# Obama's race is mostly irrelevant, which makes his race a BFD. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 8, 2008, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-race-is-mostly-irrelevant-which-makes-his-race-a-bfd/471811 "2008-11-08T15:29:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-race-is-mostly-irrelevant-which-makes-his-race-a-bfd/471811/21 "2008-11-09T16:56:11Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > I don’t see how Rice and Powell belong in the same conversation as Jackson or Sharpton. Rice is neither a politician or activist, but an appointee. She has as much to do with the civil rights movement as DL Hughely. Powell is more of a politician than Rice, but he also hasn’t been voted into anything. So neither have had to develop and appeal to a particular base in order to effect change or retain power. Not surprisingly then, they can afford to treat race as an irrelevant thing. Making waves by bringing up race would cost them their jobs. > > Jackson and Sharpton serve completely different roles from Rice and Powell. The only thing they have common is that they are black. I don’t know what “type” Rice and Powell are supposed to represent to you, but the irony is that Jackson and Sharpton–as flawed as they may be–helped make this “type” possible. Rice and Powell can afford to be silent about race because the Jackson’s of the world exist to speak for them. Powell was raised in the South Bronx and is a few years older than Jackson. I suspect Powell was quite aware of racial inequalities growing up. Rice was raised in Birmingham, Alabama in the 50’s. Betting she too saw first hand the racial tensions of the times. Jackson and Sharpton are polarizing figures. Their rhetoric was of an “us versus them” mantra. Far from bringing the races together they sought to draw sharp lines between the two. I do not think Powell and Rice bother to talk that talk because Jackson was doing it for them. I think they repudiate that approach to fixing race relations in the US. They exemplify that it is not about what your race is but about who you are. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-race-is-mostly-irrelevant-which-makes-his-race-a-bfd/471811/22 "2008-11-09T17:26:13Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I wonder, though, if Obama’s particular circumstances will allow whites to keep their racism while relegating Obama to the role of “exception.” > > He was an exceptional candidate. I hope that doesn’t mean he’ll be considered exceptionally non-black for a black guy. Eh, who cares? He was elected, and civilization did not come to an end. People may have assuaged the little racist goblins in the back of their minds with his white grand-parents, fair skin, and even and considered speech patterns, but they voted for him. Now, assuming that his daughter doesn’t gets pregnant in her teens before marriage and his wife doesn’t join a Separatist political party, people will blame any failures on his being an inexperienced Liberal Democrat, rather than on his partial african ancestry. Which will leave them that little bit less apt to view partial african ancestry with suspicion, a little more apt to examine credentials than any ancestry. ---
**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:** [November 9, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-race-is-mostly-irrelevant-which-makes-his-race-a-bfd/471811/23 "2008-11-09T19:40:22Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I do not think Powell and Rice bother to talk that talk because Jackson was doing it for them. I think they repudiate that approach to fixing race relations in the US. They exemplify that it is not about what your race is but about who you are. As nice as all of this sounds, you really have no idea what their beliefs on race relations are. Very few of us privy to their thoughts on race simply for the fact that they have no reason to talk about it. That’s not what being a Secretary of State is about. They do their jobs. And Jesse Jackson does his. His just happens to be race related. If I were to say I prefer the Robert Gates type to the Michael Moore type in the context of class warfare, what would you make of this statement? Would it make any sense? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-race-is-mostly-irrelevant-which-makes-his-race-a-bfd/471811/24 "2008-11-09T20:31:34Z")
The problem with Obama is he’s mixed. As much as people say he’s an African American, he’s not. Now I know most black people in America, do have some white blood, but it’s not the same. Obama’s mother was white and his father was AFRICAN. He wasn’t an American. African Americans as the term applies to black skinned people in America, goes through roots of slavery. If a man comes from Nigeria or Kenya and became an American citizen and you asked him what his back ground is, he would say he’s African. If a man came from Jamaica, he’s say he’s Jamaican. Obama’s father’s roots are in AFRICA, his heritage doesn’t come from the line of most black Americans which have their roots in slavery. So while Obama is colored black, that’s all it is, is a color. If a person from India was born in Kenya would he call himself an African? He could and he’d be correct. But