Will Obama Ever Be The First Biracial President?
By Daniel Strauss - Nov 7th, 2008 at 5:50 pmThe “mutt like me” comment made by President-elect Barack Obama during his press conference today is getting a fair amount of attention, but Adam Serwer hits on the nose what the comment really means :
During the campaign, Obama’s biraciality was lost except as a marketing tool to reassure white voters. Had he identified explicitly as biracial, rather than black, it would have been seen as a rebuke to the black community. Because of the nature of race in America, black folks have always claimed our mutts, and white people have traditionally refused to. But it’s clear from Obama’s off-hand remark that being a mutt is never far from his conception of who he is.
The truth is that Obama is as black as he is white. He may identify officially as being black but today he has hinted at a more complex understanding of his own racial identity. As a fellow half-black, half-white American I can say that it is indeed a confusing and lonely thing to be of two races. Racial identity for mutts like me (heh!) is very difficult to understand, let alone explain. The fact that Obama may have come to terms with his racial identity but has not publicly identified himself as more than black is yet another testament to how far the country has to go even in this “post-racial world.”
I’m really glad you raise this point, Daniel. I can’t pretend to relate to the identity challenges of biracial or multiracial Americans, but what has struck me in the course of becoming acquainted with the biography of Barack Obama is just what you’ve stated here: he’s just as much white as he is black. I’ve been reading his memoir, Dreams from my Father, and his reflections on his life-long struggle with racial identity are extremely eye-opening. Before I started reading, I used to think “So what? His father was black and his mother was white; simple as that.”
November 7th, 2008 at 6:41 pmI had no idea. The matter of race/ethnicity (pardon the pun) really is more complex than black and white. Obama has opened my eyes to it, and I have no doubt that during the course of his Presidency he will show us all the realities of race in America.
I often wonder what his mother’s side of the family feels about the constant references to him as African-American. Maybe it’s because I know the odd feeling I get when my kids are referred to (rarely) as Asian-American. It great that they have that heritage, but they have this other one too, and they also have the richness and perhaps confusion that comes from having both. I hope we get to a place where we have words and expectations that include them (and President Obama) as well.
November 10th, 2008 at 11:53 am