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February 25, 2008
Why is Barack Black?
I am very curious why the media, and most of the country considers Barack Obama to be "black" when he has a black father and a white mother. He is 50% white and 50% black, but always referred to as black by the media. Why is Halle Barry considered black also? She has a similar background. If they both marry white partners and have children, will they also be considered black? At what point do they become mixed race, or just Americans?
What is it about our country that we have to label people in this manner? Is it a function of our white culture to exclude those who do not appear to be "pure"? If you have some particular black characteristic, like kinky black hair, are you black?
I would contend that we are still a very racist society and the media does little to turn the re-orient the definitions. We should ask ourselves about the motivation behind the labels. What is going on? Who is scoring points here and who is losing?
Posted by Chip Spear at February 25, 2008 1:50 PM