Obama Isn't Black Again...

Okay, so we've heard the argument about Barack Obama not technically being black already. I have an opinion on that which I don't want to get into but I think it'll seep into this post nevertheless. Aaron McGruder, the genius who created the comic book strip turned television show The Boondocks, has been criticized for saying that President Obama is not black.

Now, I don't want to get into the politics of what McGruder meant by what he did or did not say. You can figure that our for yourself. I just simply wanted to make a comment on an analogy that McGruder provided in his attempt to clear things up that I'm really feeling:

Barack is the son of an immigrant, not the descendant of slaves. It's like comparing a half-Japanese man to the oppressed Chinese who built the American railroads. Yes they are both Asian, but it is not an honest or accurate comparison. We all share the common experiences of being Black in America today- we do not all share a common history. A history that in part makes us who we are- and in some cases (as with the psychological damage that still lingers from slavery) holds us back. These are not, I believe insignificant distinctions.

Agreed.

It's so funny because it's almost impossible for one black person to tell another black person that Barack is not black... even though he isn't technically.

I studied Afro-Am in college and I know that "black" is not an ethnicity... it's more of an identity, and it's definitely a political term used to describe Americans of African descent who are also descendants of slaves specifically. Point blank period.

I agree that while Barack Obama is allowed to identify with black because that is the way he is perceived and that is the experience he has had to live, being that he lives in America and looks black, however, he wasn't raised anything like the way I was or even the way children of Kenyan immigrants to America were. How can you say that that's insignificant?

I love Barack. He is the first black President as far as I'm concerned but I'm just saying if you want to get technical he's really just the first black President to identify with blackness... which he's said in his memoirs. Don't believe me. Read it for yourself.