A few days after the election, I noticed the way some people are reacting to our new President-Elect Barack Obama. People are either very happy or they are very upset. So of course my 12 year old son noticed it too because he brought up a question I just can’t answer a simple yes or no. All I had to say was I really don’t know.
So my husband thought it would be a good idea to find out what my fellow bloggers thought about the question too.
Question: If Barack Obama was a blue eyed, blond hair and fair skinned African-American (looked more like his grandmother), would he still be considered the first Black President of the United States?
*Leave me a comment to let us know what you think.
I think some people are having a hard time with the fact that he is black, which should not be the case. I know we have just made history with this being the first black president but I think some people were not ready for that.
Ideally, we should only be concerned with the views of the candidate we are voting for and in this country the views of the many far outweigh the views of the (dare I say) prejudice. I know I will probably get some flames for that little comment, but if we cannot speak our mind in this great country then would this country really be so great…?
In a word yes…”black” is more than a skin color we range from vanilla to inky black. It is a culture reference also, he identifies with black people because he looks the part and married a black woman. He does claim his white heritage and the lessons he learned from living in both worlds.
alicia
http://todaystyle.today.com
I think he will still be identified as black but it also depends on what he identifies himself with. To be honest at first I was scared if he were to be elected because he is black. Who wants what happened to Kennedy all over again. When he came out to give a speech the night he was elected I was crying because I was able to see this historic event but was scared at the same time because there were no bodyguards with him in the stage. I don’t see it so much as in the first black president I see it as in we have a Democrat president again and hopefully things will change for the better! My 2 cents…
Honestly me and hubby had this conversation because he kept talking about how he’s both black and white and he felt like people were concentrating on the black part only.
I remember HS and having a class discussion on this. It always stayed with me. It was said that historically when the two races were more segregated especially down south you were either one or the other. That’s where the term “passed” came from whether you passed for one race or the other. Girl I remember my teacher (he was black) telling us about the “pencil test” where they would put a pencil in your hair and then tell you to bend your head and whether the pencil fell out (“good” hair) or it stayed in (“bad” hair) that would say which side of the fence you were on. I’m telling you I get so irritated about things like that! But the truth of the matter is people are going on straight skin color.
What matters to me is the like MLK said “not the color of your skin but the content of your character” Maybe being raised in NYC where it’s such a melting pot gave me that way of thinking. But I honestly don’t care what color you are and I hate labeling people. Whether he’s black white mixed (or blue!!) I think he’s going to do a good job. The fact that he is part black is just icing on the cake. African American people used to be slaves now the leader of this very country is part African American. There’s just a beauty in that. Their ancestors were literally part of the backbone the foundation of this country through their hard work.
I think race is such a big deal now because of the way segregation was back then. Ok that’s my two cents I’m getting off my soap box now!