What’s offensive about it?
Is Snoop Dogg in the same ethnic group as Bill Cosby? Sure. Just like Chuck Norris and I are both peckerwoods. That may be significant. Lets pretend it isn’t, even if we aren’t sure.
Hey, who didn’t do a little experimenting in college?
My memory of when the term “African-American” was introduced was that it was meant to be a parallel with terms like “Irish-American” or “Italian-American” - it was meant to denote a person’s heritage rather than their skin colour, the idea being to reduce the differences between the way US society views white people and the way it views black people. I don’t remember there being any suggestion that it was only supposed to apply to descendants of slaves or whatever.
raindog, they have some drugs on the market now for those with jerky knees. I’m not an MD, but I think you (and perhaps those biracial people in your circle) should check them out.
Or at least elaborate. How, pray tell, would my post be offensive to the biracial people you know, since I haven’t made a single generalization that would include them? And even if I had, is saying someone is African American automatically offensive? If so, I think that’s really messed up.
Just like the assumptions about class and education in the OP. I’ve got a Ph.D and a sister with both a DVM and an MPH. Guess that means we’re not African Americans either. That’s beyond messed up, and it’s a statement that cannot be justified in any shape or form.
The black community certainly seems to think he is, and he thinks he is, and that’s good enough for me.
Maybe we should make this topic a sticky, since it seems to pop up so often.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=502766&highlight=obama+black+african+american
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=492013&highlight=obama+black+african+american
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=491365&highlight=obama+black+african+american
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=484434&highlight=obama+black+african+american
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=475790&highlight=obama+black+african+american
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=471212&highlight=obama+black+african+american
But that would spoil all the fun for the white folks trying to understand black folks 
Hey, if Obama wanted to say he didn’t self-identify as AA, but rather considers himself bi-racial, that would be OK, too. Some people would probably object, but this isn’t one of those objectively definable truthy thingies.
I’ve seen pictures of Obama drinking coffee, so that ought to settle it.
But then, I seen pictures of him drinking what could have been malt liquor too.
It depends on how you define it. He certainly is a black man, but so what? So are a lot of people with no African roots.
The phrase “African American” has largely replaced black and in that sense it’s become idomatic. The same way an anti-Semite is against Jews. Arabs are every bit as Semetic as Jews, but anti-Semite is idiomatic it means “anti-Jew”
I personally fell “African Americans” are those blacks who have roots that go back to slavery. In this sense Obama fails. On the flip side, Mr Obama is in reality a mix race. He’s every bit as white as he is black. Right now he’s credited as the first “African American” president. I predict this will be revised later on in history, when we get an black person who has both parents who are black. I believe history will eventually re-classify him as the first “mixed race” president."
Here’s my take on it with a little help from Jeffy and Dolly from *the Family Circus 
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His white roots are a red herring. The majority (if not most) of descendants of African slaves are “mixed”. So if Obama doesn’t count as black or African American on that basis, neither do a whole bunch of other people who are labeled as such. (And OMG, that even goes for the really, really dark-skinned ones!!!)
You are conflating ethnicity (African-American) and race (black). Obama is widely considered the first black president, and that is not going to change even if we get a president with two black parents. Because he’s as black as any other person who is called black in this race-obsessed country. To not understand this is in the year 2010 is a mark of ignorance.
When African ancestry is involved, “mix race” and black are functionally equivalent. Cuz yo ass would have been a slave either way.
One of his parents is from Africa, one from America, what’s so hard to figure out?
He identifies himself as African-American, most other African-Americans identify him as “one of us”, and most non-African-Americans don’t even know the distinction between “African-American” and “black”. It’s true that his ancestors didn’t have the same history as the ancestors of most dark-skinned folks in America, but the set of people for whom that matters is vanishingly small.
As others have described much more clearly than I will be able to, I’m leaning towards him not being “african american” in the way that i interpret the meaning of the word/phrase.
