Is there a continuum of white supremacy?

[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?