Why do I have to be just black .........

Very well said, Walaa! You are a woman of many and varied talents and the colour of your skin makes up the tiniest part of who you are.

Doesn’t Barack Obama constantly being referred to as ‘African American’ or ‘First Black’ President compound the problem, especially as his mother was white?

Perhaps when he is just referred to as President Obama things can move on.

But I agree with your post. We are all human beings, end of.

I agree with you Walaa.

Obama rarely refers to himself as “Black” or “African-American” which in itself is an ignorant label since Africa have many different races living there and have had that for many generations. Just like all the other continents. As a fair-skinned person I would quite object to be labelled “white” or worse “Caucasian” which insinuates that I descends from Russia or Georgia.

Further, he is being labelled “black” when he is 50-50 black & white; which spurs the question to all the “colour-labellers” out there: at what percentage do you become “black” or “white”?

Colin Powell and John Edwards are two highly educated people but it is their values and how they conduct themselves that really defines who they are – not their colours.

Why not just call ourselves English, American or wherever we are from? Next time somebody asks about a persons colour, just reply “oh I don’t know, I didn’t ask them” and study their reactions. It’s a gem!

Cheers

Michael

P.S. Would love to read your blog about religious labels ;-)

Barack Obama and his supporters who cry racism as soon as he is criticized for political reasons are part of the problem not part of the solution.

Yes really well put, also correct. One thing that Michael Yon pointed out was in Iraq when the elections were being held for the 2nd time he was often told that that it will work because they can now be Iraqi first and the kind of islam 2nd, Michael is correct too, and Obama has put back race relations years, he boasts of being the black pres, it would be really impressive if a native had been voted in, the sting here is the party that he leads have been oppressing (I dont feel comfortable using this term) black people for ever (google Martin Luther King and follow the politics) this 50/50 is openly racist and bigoted but is working for equality he wants all Americans destitute and therfore equal. In the UK white English are discriminated everywhere, the so called equality laws are everything but, taking the fairness away from the people is a failure, equality has been won time and time again, the “red tail” airmen from WW2, the lady on the bus (I think her name is Rose, another democratic law undone by decent people) I grew up in west London, among a lot of immigrants from the carribian, they,to me were people, good and bad, most were good people. It was not untill the laws started and street names went from english and I felt hostility when I visited where I was born that I became resentful of these intruders (to be transparent the islamic immigrants caused this) Laws will never produce racial equality only deny it, after all all races are in fact equal, good and bad. It is however a political football and anyone who uses it for gain should go to hell.

I do so agree with you Walaa! This is not about denying the colour of one’s skin or one’s family or cultural history – its about saying, “This is but one part of me – it is not my defining characteristic!”

I do know that there are many people for who their ‘race’ is a mystery, literally unknown and almost unknowable. I am glad that I know something of the quirky past that makes my genetic makeup but I know that it is the way I think and act and react that makes me – ME!

Most ordinary white people don’t think of their black acquaintances this this way, except when the black person concerned comes across as having a chip on their shoulder.

Nevertheless I recognise what you say and think there are two principle causes.

1. The tendency of certain black people to focus on “Black” issues. eg. Yasmin Alabi Brown or Gary Younge

2. The tendency of the media to compartmentalise people. This is partly caused by laziness but mainly by multiculturalism.

It is the inevitable effect of multi-culturalism that society actively seeks to promote minority culture. As Keenan Malik observes, the tendency is to promote exemplars of the culture rather than people who choose to mix old and new cultures. Thus any black person who, doesn’t match the Gary Younge template is inauthentic. You are either fully black or not black at all.

This can sometimes go to laughable extremes as here
http://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2008/01/feel-my-rebelli.html”
where we discover that <i>long-term planning (or “future time orientation”) and the speaking of grammatical English</i> are white concepts.

Clearly with your standard of English you are a complete sell out to the black cause, Walaa.

Last line lost its smiley (in case it wasn’t clear that I was joking)

It’s a relief to know TDK – amazing what a difference a smiley makes ;-))

Too true Walaa! Yesterday when Canvassing our Candidate was a Conservative, gender and colour were irrelevant.