An african american is (AFAIU) someone with roots to the institution of slavery in the US. Obama has no more of that than he would have if he would have had a Swiss father. Usually there’s also the class perspective of coming from a blue collar background. That is also not the case here.
The fact that he “looks like” an AA isn’t relevant. All black people “look like” AA’s and the vast majority of them aren’t.
The fact that he identifies with them is relevant to a degree, the fact that other AA’s identify with him is also relevant. But the reason I was thinking about it was because there’s a bit of a “Look, an African American can become president, racism and discrimination are clearly not in effect” attitude going around and I don’t agree with it.
Basically I don’t think that because a person with access to wealth and education who happens to have one parent that is black becomes president it proves that an african american can become president. It proves that a person of color, can become president if he has access to wealth and education.
People’s race or ethnicity don’t change based on their socioeconomic class. There’s nothing about being an African American that requires one to have a poor background, and it’s insulting to suggest otherwise. Does a white person lose claim to his racial identity if he grew up on welfare?
Do you think Obama would have been elected if his father had been a African-American rather than a Kenyan, all other things being equal? Or is having a white mother the game changing factor in your view?
Regardless of what variables you change, what the man calls himself has nothing to do with “proving” the electability of anyone else. So I don’t think your objection on those grounds makes any sense anyway.
I don’t have the intention to insult and if in the quest of battling my own ignorance I might unintentionally insult someone I think it’s acceptable.
I don’t know is what I am saying. To me it hasn’t been proven that an AA can be elected president. The last election is a positive indication (since no longer are all US presidents white) but not proof.
Ah. Here I think I detect a misunderstanding. I was not arguing a specific point I believe in, I was discussing in order to educate myself.
I don’t think I understand this part, could you explain?
What does class have to do with it? Are Bill Cosby’s kids not African-American? There are lots of well off African-Americans in the US.
No. The vast majority of Black Americans are African-Americans. If he moved to Kenya and became a Kenyan citizen, he would no longer be an African-American.
First of all, Obama didn’t grow up “rich”. I think you need to explain why it makes a difference that Obama’s father was not a Black American. And it’s not like Obama didn’t have to face racism, even inside the Democratic party while he was seeking the nomination.
You said that you take issue with saying that Obama’s win is proof that African Americans can become president. And you related this objection to your issue with him calling himself an African American. Is this correct?
Obama could call himself a Daffy Duck-American. So what? If someone takes this as proof that racism is dead and that all Daffy Ducks can be president irrespective of education and wealth, then the stupidity lies with those who would say something like that. Not Obama’s self-identification.
No I related Obamas self-indication to whether that meant he was african american, I may very well not have been clear enough on that.
I know you aren’t an American, so I’ll just say that your perspective on this is kind of irrelevant. I’m not saying that to be dismissive or mean. The point is that most American’s (the folks who actually voted for Obama) THINK he’s African American (or simply ‘black’). HE thinks he’s AA. Most blacks think he’s AA.
No. African American means ‘someone who either came here from Africa and became American’s or someone who’s ancestors came here from Africa’. It has zero to do with slavery. There are plenty of blacks who CAME from Africa (like, got on a boat and sailed here last year), who are now American’s, and who would be considered (by American’s) to be ‘African American’. Hell, I’ve seen white folks who came from South African who check mark ‘African American’ on their census form without batting an eye.
Where this funky idea that to be African American you have to have ancestors who were originally slaves is coming from I have no idea. Most of the blacks I personally know don’t even KNOW if they had slave ancestors at all…they don’t have detailed genealogical charts and stuff, ken? Most Hispanics I know (including myself) don’t have such charts either…I basically know that my family on my fathers side comes from a small village in Senora. Outside of that I know there is both native American India, European (probably Spanish of some kind) and possibly black (by not directly from African…from the Bahamas) in my own family wood pile.
Hell, most WHITE people I know (including my wife) don’t really know much about their family trees. That’s why you see all those ads about search sites involving genealogy these days.
-XT