in reality no one would consider him an African. I know a guy who’s parents are from Japan. His parents moved to Mexico and he was born there. He claims to be Latino. Most of the younger generation says “Yeah he’s Latino,” simply based on where he was born. In my opinion a man who’s heritage goes back hundreds of years to Japan and has not one ounce of any European blood is NOT Latino. So in reality we still have not elected an African America as president. We’ve elected a man who’s a dark color. But his heratage has absolutely NOTHING to do with the black experience in America. The only reason he got in the race was because Oprah thought he was cute. If he was an ugly black man, like most of the politicians in Chicago are, she’d never have given him a second look. Obama owes everything to Oprah’s gushing over him and great timing when the economy failed. ---
**Author:** ![xanthous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/53a042/32.png) [@xanthous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xanthous)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-race-is-mostly-irrelevant-which-makes-his-race-a-bfd/471811/25 "2008-11-09T21:00:53Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I know a guy who’s parents are from Japan. His parents moved to Mexico and he was born there. He claims to be Latino. Most of the younger generation says “Yeah he’s Latino,” simply based on where he was born. In my opinion a man who’s heritage goes back hundreds of years to Japan and has not one ounce of any European blood is NOT Latino. So, assuming that this guy grew up in Mexico, he is precluded from identifying with the only cultural experience he has ever known based on his family tree? IMHO, your statements put much more weight on importance of labels than they do on one’s experience within/influence from a culture. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-race-is-mostly-irrelevant-which-makes-his-race-a-bfd/471811/26 "2008-11-09T21:27:19Z")
Both racial identity and the election are more complicated than you think, Mark. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-race-is-mostly-irrelevant-which-makes-his-race-a-bfd/471811/27 "2008-11-09T21:37:53Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I know a guy who’s parents are from Japan. His parents moved to Mexico and he was born there. He claims to be Latino. Most of the younger generation says “Yeah he’s Latino,” simply based on where he was born. In my opinion a man who’s heritage goes back hundreds of years to Japan and has not one ounce of any European blood is NOT Latino. The census bureau separates the question of whether someone is Hispanic from the question of someone’s race. That is because someone who is Hispanic can be of any race, including Asian. Ed ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-race-is-mostly-irrelevant-which-makes-his-race-a-bfd/471811/28 "2008-11-09T22:33:00Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > If a person from India was born in Kenya would he call himself an African? I’m completely baffled by this point. How is the person “from India”? When did the “from” attach? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-race-is-mostly-irrelevant-which-makes-his-race-a-bfd/471811/29 "2008-11-09T22:37:05Z")
> [@groo](#): > > The reward for him was not to become president, it was to have helped move the country to a place where someone else could become president. I think the achievements of Jackson and MLK and the whole black civil rights movement wrt what we have just witnessed was completed upon the death of MLK. To put it simply, the goal of that movement was not only a political structure recognizing blacks as equals, but to win the hearts and minds of white people against racism. That banner was carried forth within the primarily white community of universities, high schools and elementary schools, and carried out into the mass media. Admittedly I’m Canadian, but I’ve no doubt that that the election of the only black student in my high school of 2000 students in 1967, was due in part to demonstrate where we stood on racism. This anti-racism attitude snowballed within a generation to the point where I was reprimanded by my 15 year old daughter(10 years ago) for inquiring about her “black” friend rather than using her friend’s name which I’d forgotten. The subsequent period highlighting Jackson’s and Sharpton’s role seems to be to have focused on injustices. I don’t think they accomplished much with white attitude. The uproar over Inis might have made some whites think twice about their language, but didn’t affect their choice when they pulled the lever in the booth. Had an Obama entered the Democratic primary elections in 1991, he would have stood a chance of winning as well. > [@](#): > > Sure, there may be almost half the country who still have various prejudices, but now we know, and everyone else in the world knows, that their days are numbered, because more than half of the voters have no problem seeing Obama as a man who, by the way, is black. You can’t assume that all the McCain voters have prejudices. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-race-is-mostly-irrelevant-which-makes-his-race-a-bfd/471811.md?page=1)