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News Blogs
 
Black and white
By Carl Strock
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
A little note on racial categories. In today’s news, The New York Times calls Barack Obama “the first black candidate on a major party ticket.” The Associated Press writes of his “goal of becoming the nation’s first black president.” The Washington Post calls him “the first black candidate to head a major party ticket.” The New York Post calls him the “first black standard-bearer.” A man from Mars, meanwhile, just arrived on this planet, might ask, if a guy has a black father and a white mother why is he considered black rather than white? And I ask the same thing. I suspect the answer is the ancient one of blackness being a stain. You’re not white unless you’re all white. If you’re a little black, you’re black. I do note that the Daily News referred to Obama as “African-American,” which is strictly accurate in his case, since his father was Kenyan and his mother American. I also note that the Washington Post declared “black president” was once considered an oxymoron, thus demonstrating that like many other pretentious users of the English language it does not know what oxymoron means. But I’ll let that pass. There are just so many battles I can fight. I’m more interested in a guy who is half black, half white being generally regarded as black.
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September 6, 2008
3:22 p.m. [ Suggest removal ]
black is a dominant color no matter where the tan lines begin and end.
Definitions of 'dominant gene'
WordNet - (1 definitions)
(noun)
1. gene that produces the same phenotype in the organism whether or not its allele identical: "the dominant gene for brown eyes"
11:31 a.m. [ Suggest removal ]
Right on Carl. For my part, I will not base my vote on whether someone is half white, or for that matter, half black. Previous achievements, demonstrated ability and principles, and experience should be the issues on which we base our vote. The press has surely been trying to divert interest from those attributes.
11:38 a.m. [ Suggest removal ]
I was taught in a Genetics course a few years back that there are about 10 genes that regulate skin color in humans, each having a small, additive effect. Thus, Obama's skin color is not simply a matter of a single dominant "black" gene overriding a recessive "white" gene. If it were that simple, then there would not be so many intermediate shades of skin color between "black" and "white."
People with Obama's skin color, regardless of their ethnicity, are often discriminated against in this country by those with a racial bias. Obama has made an historic achievement against this lingering backdrop of racial prejudice, and that is what his fellow journalists are pointing out. Not all issues are a matter of "black and white," and I don't really see where Strock is going with this.
1:05 p.m. [ Suggest removal ]
I think where he's going is to a place where these things become meaningless over time, except as to how one can leverage "race" to his own advantage. In the final anaysis, we're all primates of African origin.
If Obama self-identifies as "black", it's probably because he figures he can get more of what he seeks that way.
My 10th great-grandfather was Sachem Uncas of the Pequots/Mohicans, but for some reason, the tribe won't cut me in on any of their casino profits.
Guess they don't have the same "one-drop" rule??
2:42 p.m. [ Suggest removal ]
It seems to me that one of the great things about Obama's candidacy is that he is a role-model for African-American adolescents, and living proof that that they are not "second-class" citizens. I trust him to handle this issue with finesse so as to bring people together, and find it hard to believe that he would leverage the situation for his personal advantage. There was another candidate who took that approach, and the voters rejected the politics of division.