Obama: 2nd Arab-American nominee for President
Barack Obama is an American.
If you want to put a hyphen in front of it, I’m sorry, but you do not get to call him an African-American.
Barack Obama is a Caucasian-Arab-African American.
Tiger Woods called himself a Caublinasian, due to his caucasian, black, indian (native American actually), and asian ethnicity. Due to the fact that Tiger Woods is more black than Barack Obama, perhaps he should be referred to differently. I take exception with Tiger’s etymology in creating his ethnic identifier, but close enough.
Only 6% black
Barack Obama is 50% white, 43.75% Arab, and 6.25% black (non-Caucasian African). This is not disputed anywhere that I can find. Once upon a time, when minority status was defined as having a minimum standard of 1/8, or 12.5%, Barack would not make the cut referring to himself as an African-American. His father did, but he did not. His father was 7/8 ethnically Arab, 1/8 non-caucasian African. The only ethnically African relative Senator Obama has is a great-great grandmother.
In regards to the picture above, I did not add it to falsely associate Obama with Muslim extremists. It is simply the only picture that can be found associating him with his main, non-Caucasian ethnicity. He is wearing Arab garb, as you might expect any person with his heritage to do.
There are Africans that live in Kenya, and Arabs that live in Kenya. Being Kenyan does not make your ethnicity African simply because Kenya is in Africa. Egypt is in Africa, but they are Arab. A columnist named Kenneth Lamb researched it and found that,
“True Negro tribal members of western Kenya where [Obama's] father was born have Christian names, not Arabic. His father’s decision to name him with an Arabic name is a matter of his father establishing his ethnic identity in Africa - it is done deliberately to separate him from the African tribes. He may live among them, but he is not one of them. His father’s message is that he is Arabic, not Negro.”
I have nothing against white, Arabs, or Africans. I do have something against people who omit details of their ethnicity and amplify others for political gain. You can’t have it both ways, Barack. You want to call yourself a minority, fine. But as far as your minority classification, you are Arab first, African second. There is nothing wrong with this, but stop telling us all about your struggles as an African American. What about the struggles of Arab-Americans?
Obama’s ancestors responsible for “the struggle”?
Another reason I take exception with him ignoring his Arab roots is the truth about his Arab ancestors. Again from Kenneth Lamb,
“Researching his roots reveal that on his father’s side, he is descended from Arab slave traders. They operated under an extended grant from Queen Victoria, who gave them the right to continue the slave trade in exchange for helping the British defeat the Madhi Army in southern Sudan and the Upper Nile region.”
Again, I do not care who he is descended from. He could be Hitler’s great grandson, I don’t care. The actions of his ancestors are irrelevant to who he is. We probably all have some bad apples in the family tree. Its not relevant. What is relevant is that he stands alongside African-Americans against the oppression of white people through slavery. Most people are ignorant of history, thinking white people hold the patent on slavery. Arabs also engaged in slave-trading, and it may appear that Barack’s ancestors on the AFRICAN SIDE, not his white mother, may have been slave traders.
Identity politics
Voting for someone based on their ethnic makeup is moronic and ignorant. It is even worse in a country like American where the vast majority of people are mixed-race, or mutts. 95% of blacks are voting for a guy because they identify with 6% of his ethnicity. He’s been packaged as an African American, even though he’s 50% white, was raised by white people, and is 44% Arab. Some of that 95% are voting for him over McCain because they are Democrats, but a lot of them are doing it simply because they believe him to be “black” like them.
* Note: his title of 2nd Arab-American is due to the candidacy of Ralph Nader, who has Arab ethnicity as well.
Other sources talking about his ethnicity:
Kenneth Lamb followup
Discussion on slate.com
If you want more just search for “43.75% arab” in Google and look for yourself.
The recent Russian invasion of Georgia made big news recently, prompting questions of Russia wanting to get back in the superpower game. What a preposterous suggestion when you learn that’s not in the cards. If the fact that Russia invaded Georgia with tanks doesn’t convince you, read on.
Max Blumenthal points out in his article that “During the days when Toby Keith’s “Grandpappy” stalked the Jim Crow South, lynching was an institutional method of terror employed against blacks to maintain white supremacy.”