Oh, noes! Our President, who is half Kenyan, has self-identified as African-American on the United States Census form. The horror! The horror!
I think the true story here is that I thought those forms were supposed to be confidential. What the hell is the White House doing revealing how the President filled out his Census paperwork?
According to the White House, Obama chose not to check multiple boxes under his self-identification of race. Nor, did he choose to elaborate on his race. The President simply chose the box that said “Black, African Am., or Negro.”
Yes, folks, that is right. There is an option on the Census form that says “Negro.” Are we sure someone did not slip him a 1950′s Census form? Negro? Really? Why not just put “Colored folk” and “White” as the only two options? Come on, folks.
And really, who gives a fuck that he selected African American rather than elaborating and stating he is half Kenyan and half Caucasian. Protip, folks: He is the President. The first President who is not strictly Caucasian. Everyone already knows his race. Five year olds in Laos know his race and 90 year olds in Chile know his race. Everyone knows. No one should care.
I had a similar discussion with that one A-hole at work about his race during the election.
He wondered why Obama didn’t identify with his caucsion side, or more specifically, “He’s half white, ya know. Why does he have to always be BLACK”
I told him that if he could prove that nobody had ever called him a negro, or colored, or worse, then, maybe, he would consider himself white.
But, you are right. It does not matter what his race is. Nor should it matter.
I think both sides of this debate are equally ridiculous. Those that scream “he is half white, too! Geez, why not say he is white instead of black?!?”
are letting their racist bits show. But, then again, those who go on and on about how he is the first black President, and first black this, and first black that, blah blah blah…yeah, kind of racist too – but in a little different manner.
I say, leave race (and religion) out of it. Is he qualified? Do I agree with his stance?
First of all, African-American is the perfect identification for Barack, considering that he’s half African and half American. But, I do not believe all black people are in fact African-Americans. Most black people’s ancestors have been here for multiple centuries, and to classify them by their distant ancestor’s place of origin is wrong. Are all white people European Americans? And furthermore, humans all decended from Africa. Therefore we are all technically “African Americans”.
He is all American as he was born here :) but I get what you mean.
I don’t think “Colored” to all that offensive when you consider:
NAACP = National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
I don’t think “Negro” is all that offensive either.
UNCF = United Negro College Fund (‘Cause a mind is a terrible thing to waste)
But that other “N” word . . . I’d be worried if I saw that on a Census form.
I do agree, though, in the end, it would be refreshing if all citizens in the US were simple called “American”.
Or “African” wouldn’t be too bad either since, as TheNate pointed out, humanity seems to have started out of Africa.
Census information is supposed to be private. But so many conspiracy theorists are out there that they won’t fill out their census forms. I did census work for 2000 census. Man, so many people refused because they thought the government or police would come find them. Our state lost a House seat after that. Way to go, people!
So, maybe that’s why they talked about the President’s census forms. Letting people see that if the Prez fills one out, maybe it’s OK.
I’m not saying that philosophy works. I just think that was their “logic”.
Who knows?
I did work for the 2010 Census for a short while. I never even received my 2010 census. I should probably call them before the Marshalls show up with the big guns :)
Yeah, I told people that a Marshall would pay them a visit. I guess they thought the Marshall couldn’t find them if they weren’t counted.
I had a horrible time working for the census.
I got cornered by a dog. I asked the guy to call off his dog. He just looked at me for a bit. I guess he was trying to decide if I was honest or not. Even worse, I wasn’t even at the guy’s house. The dog came from across the street into the yard I was in barking and snarling at me. Inching closer and closer. The dog was between me and my car and no one ever came to the door. The dog owner came out and just looked for a while before finally calling his dog back to his property. Grrrrrrr . . . . it still pisses me off!
Someone called the police on me. Once he realized what I was trying to do, the office said that he was getting a lot of calls to neighborhood only to find census workers where the cause of the call.
One of my areas seemed quite hostile. It was like a trailer park area. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me like I was some unwelcome oddity. As if I came to the wrong place and should best be leaving, now.
I did. I just couldn’t hang around there for fear that I would end up hanging around there– permanently.
A man purposefully tried to belittle me while refusing to fill out his form. Since I was representing the Federal Government, I didn’t give him a piece of my mind. But boy . . .
That was the day I finally quit. I just turned in my binders and left.
I felt ashamed of my city and my state. I felt even worse when we lost a seat in the House. I knew it wasn’t because our population went down. It was because so many people felt the census workers were volunteers for area 51 or something.
Oh . . .
And as for Obama being a “black” president, I think African-Americans / Negroes / Blacks / Darker Skinned Americans, are justified in being excited about seeing a black person in office.
