Obama: Black, white, spotted?
And so we copy editors thought this whole presidential politics and international relations and what to call what was complicated enough already ...
Read this from the Miami Herald's James Burnett:
Oh yeah. Let the fun begin.It is short-sighted and disingenuous for my elevated peers to keep referring to Obama as black or African American. He is biracial.
And while his skin color...and Clinton's gender, and McCain's age shouldn't matter in terms of their qualifications, how we address those characteristics should matter to you.
posted by Doug @ 4:55 PM
2 comments|
2 Comments:
It is complicated but it does not have to be. I've always wondered why the media suggests that Obama would be the first "black" president. He would be the first biracial president. I agree with James Burnett in that the news should be accurate. The U.S. places a lot of emphasis on race. When I moved to the U.S. I had to select a box that indicated my race when I applied for the gym, joined a professional organization or completed a standardized test. This is not commonly practiced in most parts of the world.
Inadvertently, the media calling Obama black hearkens back to the bad old days with a whole slew of 18th and 19th century words regarding parentage, where anyone without 100% European papers automatically was besmirched with whatever culture the non-European happened to be.
If I were Obama, I'd escape from my handlers,fully embrace my mixed heritage (just as most Americans are of mixed heritage) and show the rest of we American mutts he's the best representative for all of us.
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