Pages

Wednesday 7 January 2009

Black Or White?

There's nothing that grabs my attention more than an argument about race.

A lot of the arguments of late can be blamed on the USA as usual - or to be more specific, Barack Obama.

Now I have a friend with a long-running severe obsession over the man. Any less-than-gushing remark about Obama could potentially spark off a rant and more.

I tried once to gauge the source of her enthusiasm for Obama. Between various torrents of emotion, I gathered that she was excited about him being the "first African American man to become the president of the USA".

Frankly, I beg to differ.

He is not an African, a Negro or a Black man alone. He is also White, something that the rest of the world seems content to dismiss.

Exceptions exist, in the form of Jason Haap of Cincinnati, USA who (rightly, in my opinion) protests the "one drop rule" - that old racist theory that claimed one drop of black blood made someone forever black.

Haap is a White man who is married to a Black woman and has two multi-racial sons. But not everyone in the same situation agrees. My friend, Ax is also a White man married to a Black woman.

He, however seems to be fixated on the notion that Haap is claiming being Black is less than an ideal condition to be in. Or in his words, "offensive".

But that is the USA. What do other people around the world think?

David Aaronovitch is half Jewish. He writes for The Times. His children are also multi-racial or in his words, "who are not black and are not white, or who are both".

He makes an observation that I have, in the past, put forward before as well: "To say that Mr Obama is black is to say, in effect, that his mother had no race or that her race was somehow obliterated by her choice of husband."

It is interesting to note that in the UK, the fastest-growing ethnic category is that of mixed race.

That can never be a bad thing. I note with approval that Britons in general have become better looking in recent times, evidently a positive side-effect of miscegenation.

On another note, take a look at this two-tone miracle, repeated yet again.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Crankster,

Thanks for this great post. Sharp, penetratingly deep and addresses sth which many refuse to see.

Take care and blessings to you always!

Pat said...

This Obamaism, is it some kind of reverse snobbery? Hahaha

I don't envy Obama one bit - for all he has to do to right things in the US. And all these folks who think him some cutesy pin-up doll, well, they're in for a shock when reality finally hits.

And the miracle of the twins: wow, no one could've ever guessed!

I've two kopi-susu miracles of my own :) I'm glad they mostly look like each other, with a little bit Chuan, and a little bit me! The 'law' says they're chinese, but they're anak bangsa malaysia, for sure lah!

Pat

GobloKing said...

I have NEVER got the drift of this shit ppl give about race. What is a race? Or a color?

I feel God made us in differest colors, shapes, sizes etc so that our lives would be more interesting.

How f**king dull would it be to find the world is made up of only 1color or faith!?

Obama is colored. So What?
Rice is black. So What?
Hilary is white & female. So What?

I totally give up talking to bigotted people (& they seem to be in every country of this world) because my experience is they are often loud, aggressive & so opionated they are right, that one is wasting time & energy just to stand in the same space!

Sometimes I wish that when they go to see their maker they will realize that color & gender was never an issue but love & faith are the only thngs that count.

Jarod said...

Does it really matter ? I believed majority of the US citizen chose based on quality. He has the quality to be a leader. Rather than choosing John mcCain and s.Palin, i would rather choose Obama.

Like what he said to US, Be the change. Change for better.

malaysia too need a change badly. Can we choose base on quality rather than those moron who do not do their job well?

Crankster said...

Blessings to you too, MWS! :)

Pat, I'm beginning to think it is some form of snobbery. There are people who think Obama is beyond reproach because he has African ancestry. Have to dash off to work. Reply the rest of it later!