Why is Barack Obama Black ?

Barack Obama was born to a white mother from Kansas and an African father who came from Kenya to study in the United States. “He is not black, he is mixed,” we wrote in Molto sur un article de Rue89.

Many of you (non-Americans) have already commented on this. Why is he black? Why knowing his origins does one not say he could be the first mixed president of the United States?

1. Because Barack Obama describes himself as black.

Barack Obama remembers very well that his mother’s family is white and that his father’s is black. His half-sister, from his mother’s second marriage to an Indonesian Man, is also mixed.

Obama lays claim to his maternal heritage, he has made references to Kansas numerous times and notably went to the tomb of his grandfather there. But he has never employed the word “biracial” when speaking of himself. “A black with a funny name, I am not going to get many chances,” he wrote in his book detailing his candidacy for the Senate.

2. Because it’s also how American society defines him.

He explained in an interview for 60 Minutes. The journalist remarked that his Kenyan father had left the family when he was two years old and he was raised with his mother and his maternal grandparents in an essentially white environment.

“One moment, you decided that you were black?”

“I am not sure that I decided…I think, you know, if you have the appearance of an African American in this society, you are treated like an African American.”

3. Because of his political journey.

George W. Bush redefined himself as a brave Texan man after having been assimilated into “elitist New England” by his adversary at the moment of losing the race to be elected to Congress in 1978. The same, Barack Obama has learned from a setback, after his fractious campaign to be elected to Congress in 2000.

His opponent was Bobby Rush, a black and former Black Panther, (painted Barack Obama) as a Harvard graduate who had learned about the civil rights movement and segregation form a book. That year Obama lost the elections in a district of Chicago having won the white vote, but having lost the black vote. He took those lessons and learned to align himself and his background with the black community-the association of churches-in Chicago.

4. Because being mixed is not celebrated in the United States.

The actress Halle Berry, who is from a white mother, said that her oscar win was a win for black women everywhere. Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, of white and Latino ancestry, considers himself Hispanic. At the other end there is Tiger Woods who in 1997 alluded to himself as “Calinasian” (a mix of white, black, American Indian, and Indian).

If Barack Obama calls himself mixed, he could give the impression he is rejecting his black heritage, which was a claim on the public channel NPR.

It’s the paradoxical heritage of the “one drop rule” which was employed at the beginning of the 20th century and which considered anyone with “one drop of black blood” to be black.

In a community society, these associations that represent ethnic groups are opposed by the etiquette of being “mixed” fearful they might weaken their influence. One was given a glimpse of this in the recent survey of 2000. The administration that had thought to ask Americans to name themselves in only one of four possible ethnic groups and had added a box for “multiracial.” Black associations were for the most part opposed to this, believing that this would diminish their measure in society.

Under the guise of a compromise, the census of 2000 proposed several ethnic cases and gave people the ability to identify themselves in more than one category, but did not have a box for “mixed.” Thus, in the United States, one can be part of several groups, but “mixed” is not an identity.

In spite of these explanations, the remarks [our] readers remain pertinent. It is not that Obama has decided to prefer the black tag to the mixed one, but that journalists [not let this be an option]. We here at Rue89 [disagree and apologize].