OBAMA IS REALLY BIRACIAL, NOT AFRICAN-AMERICAN
by Leo E. Laurence, Member: San Diego "Pro" Chapter; Member, National Committee on Diversity
Sen. Barrack Obama is really biracial, and NOT African-American as many in the media describe him.
He is a "young, black, first-term senator," wrote Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post.
Indeed, his primary campaign opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton, as she suspended her campaign, said: "Could an African-American really be our next president? . . . Sen. Obama has answered that one."
What is wrong with those descriptions is the so-called "one-drop rule," that says any individual with one drop of African-American blood is considered black, as Prof. Bey-Ling Sha said in an Opinion piece in the San Diego Union Tribune recently. She is a journalsim professor at San Diego State Univeristy and a published author on diversity issues.
Another problem journalists face is that we often will describe a person in our stories based on their physical appearence. For example, a blond-haired, blue-eyed person is usually called white, even if that person has considerably African, Asian or Latino blood in their veins.
Obmama has repeatedly described himself as "biracial." His father is a black man from Kenya and his mother is white.
However, when Prof. Sha checked online with LexisNexis on June 9th, she found 1,754 articles that described Sen. Obama as black. Of that number, 526 appeared in the past 3 months.
In contrast, LexisNexis yielded only 88 articles (30 appearing recently) that descrivbed him as "biracial."
"Calling (Obama) 'black' obviously focuses attention on only half of who he claims to be," Prof. Sha stressed.
Doesn't media responsibility mean respecting the (biracial) identity avowed by Obama?" she asked. "What a missed opportunity to expand our national discourse on race."
"Instead of wondering whether Obama is 'black' enough for African-American voters, or 'too black' for white voters; the media could have asked whether Obama's biracialism made him more appealing to both blacks and whites. . .", Prof. Sha added.
The vocabulary we journalists use when we write a story is an extremely important consideration when discussing race, or any other issue involving diversity (including Gays and the disabled).
We live in a multi-racial world where most of us have the blood of more than one race in our veins. I'm primarily Dutch from New York State. I'm proud that my ancestors founded New York City. But, because my ancestors also commingled with the local Indians, there is also Native-American blood in my veins, though I consider myself white. Actually, I'm probably multi-racial.
"In short, we need to focus on (Sen. Obmama's) identity as a candidate, and not on his identity as a man," Prof. Sha advised. But, when we do, make it accurate. He's biracial, NOT black or Africal-American.
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Add your comments to this blog. To contact the author, Leo Laurence, call (619) 757-4909 or e-mail at leopowerhere@msn.com