I think this because I’ve come to realize that slavery and discrimination have left a lot of residual issues to which many other Americans are oblivious.
Imagine if you had a little daughter who keeps begging you to buy her one of those Disney Princess dolls.
Now, imagine that your daughter is black.
Imagine growing up as a black person and feeling like the idealized image of our society is a white person. Imagine secretly wishing you were white, too, and you found yourself slightly despising your darker skin tone.
What if you grow up and all your role models are white, and you felt a secret guilt about this? You can’t find a black role model because “white” is simply better. You don’t know why, exactly. Remember, you’re growing up with this. You’re just a kid. You don’t see the subtleties going on here. And we’re talking about living 20, 30, 40, perhaps even 50 years ago.
What if you noticed that lighter skinned blacks had it easier than darker skinned blacks? What if you saw darker skinned blacks discriminate against each other to gain the favor of lighter skinned blacks?!
What if you witness a “mulatto” who can pass as a white person. As a result, this person hides the fact that he or she has black ancestry. How would that make you feel as a black person who is too dark to accomplish this? As a white person, how would that make you feel?
What if you were a “mulatto” and both darker blacks and whites ostracized you because you tried to escape discrimination and both classes of people found you out?
Imagine yourself as a black American trying to reach out and identify with Africans from somewhere like, say, Ghana– only to be snubbed?
Some of these points may sound trivial. Others may sound like I’m digging up a past that is no longer prevalent. Perhaps I’m being stereotypical.
Nonetheless, the problems implied by all those given scenarios have not entirely left the African-American people. When your sense of self worth is diminished because you somehow have picked up the idea (no matter how untrue) that you might be sub par because of your skin tone, you might find that you’d feel very excited to know that someone of your skin color can truly become President of the United States– a nation that only 50 years ago condoned forcing disenfranchised “colored” people to drink at different fountains, use different bathrooms, and have different, lower quality eating areas in public restaurants.
And that’s just for starters.
Our parents most likely saw some of these things first hand– either on one side of the spectrum or the other.
I wonder what the results would have been if you could have polled African-Americans before Obama ran for office?
Polled African-Americans about what?
Poll them about how long they thought it would be before the United States ever elects an African American President.
I don’t think many would have given an answer that fits within the time frame of 2008. I don’t have any scientific studies to back up my speculation. But, I’ve heard this from various black people first hand in the past, and even up to and after Obama’s election. Not too many blacks that I know believed the US would have a black President within their lifetime.
Yes, in the end, it shouldn’t matter what color our President is. Or the gender, religious affiliation (or the lack thereof), or sexual orientation. As long as the job is done to protect the Constitution and enforce just laws that represent the will of the people, then I’m happy to have such a good American be our President.
But think of that hypothetical poll question in a different way. It’s not really asking when do you think American will have it’s first black President.
See, I think finally witnessing the election of a black president means that African-Americans can see for themselves that they are truly an equal part in American society. You didn’t have to be only a white person to be a complete and successful person. No matter how illogical it might sound, seeing a black person obtaining the highest office in the land somehow confirmed that a black person can be proud of his or her skin.
Now, all people can celebrate this, I would like to think. Other minorities can aspire to feel part of this country in earnest, too. All races can feel less inhibition about working together. White people overall have, I think, shown great good will towards blacks as time has progressed. This should be acknowledged, too. No, it’s not a utopia and racism and discrimination still happens (trust me). But things are much better than 50 years ago. Having an African American attests to this.
Now then, we can start to forget about race and color altogether and just be a part of the melting pot experience that is America.
By the way . . . notice that since Obama has been President, Disney finally came out with a “black” Disney Princess for your cute little daughter to play with?
Oh, and Lion . . . my apologizes for leaving such a long ass post. I don’t mean to take over your blog. I’m just passionate about Census work.
Sometimes I get like that about race relations, too.
Sorry . . .
Uruk, first and foremost, don’t apologize for your post! It was well thought out, thorough and enlightening. I enjoyed reading it.
And I completely understand (as much as I can being a white gal) what you mean. I don’t begrudge people being proud of having a role model of their own race to look up to. I simply think that focusing on that race (as some, not all do), belittles his qualifications.
He is, first and foremost, our President – and I happen to be very proud that America was ready to elect someone who was not a white man. Perhaps one day we will be ready when a qualified woman comes along.
Right, Lion.
I wasn’t fussing or anything. Just making a point is all . . .
I’m proud that America was ready to elect a racial minority, too. I think as the years go by, the Presidents will become as diverse as the citizens in our country. I think that’s actually what happens when we worry about race the least.
OK. I’m keepin’ this one short.