



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NJ5 on 11 May 2010
libellule said:
NJ5 said:
Because in America being black is like a disease. Once you get some black genes, you're tainted as black.

(ok so I worded that to be intentionally controversial, but it's still true).

desease is too strong and to negative

but what you want to say is that "black gene" are dominant (are view as dominant)

so if you have a little piece of black in you ... you are black and not white anymore

Same happen in europe, and it is basically true for any white country

Maybe you should stop making general statements that you don't know whether they're true or not.

In Portugal a mixed race person is a mixed race person...

 



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Khuutra on 11 May 2010
shio said:
My point is, regardless of how you call yourself, your race will always be determined by your blood, not who you hang out with.

It is the same the few men that feel they should be women and try to have a sex change operation. They'll never be women, even after the operation. In comparison, there's no way for a person to change race (what MJ did isn't the same)

Neither of these is true. The way you identify yourself has a lot to do with how people identify you - if Obama identifies as black, it only makes sense to identify him as black, and not get hung up on the fact that his mother was a honky.

Similarly, you don't get to pick and choose gender identity, which is different from sex - gender identity is a social construct, rather than an identification of your chromosomes or your private parts. If I knew a girl and she decided to live her life as a man named Ted, then by God, I'm going to work on changing my gendered pronouns in reference to Ted. That's my duty as a person who respects him (see?).

Sorry, shio. You don't get to choose how people identify themselves. There's no absolute qualifier for identity.



NJ5 on 11 May 2010
Khuutra said:

The way you identify yourself has a lot to do with how people identify you

That goes both ways too... and I wouldn't be surprised if he identifies himself as black because most people with he grew up with did that before him.

 



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Khuutra on 11 May 2010
NJ5 said:
Khuutra said:

The way you identify yourself has a lot to do with how people identify you

That goes both ways too... and I wouldn't be surprised if he identifies himself as black because most people with he grew up with did that before him.

Absolutely. No argument there. Point remains that insisting that Obama should be referred to as.... actually in the States I'm not sure there is a PC term for a person of mixed race outside of "person of mixed race". Point remains that insisting that Obama should be referred to as a person of mixed race whenn the man insists that he is black is at best childish squabbling over details that have nothing to do with his identity.



oldschoolfool on 11 May 2010

I don't know what you guys are talking about. If your half black your considered black. That's just the way it is. Nobody said's that mixed guy. It's that black guy. That's just the way it is in America. I know some mixed people at work. That's my personal and gerneral experience in America. I can't speak for the rest of the world.