Just a disclaimer: This is meant with the utmost respect... if someone wants a fight, I'm not going to engage.
I started reading the thread about the school that was renamed for Barack Obama. I stopped reading after it turned into a discussion on whether or not he should consider himself black (as opposed to bi-racial).
I completely understand the joy that people are feeling over a black man being elected president. It does show that we've come so far. I think I posted in another thread after the election that I wished that going forward it wouldn't even need to be mentioned at all.
BUT anyway... whenever race is brought up in regard to Obama, the conversation turns to "black" vs "bi-racial". The point of half the group is that he looks black... the point of the other half is that he is just as much white.
Both are valid arguments... but it does make me a little bit sad to see the "white" dismissed from his ethnicity. My niece is bi-racial. My brother is white, his ex-wife is black. I would be really sad if she considered herself "black". That would mean that my brother's half of the gene pool didn't matter. And that doesn't mean that I want her to consider herself "white" either. I just want her to be her. She is who she is because of her mother AND her father.
A lot of times, I think this is the point people are trying to make regarding Obama and it gets dismissed.
I started reading the thread about the school that was renamed for Barack Obama. I stopped reading after it turned into a discussion on whether or not he should consider himself black (as opposed to bi-racial).
I completely understand the joy that people are feeling over a black man being elected president. It does show that we've come so far. I think I posted in another thread after the election that I wished that going forward it wouldn't even need to be mentioned at all.
BUT anyway... whenever race is brought up in regard to Obama, the conversation turns to "black" vs "bi-racial". The point of half the group is that he looks black... the point of the other half is that he is just as much white.
Both are valid arguments... but it does make me a little bit sad to see the "white" dismissed from his ethnicity. My niece is bi-racial. My brother is white, his ex-wife is black. I would be really sad if she considered herself "black". That would mean that my brother's half of the gene pool didn't matter. And that doesn't mean that I want her to consider herself "white" either. I just want her to be her. She is who she is because of her mother AND her father.
A lot of times, I think this is the point people are trying to make regarding Obama and it gets dismissed.