Why is Obama "black" and not "half black"?

Question

His Mom is Caucasian. His Dad Kenyan. That's a pretty 50/50 split. So why not white? Isn't he just as white as he is black?

The same could be said of Halle Berry and other Celebrities.

Your thoughts?

Answer 1

mayb there's no such thing as "half black"

Answer 2

Maybe they are more proud to say that they are African American, because it's sounds more accomplishing when a Black Woman or a Black Man wins a certain award for the first time or become president for the first time.

Answer 3

black is black if he was white looking skin pigment they would call him mulatto

Answer 4

Because "black" starts with the letter 'b' and "white" starts with the letter "w".  Grammatically speaking, the word "black" would come first when describing an individual who is half black and half white.  You could call him an oreo, but I don't think Nabisco would care for that too much.  :)

Answer 5

It goes back to the old Jim Crow days. if one great grandparent is black {1/32 black} you are black. It seems odd to me that Tiger woods is a "black" golfer, and a darn good one at that, yet his mom is Thai. Why is he not a Thai golfer?

Here is one that really bugs me. I can trace my family roots in America back past the 1500's yet I am not considered a "Native American" how stupid is that? If I lived in France and my parents were borne in France I would be French. Stupidity! Why can we not just be people and not have race be an issue?

Answer 6

because most blacks in america are racially mixed. his dad is pure black from africa which most black americans are not so obama is black in america because black in america menas any known african ancestory that why you have blacks with non african features in america who will tel you they are 100% black. remember black is made up of all colors that why blacks looks so much different from each other than do other white people. just look at any black family in america and you will see alot of colors which come from past and recent mixtures. obama is black because this is ******* america in another coutry he may o might not be black but who cares. i know i'm black but im more american than anything else as i found out going overseas.

Answer 7

Yes this is true. But their skin is dark not white like Mariah  Carey. She is also Black but looks white. I had a friend I thought was white but he showed me his license for a transaction and it said he was black. I started laughing because I thought he was joking. I knew a guy who told the DMV that he was 6'1 but he was 5'8 and they put it on his license. Turned out my friend  was black.  So they are half black and half white. This is usually decided at birth at the hospital. It's like your name you didn't choose it. Barack didn't choose his name. His father from Kanya did. His step father was Indonesian. He lived in Jakarta from 6 to 10 years old. His mother worked at The embassy teaching English. When you work for the US embassy or divisions of that like US Aid you wind up in a lot of countries and so do your children. I know my brother works for US Aid and is in many different countries over the years. His children are Americans like he is.

He appeals to a lot of people because he is both black and white and is not using the race card.

Answer 8

My thoughts are that I don't even think about it. It doesnt even matter. Maybe he identifies more with his african heritage.c

Answer 9

In America, if you look black you are black. End of story.

Answer 10

Why is this even a question?

Answer 11

He's Whack yo

Answer 12

yead dude true that.

Answer 13

because there is no option to put that down on any sort of professional identification document... there may be an option called "other"... although, if you option to pick this then somebody else will just decide for you... it's a sad world, but things will eventually come around... they are going to have to

Answer 14

He is neither he is a Big Pile of S****

Answer 15

True- maybe it's because it's more obvious that he's half black than it is that he's half white. Maybe people generalise "being black" as having any obvious proportion of the black gene?

Answer 16

He got more of his dad genes.

Answer 17

when my racially mixed children were in school, i always classified them as "other".  however, the school always changed it and called them african american...more federal tax dollars.  apparently being part black makes you higher risk...IDIOTS

Answer 18

b/c when a black and white person mix they get a mixed color breed.. hes more black than white.. races should not mix.

Answer 19

Because he is a positive role model, so the black community holds him as their own.  In addition to the fact that he "looks" more black than white, many famous blacks are athletes/rappers that end up in legal trouble of some sort (which inherently casts a negative shadow on the black community) and Obama is on the other end of the spectrum.    Therefore, it looks like the black community has latched on to a good role model.

Answer 20

Political tactic....

Answer 21

uhm...

well he looks half white!

i mean i can tell hes half!

like my boyfrien,hes whit and black,he looks more black.but my frien is both and looks more white!lol.

its just a jean thing i think!

Answer 22

I think people associate him more with black because his skin is dark, so they automatically say oh well he is black. Have you ever seen someone that is half black and half white with really white skin? I have. People always call them white, even if their bone structure seems more black. I dont think it matters, I think people that are half black half white come out soo attractive!

Answer 23

I've always wondered why this is too.

I suppose its probably just because the african features overtake the caucasian features most of the time, so they call him 'black' because he looks more like it than a white person?

If thats not it, it beats me.

Answer 24

Thats a great question. But I have no idea why they do call them black.