Why does Barack Obama identify as black when his father was entirely absent from his life and was raised by his white mother?
Hmmm. I wonder why Barack Obama would identify as black? After all, he looks lily-white, what with that pale skin, that blonde hair, those blue eyes…Wait, what? You mean to tell me that Barack Obama has brown skin, curly black hair, and brown eyes? Well golly gee me, he sounds like a black man!Okay, sarcasm aside: Barack Obama identifies as a black man because he is a black man. That’s it, plain and simple. It has nothing to do with DNA percentages or who his parents were. It has to do with that is how he looks, how people treat him, and how he lives his life. He was raised with a black identity because it would have been, and still is, patently ridiculous to tell him that he was white.
Why do we consider bi-racial people as still being black? For instance why do we regard Obama as black even though his mother is white?
Black people tend to have dominant characteristics--for example, curly hair. Broad noses. Bigger lips. Darker skin. Darker hair. Darker eyes. Etcetera, etcetera. When a black person and a white person are to mate, the child would most likely have traits that resemble more to their black ancestry than white--granted that the average African-American is 24% white. When you look black, people assume you're black. Thus, you're recognized as an African-American. You will live the livestyles associated with black culture.On top of that, a lot of people get shamed for acknowledging that they are, in fact, mixed--if they look more black than white. Mixed people like Halsey constantly complain about being recognized as a mixed person/African-American and people clap for her. If Obama were to say "I'm mixed", he'd be shamed because people perceive it as trying to deny your blackness. Or whatever the hell that means.Considering the average African-American is >1% indigenous, 24% European, and 75% African, they are technically mixed by defintion, but recognized as black due to things like perception, stereotype, census, and other factors.Black households either try to deny their European blood or uplift it--there are no in-betweens. The one I was raised in, I was taught to deny European/Indigenous blood and to only classify myself as black--no matter the pattern of my curl or my skin color.Hope this clears it up, m8.
Why do people call Obama black when he has one white parent?
yes it is a throwback rule.. used to be called the "one drop" rule you could have all white features, even look white and have 1 drop of black blood and they called you black... extremely rascist look at this guy http://scienceblogs.com/gnxp/jason-kidd-... looks white right? in USA he is considered black see the news snippet quote below "Part of the issue is that in the United States we accept hypodescent, which means that one drop of black blood or any hint of black features can imply that one is fully and totally black. Consider Jason Kidd, the point guard for the New Jersey Nets. He is a black man in the United States because his father is a black man (his mother is white). In fact, from the interviews and pictures I've seen of his father Jason Kidd is likely well below 1/2 black in ancestry, because his father looks to be mixed genetically. In the United States though people who have noticeable black ancestry are considered black. Does Jason Kidd have noticeable black ancestry? A few years ago I recall reading a story about a reporter who was in Russia where Jason Kidd was described as a white basketball player. The reporter was startled, but he had to admit that if you didn't know Kidd's father was African American you might not necessarily assume he was African American, especially with his hair cut short. " edit: I also found an article about president Warren Harding his great grandparent was black http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/magazi... (so we already had a black president under the one drop rule.. lol)
Why do people only focus on Malcolm X's black side he's only half? Why can't they focus on his white side?
Why oh why do people continue to ask this stupid question? Malcolm X stood up for black rights during the 1960's. By the way Malcolm X was not half white. I do not know where you got that nonsense from. His mother had a white father (illegitimately) however she and her husband were BLACK. For the record, why should he identify with the people who murdered his father, were responsible for the break up of his family, terrorized his family, caused his mother to be put in a mental institution, and told him that blacks could not be lawyers only janitors? **Really you need to read a bit more history before you ask silly questions and troll around trying to start racial nonsense. For futher reading I suggest you read the "Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Haley. If you cannot read you can find it on album, tape, and on CD.
Why is that when a person is half black and half white, people ignore their white side?
I find it odd that people commonly refer to Obama (for example) as a "black man", when he is in fact a biracial man who is as much of a "white man" as he is a "black man". Also, physically, he does look biracial, so how and why do people ignore the fact that he is biracial? Obama is just one example. Another example would be celebrities such as Halle Berry or Alicia Keys. Both of these women look obviously mixed race, but they are rarely acknowledged as biracial or as white women, but as black women. So I have a few questions related to this main question... 1. Why do people often disregard the white side of a mixed race person? Is it white people not accepting biracial people as white, or is it black people not acknowledging biracial people as white? Or is it a combination of both? 2. If mixed race people (who look mixed race) are seen as black through and through, doesn't that make people who are darker and not mixed seem as if they are "too black"? And is this one of the reasons why there is an absence of darker skinned black people in the media, particularly darker skinned black women?
Why do mix race ppl identify exclusively as black rather than white ? Dont they want to get the benefits of white privilege ?
A few reasons. #1 They're shamed by others for their half whiteness. Considering themselves half white gets bad looks by blacks in their neighborhood. #2 Blacks accept them as being Black (even if they're not... *cough Talcom X cough hack cough*) where as Whites only accept them as White if they look fully White which almost never happens due to how white/black genes work. If you ever see a "half" black, half white person who looks mostly white... just know they are NOT "half" White, more like Mostly White, partially Black. Aka probably a Quadroon or Octoroon. And even they half the time look visibly mixed with black. 100% of all mulatto/half white half black children look similar to Obama. Meaning they look more black than white. #3 One drop rule says that if ANY of your ancestors were not white... you are 100% not white and 100% just whatever the non-white ancestor was. ... This literally means that if HALF A MILLION YEARS AGO... just ONE of your ancestors was from Africa... YOU ARE BLACK! This is how Shawn King and other confused White people get away with calling themselves Black. 99.999999999999% White with 0.00000000000000001% Black = Black. Stormfags buy into this belief. #4 There is hardly any privilege to being White. Where can I go spend my White privilege points? Does Walmart accept it? How much of a discount do I get? Will my job accept them and give me a raise? No one seems to accept it. Hell, there are more benefits to being Black than White. #5 I know of at least 2 mixed black/white people who identify as mixed or white. One I met long ago as a kid, but he wasn't really half black, more like a quarter black. Dude has white skin, brown hair, wavy hair. Looks pretty white. I also met another online in the youtube comment section, Idk what he looks like but he was pretty racist and didn't likc Black people too much. Apparently not all blacks are too cozy with unpure blacks and due to his negative experience with the black community he formed resentments and wants to be just White. Poor guy, he said use his life and pain of being mixed as a lesson on why you shouldn't race mix.