Obama!
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- Jimbo82
Well done America! I think the majority of the free world feels like a fantastic thing has happened, and hopefully relations between America and the rest of the world will greatly improve!
Now I'm probably going to throw myself open to abuse here from people getting the wrong end of the stick, but couldn't Obama be equally considered as another white President? His mum is white and his dad is black, yet he is referred to as a black man. I suppose if you are to be technical about it, then he is mixed race, or of bi-orogin.
After reading a little about it, it seems that the age old ideology of 'one drop of black blood makes you not white' is still prevalent today. So when people refer to Obama as black are they unknowingly enforcing/encouraging racism? Is it that those of mixed race feel the need to find their identity and for most it is black culture that welcomes them more? Similar comparisons can be drawn to Lewis Hamilton or Tiger Woods, although Tiger Woods does not call himself black. Just thought it was an interesting debate and possibly something that the world needs to place more thought on.
Here are some links...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/…
It's a bit heavy but interesting!
Go Obama! Yay!
- zaq0
He won his presidency not as a black American but as a reasoning American who happens to be black.
- very true.sea_sea
- too muchcreez
- Not if you ask Black people.404NotFound
- um he's just as much black as he is white....ppl just pick the minority. Amazing is amazing regardlesstedismyfav
- by pick I mean choose to call him black when they could just as easily call him white.tedismyfav
- creative-0
I'm mixed race. More people have labeled me black than have labeled me mixed. No-one has ever labeled me white. I see myself as mixed as to say I am black effectively disregards a hugely important part of my heritage. This should also apply to Barack and Lewis etc.
- blacktino?robotron3k
- thats exactly what i was trying to say above
tedismyfav
- mimeartist_com0
I wish it wasn't so focussed on what colour he is or isn't... as zaq said, he seems like a bloke who wants to get it right for the people, rather than an ego trip, help out his mates, or that he doesn't really need to work, so he thought he'd go for presidency
- vespa0
i'm mixed race. white people call me asian and asian people call me white! ah well. everyone will look like me one day!
- that wouldn't be a bad thing ;Dkelpie
- yay!vespa
- agreed.janne76
- +1 :Pkezza_2
- plus several million.paraselene
- NT'rs call you vespa!!!e-pill
- And some of us just call you Australianthebottlerocket
- Could be worse, Vespa - you could be a ginger - we're pretty much universally reviled/feared by all races.Nairn
- aw youse guys... *sniff*vespa
- i used to get loads of racist names growing up in australia bottlerocket!vespa
- Revered not reviled nairn!vespa
- that would be hothallelujah
- Tell me who said those things and I will go round and beat them up for you.thebottlerocket
- aw fanks bottlerocket. don't worry i beat them up myself...vespa
- 7point340
i never got the impression that he was running for the title of "first black president" unlike clinton who gave me the impression everyday that she was running for "first woman president"
the right candidate won.
good on him.
- 7point340
vespa,
i have a friend who has/had that problem too. it really bothered him because he felt he didn't fit in anywhere. he was obviously asian, and that hertitage was incredibly important to him, but a lot of his asian friends said he looked white.
- creez0
obama is the shit
- Jimbo820
There's no doubt that he ran for presidency for the right reasons and not to be labelled as "first black president", that would be ludicrous. What we are talking about is him being called a black man when in reality he is mixed race.
My best mate has just had a mixed race baby, I asked him about this today, he said his son was mixed race, not black. He said pretty much the same thing as creative- in that if his son is classed as black then he would be disregarding his white mother's heritage and that wouldn't be right.
- Wolfboy0
yeah, it's like when I moved away from the north and my accent became a little more neutral so that when I went back to visit my family and northern friends they would all take the piss, doing posh voices and calling me soft. But in the south my accent is still strong enough for my southern friends to do the old 'ee by gum' or 'alright are kid' schtick.
It is like that isn't it?
Still, last night/this morning was incredible, I was really moved by the speeches and celebrations - this image of Jesse Jackson was so powerful, probably more so because of his differences with Obama. The western world feels like a positive place today, for the first time in a few years.
- Watch out. Jesse will be taking credit for Obama's success before too long.404NotFound
- Jimbo820
I'm from the South and went to uni in Manchester, was up there for 3 years and when there my accent got stronger south if anything, I think I enjoyed being different to everyone else and so it got more and more exagerated until I was just went around mumbling "apples n pears, apples n pears, apples n pears"
- vespa0
yea 7point34 i've always felt like i didn't fit in anywhere. tell your friend to go to hawaii...
The other day i was doing a photoshoot with my band, and the other 2 girls and the photographer are white. For some reason we were talking about how lovely spoken language sounds to the ear in Swahili, and I said, I only know one word -- "Mazungi", cos my Raj calls me Mazungi, it means whitey, awww. And they all looked at me blankly, and I realised haha they don't think of me as white so they don't get it!
Anyways I wonder if Obama's kenyan grandma calls him her little Mazungu :)
- _salisae_0
through the years here on nt i have felt very judged and insulted by the comments made by the british about americans. it took a lot of will power and forced perspective to not feel directly represented by your narrow view of us. now that i – along with many of my friends and my family – are represented by someone who shares many of our philosophies and sentiments allows me such a huge sigh of relief.
i apologize if this came across in other ways and my anger toward you guys was all too apparent, but what can i say – i might not be a stupid american – but i am throughly human.
- brits OR australians living as brits :)_salisae_
- *hugs the yankkelpie
- who me? what did i say?vespa
- lol @ kelpievespa
- (in seriousness, apology right back if I've ever been guilty of that)kelpie
- Sorry,but you americans voted bush in twice, you have to cop some flak for that.thebottlerocket
- i didn't vote bush in. i voted quite the opposite. it was a twice stolen election, ffs._salisae_
- and yes, i am apologizing to you, vespa. and sorry again if you can't see that i'm happy you're on the american side now that it suits you._salisae_
- now that it suits you and specifically applies to your mixed race experience._salisae_
- well, you don't come off that contrite, in fact i get the impression you've been waiting...thebottlerocket
- years to make a post like this.thebottlerocket
- harlequino0
Breakfast tasted so so good this morning.
- madirish0
i for one, am very happy for Rand. He has dreamed of this all for so long and put so much into it- breathe ease well my friend.
- haven't seen him. i worry he's had a heart attack7point34
- where is Rand today?vespa
- he goes by the name hallelujah these days, he's about. yay for Rand, that's exactly how I felt tookelpie
- thanks guyshallelujah
- that explains a lot.paraselene
- Taschen0
The difference in popular vote isnt that great:
McCain (R) 55,542,743
Obama (D) 62,680,702Man, I'm actually tired of hearing about Obama
- yeah 7 million isn't that much. wait, wtf are you talking about? let's stay positive here.doesnotexist
- i don't swim in your toilet. please, don't piss in my pool7point34
- that's the biggest % dem win since LBJ in early 64hallelujah
- another reason to recognise how complex america is and how important it is to reconcile and for us not to judge its citizens too harshlykelpie
- ...harshlykelpie
- that 7 million difference all came from Oprah viewersTaschen
- IT IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE! Gore won the popular vote and Bush won by only 3million votes and with only 34 more electoral votes... so get real. Obama won huge.blaster
- Jimbo820
It'll be interesting to see if people still rave about him in 4 years time, I doubt they will.
- Taschen0
Obamarama
- hallelujah0
people are like dogs that have been kicked too much... afraid to hope
- so true.vespa
- some of your parents must have really done a number on youhallelujah