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Identification in emergency matters and that's where profiling kicks in:
If your child is gone missing you would like people to know every identifiable trait, i.e. age, race, birthmarks, weight, height. Same when a murderer is on the lose.
The 'one drop rule' is becoming a bit outdated. With the popularity DNA testing for family tree building purposes many surprises loom for supposedly 'pure-blooded' folks. That Irish dude has more Norwegian viking in him than actual Irish. The German finds out that he has 15% Ashkenazi Jew in him despite his parents having had 'Aryan' passports. The college graduate on a Native American stipend realizing he has only 3% Kiowa but somehow qualified for the tribal roll. The dark curls are not Turkish-Italian but Northern African. Another may look like straight from Senegal, but Portugese and Spanish blood is 60%+.
Interesting story about the nearly forgotten Homer Plessy. A 1/8th African, 7/8th European-American white, during the Civil War he made a big stink by telling white Southerners that he was actually not allowed to mingle with them, mistakingly treating him as pure white.
I see him as a mulatto. White liberals and democrat swayed blacks see him as an African American brother, which he is not. He may be American but he is not African American in the classic sense of descending from slaves. True African, or black, Americans may have ancestry which goes back 300-400 years on this continent. Obama does not have that going for him but he will play the 'brother' aspect up when it benefits him. He has the "bro hug" handshake down and it looks unprofessional at times. The POTUS is supposed to be pure business, man to man - nothing more, nothing less. A firm handshake given while looking the other person in the eye means more than a ritual fist grabbing hug which establishes nothing; specially when he will bow to leaders of other countries.
I see him as a mulatto. White liberals and democrat swayed blacks see him as an African American brother, which he is not. He may be American but he is not African American in the classic sense of descending from slaves. True African, or black, Americans may have ancestry which goes back 300-400 years on this continent. Obama does not have that going for him but he will play the 'brother' aspect up when it benefits him. He has the "bro hug" handshake down and it looks unprofessional at times. The POTUS is supposed to be pure business, man to man - nothing more, nothing less. A firm handshake given while looking the other person in the eye means more than a ritual fist grabbing hug which establishes nothing; specially when he will bow to leaders of other countries.
im half black, half white, and put down two or more races on any government form.
used to put just black, but was denying the other half of who i am so made a decision to stop doing that.
i do lean towards defending blacks more then whites though and believe they have the better argument the majority of the time.
at the same time im not afraid to talk about black problems and the inner city chaos.
the annoying thing to me is the holier than thou attitude, primarily from white conservative males, who refuse to acknowledge the growing dysfunction amongst there fellow white skinned people.
something like 35 percent of white kids are born to single mothers, thats way more single white kids than 73 percent of black kids if you look at total numbers.
Well, let's look at our dear president. If he referred to himself as half black and half white (or perish the thought, as white), would he have been an affirmative action admit to Columbia and Harvard, been a political darling of the Chicago political machine or elected president? No, no and no. Worked pretty good for him, huh?
By being "black" IMO he abandoned him mom who unlike the father never abandoned the family. I find it totally disgusting.
I remember having a fight with a black friend in elementary school about Mariah Carey. He was adamant she was white. I was adamant she was black. I guess we were both right and both wrong. I think it's an evolutionary adaption to see "like" vs "other." To me she had dark eyes, kinky hair, gospel singing voice and dark skin. To him her skin was too light skin to be black.
I think society is evolving into shades and nowadays or in the future she will just be "light dark skinned" or "lighter skin."
Remember that blacks can be just as exclusionary as whites. Many stories of being biracial and not accepted by blacks abound.
I think a lot has to do with culture.
If it bothers you OP, just say you are white. I know when I was applying to colleges, and even before, I went through a phase where I wished I was black. 1. To benefit from AA. 2. To have a greater sense of "belonging" to a culture. 3. I identified with their music. Etc.
Obama is a good example of being comfortable with both groups and not full-on playing to the stereotypes of either.
Which means what in American culture? In American society, race still affects how people are treated...this is certainly not a "post-racial" culture.
Obama was born in 1961. Had he lived on the Mainland, he would have been treated as black through his youth and young adulthood and would treat him as black today.
"Bi-racial" had no social meaning when Obama was born. It had no social meaning until the 1990s. It doesn't have a lot of genuine use even today because there is no "bi-racial culture." Bi-racial children just have choices to make in how much or little they want to adopt from each side of their heritage.
One thing they can't do, though, is declare themselves white, unless they are light enough to pass as white and willing to create an entirely false past life.
Because a lot of people who are half black/white do look "more" African than Caucasian.
People like Nicole Richie are an exception though. She can easily pass as a Southern European to me.
Nicole Richie is the adopted daughter of Lionel Richie. Her birth mother is white and her birth father is Latino.
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