Race Rules In America - The Over The Top Fascination With Barack Obama's Race
After being labeled as "black" all presidential primary season, all of a sudden there is new debate to decide if Barack Obama is "biracial." Check out these videos at CNN - Does Obama's Race Matter? and Is Obama black or biracial? This debate burns me up.
The man has discussed his racial background completely and made clear that he identifies as African American (for a multitude of reasons) and yet, here we are dissecting his racial identity again. Obama is sure in the hell not gaining any "half-white" privileges, so what is left to discuss? Some white folks will certainly embrace Barack Obama for President, but most white folks are not going to be running around celebrating that they have a "half-white" President.
We have always had biracial people in this country, but it was the racism and racial politics of American society that forced half black/half-white people to choose. The "one drop rule" is still heavily enforced in nearly every segment of this society for African Americans and in most cases against their will. Why doesn't the media talk about that and stop acting like its just a simple choice. It an extremely complex choice for a complex society.
And what kills me the most is when the media is having this discussion they can surely find black people to speak on this subject. We're invisible to them in any other venue of the political debate, but when they want to talk about taboo issues of race, suddenly they can find all kinds of black folk to comment.
