Analysis of genetic ‘ancestry markers’ finds ~20% European ancestry in U.S. blacks, although this varies greatly on the individual level. There is a lot known right now about the genetics of skin color and a huge stream of information about geographic origin and genetics is flowing now due to the HapMap and related projects. To the extent that race is defined by ancestry, we can get a number and set a threshold and be done with it.

On the other hand, I think Chuck T is probably concerned more about whether Obama can identify with his experience as a black male in america (particularly in the area of discrimination). My guess is that American blacks are discriminated against based on two categories of information: physical appearance and behavior. You could probably rate someone on both of those for ‘blackness’. Obama looks pretty black to me, but he’s really relatively light as far as the population goes. He probably gets a physical blackness score of ~4/10. Behaviorwise though, he does not act close to the average american black man. I’m talking about just the basic things you would use to make a snap judgment and discriminate. I’d say one of the main factors here is language. Looking black and talking like you are from the south equal the same salary deficit in the U.S. Sometimes he listens to Jay-Z. Maybe he gets like a 1-2/10 on behavior. This is just distance from the average. If there is such a thing as ‘blackness’ presumably the majority of black people have it and they will drag the average away from Obama-type blackness.

Chuck T is probably right that black people shouldn’t expect a ton of solidarity from Obama. Obama probably feels more conscious of his race now than ever before. I haven’t read his book though, did he have some formative moments that are all about suffering as a black person in the u.s.?

I keep wanting to say something else about race-solidarity as a qualification, but I can’t get the words just yet. I think there are other important traits to evaluate a candidate on. If everyone voted the way Chuck T does, we’d have a white president for the next 40 years and then a latino one. Categorical imperative daaawg..

Mamiko – yeah. Well, I mean, there’s the issue of commonality of background, but that’s more a culture thing than anything else. There are connections, but not definite, absolute, or concrete.

And as far as Asian Americans in mass media? Keeping in mind that I actively encourage anyone and everyone with any sense, regardless of their race, creed, or color (okay especially minorities in all senses of the word) to drop mass media and worry about the battlefield that independent media is soon to become, hell. Yes.

You all need to get on the ball with that. I’m not sure I forsee anyone giving the APIA community a free ride.

Sundar – you’ve got a point. Both these dudes are certainly doing their jobs.

F-Diesel -
fam, as far as how to change things, I have no idea. Well, maybe I do. Oddly enough, I got an email from my father this morning (shout outs to my dad, by the way), and I quote:

“You know, he’s making it cool (positive) to be BLACK AND SMART… that should make you smile. Can you imagine your kids wanting to be like Barack?”

If nothing else, even the fact that the man has gotten this far is at its base a positive thing if you look at it for that reason. If it wasn’t for my own father, I would not have had very few (positive) Black male role models growing up (and trust me, I had plenty of negative ones. Plenty).

So perhaps, perhaps we have that to look forward to. I mean, white kids get to look up to Reagan/Bush/Clinton/Kennedy/whatever, regardless of how good they actually were (not that we couldn’t, but we’re told from a pretty young age that those are not options for us).

Really, what scares me is this:

There are people out there that really enjoy drawing things along race lines, and using that to explain things away. For example – take a kid with Black and white parents who does well in school, is well respected, well spoken, whole nine – there is a significant portion of the population that will explain his success away by the fact that s/he’s “part white”. Trust me – I’ve seen this in person.

Basically what I’m saying is this – if we continue dividing ourselves along stupid lines like this, people are going to start doing the same thing – saying that the reason behind Barack’s success is his “white half”.

Regardless of what we do on our side, I can guarantee that this is happening and will happen until something drastic happens. I’m really just hoping that we don’t add fuel to the fire.

…uh, no.

Like MLK Jr’s dream, people should be judging individuals by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. Some people, like Chuck T, are not fully understanding that concept yet. He’s still mashing color + content together. If the content doesn’t match the color, it’s not fit. He’s seeing them as a pair that must always stick together. But what makes the pair? There is no basis–that’s why Chuck T’s comment doesn’t make sense to me.

And I agree with you, Dex. Color and the content of character are two separate unrelated traits. What makes a person black and what makes a person some other color are simply visual. What the person does, believes, likes, hates, etc does not label a person to a color. They are two different things. They shouldn’t be mashed up.

on a different note, I’m still waiting on asian americans in mass media. stereotypes of asian americans are EXHAUSTED, but apparently not enough.

Peace,
Sundar