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| Feb 17, 2007 1:45 am |
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re: re: Why Is Barak Obama Considered Only African American? |
Paul Mitchell
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Linda, I think one short answer to the question posed through your essay is that a lifetime of personal experiences of a Barak Obama - as well as others such as Halle Berry, Alicia Keys, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Vin Diesel, Mariah Carey, Derek Jeter, Malcolm Gladwell, to name a few - has formed a personal perspective within these folks that their interests - social, spiritual, intellectual, etc. - are best served if they park themselves squarely under the mantle of being Negro or black. I don't think it is so much a matter of the way the "One Drop" rule is applied to them as how they want to think of themselves based on a lifetime of experience. It's a personal decision (I'm sure) which they have evolved or arrived at after navigating the the subtle and not so subtle pathways of life particularly with regard to being inescapably of Negro ancestry. I think it's also worthwhile to note that they choose to maintain these postures not only up to the point in their lives where they attain the achievement and fame that so few people do, but after that as well. And there are always alternate realities to this as Tiger Woods might be considered a different perspective which is fine indeed. It's an amazing revelation for me that Barak was raised by an Indonesian step-dad. I've always mused how the Indonesian people as an Asian ethnic group so closely resembles African people at least with regard to skin color and features (minus hair and eyes). And this even more so than the dark-skinned Thai people of which Tiger Woods is descended from. Interesting. Private Reply to Paul Mitchell (new win) |
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