# Assume Obama Becomes President: Racism In America Re-Defined?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assume-obama-becomes-president-racism-in-america-re-defined/431974>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [January 2, 2008, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assume-obama-becomes-president-racism-in-america-re-defined/431974 "2008-01-02T08:21:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assume-obama-becomes-president-racism-in-america-re-defined/431974/61 "2008-01-07T04:27:54Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=you with the face]  
Can you explain why this sounds racist to you? I remember when this was making the rounds, and never found her argument racist or ridiculous.  
[/QUOTE]

It smacks a bit too much of the old ‘acting white’ or ‘not black enough’ accusations, though I’ve only seen her own Colbert, which I know is not exactly a great platform for people who want to get a point across.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assume-obama-becomes-president-racism-in-america-re-defined/431974/62 "2008-01-07T11:50:36Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=The Controvert]

As far as redefining racism in America, if Obama does win, one positive is that he follows Bush and therefore couldn’t possibly be as terrible as the current administration. Therefore, it’s less likely we’d see a row over how awful the first black president was.  
[/QUOTE]

Well, it would be one helluva trick to be considered an awful president coming after Bush.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assume-obama-becomes-president-racism-in-america-re-defined/431974/63 "2008-01-07T14:00:00Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=Cat Fight]  
It smacks a bit too much of the old ‘acting white’ or ‘not black enough’ accusations, though I’ve only seen her own Colbert, which I know is not exactly a great platform for people who want to get a point across.  
[/QUOTE]

From what I gathered from reading her article in the Salon, her argument has little to do with him “acting white”, but rather his roots.

From [Salon](http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/01/22/obama/):

> [@](#):
>
> Black," in our political and social reality, means those descended from West African slaves. Voluntary immigrants of African descent (even those descended from West Indian slaves) are just that, voluntary immigrants of African descent with markedly different outlooks on the role of race in their lives and in politics. \*\*At a minimum, it can’t be assumed that a Nigerian cabdriver and a third-generation Harlemite have more in common than the fact a cop won’t bother to make the distinction. They’re both “black” as a matter of skin color and DNA, but only the Harlemite, for better or worse, is politically and culturally black, as we use the term. \*\*

The whole Obama-isn’t-black-enough meme was discussed and pitted a while ago in this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=408022&highlight=obama+black+monstro). You may agree or disagree with Dickerson’s opinion on Obama’s “blackness” (as she defines it), but her argument isn’t racist.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assume-obama-becomes-president-racism-in-america-re-defined/431974.md?page=3)