Is there a continuum of white supremacy?

[loyalsister]

This was on a FB argument...

"President Obama isn't black, he's Bi-Racial. I don't subscribe to calling him our first black president because it would be disrespectful to his mother who is white, or any mothers for that matter who carry a child for 9 months (whatever color)."

Does anyone else think this guy is saying Obama's mom isn't getting proper credit for being white? Has anyone else run across that idea? It really turns my stomach.

[Skittles]

1. yeah, a conservative coworker says the same thing

but I know he is racist so I don't care what he thinks

[BainsBane]

2. but, they claim, he despises his white side

It's all over Yahoo. They are nut jobs. And yeah, totally racist.

[loyalsister]

5. It's an idea that kind of worries me because of it's subtlety

It's one that can build once absorbed. If she doesn't get credit for giving birth to the president of the United States, then I'm sure I don't get credit for just being. And on and on it goes... American History X has the rest of the story.

[Cynicus Emeritus]

3. Do we have a democracy

or do we have a society where a minority of Wall St elitists with much money call the shots, and the rest of us dance their jig and pay their bills, just as the many did in Syria and in Sadam's Sunni Iraq and in the former South Africa.

A democracy is dependent upon equal rights, equal and appropriate representation of all. Without this basic premise of fairness for all and we will have an elitist plutocracy where the poor get screwed and the rich always get richer.

Unless we turn the USA around we don't have much leeway to make us a nation of equal opportunity.

[Buzz Clik]

4. I thought he was Hawaiian.

Not worried about it.

[DirkGently]

6. And what is the "mulatto" thing?

I remember reading that term once in school -- Crispus Attucks of Boston Massacre fame, was so described in our history texts.

I know it's a "technical" term, but focus on someone's "technical" "race" is maybe itself a sign of trouble. Race is more of a social construct than anything to do with the genetic ingredients of anyone's lineage.

I mention this because someone I work with, who I know to be a Republican, but not an extreme conservative so far as I have observed -- kept calling Obama a "mulatto" in conversation. Not combined with any other kind of attack, and said with an air of just being silly.

But it's a strange distinction to make. Certainly the way we think of race in America renders Obama "black." He would be treated as such in any context where race was a factor.

So it struck me as slightly sinister. The speaker, if it matters, is of Puerto Rican descent, and therefore not culturally "white" himself.

Why is he so fascinated / amused by calling Obama a mulatto?

[loyalsister]

7. Interesting...

I believe that "mulatto" was used when the "one drop" rule was in force. It was a distinct category that clarified that a person with one or even a few African American ancestors could look white. There had to be language for it they were very far from using a term as polite as "biracial."

"Race is more of a social construct than anything to do with the genetic ingredients of anyone's lineage."
Absolutely.. genetic studies have proven it.

I think we are at a point where we can not disregard the social construct and it's immense implications. We run into trouble when it comes to talking about difference. I endorse "black is beautiful" but, as a white person, "white pride" makes me uncomfortable. Irish pride, I can deal with.

Is it possible that in some ways to admit to being "white" in America is to either acknowledge the sins or to deny that they are sins? Is that where the real racial strife is?