General Chat

"IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT COLOUR YOUR SKIN IS"

!ITS WHATS UNDERNEATH THAT COUNTS MOST!. I have been thinking over last few days since Barack Obama was elected. Im not in the least bit racist. I have friends from all colours and creeds. I find there are nice and not so nice in all shapes and forms and preferences.As long as someone seems genuine and Obama does let him get on with it I like him.I also liked the other guy John McCain so gracious in defeat, God bless the pair of them.

Dave Bx

I agree with you Dave since Lewis Hamilton and Barak Obama that is all i have heard.
The colour of a persons skin does not make them the person who they are.
They both deserve what they have worked hard for.

we are all the same under the skin

Good luck Borack-hope we'll all see you same place next year x

Yes we are all same,and Barack love the name how many baby boys have that soon?.
Dx

Before anyone takes offence and wants to kick my ass..

I have a question?

Why do they refer to Obama as a "black afro american"

He is not black!

His Dad, a blackman from Kenya and his Mum white.

He is a "coloured man" a term we used back home, or he is of a mixed race.

Apologies if I am not using the PC wording.

If this is going to cause arguments I will delete.

Lindy ;))

'Coloured ' is not the term used today and is seen as offensive. A lot to do with apartheid days when mixed race people were classed as that.

Lindy I think of him as maybe one of the worlds next great statesmen, alongside Martin Luther King,Nelson Mandela and maybe Winston Churchill and Harold Wilson.
Dx

You should read my opening line,
Dx

Dave,

I read your opening line and the whole text and do under stand what you are saying.

My question is ..Why do the american people refer to Obama as an Afro American? and in many statements he is referred to as the " First Black President"

He is a man and by all means it would appear a good man but why is there a label attached.

Lindy ;))

Given the history of the USA, especially during the 60's, it is a big thing for the country to have a President who isn't white. Of course they're going to make a big deal of it, it's momentous. The fact that there are people who want him dead because of his skin colour is evidende of that.

Even in recent years blacks have been picked on in America by police officers. I think it's great that he got in.

HalfCanuck,

I did reply to your post but it seems to have disappeared.

Believe me I know all about apartheid. I suppose now adays nobody really knows what to call people
without causing offence.

Lindy ;))

HalfCanuck,

You have answered my question and after giving it some thought, it does make a lot of sense to me.

Thank you

Lindy ;))

That's OK Lindy. Just my take on it.
It is difficult to know what terms are offensive sometimes, especially if you grew up in times when they were the usual description for someone. I just try to notice when things like the news and the media use a different term more often. That is usually a sign that things have changed. And as someone who is white and has never experienced racism, not even on a low level, I don't have the right, when people from different ethnic backgrounds from me say something upsets them, to tell them they're wrong.

Don't want to be argumentative, but given that Barack Obama's father is Kenyan, surely he is an African American.

And with regards to having to have a label attached, why refer to his dad as a "blackman" and not refer to his mum as a "whitewoman" - that's selective labelling isn't it?

I don't think Obama got in because he's black, I think he got in because he was judged by the voters to be the best candidate, but his election is a pretty historic event, given the fact that the black population of the US did not even have the freedom to vote 40 odd years ago.

My opinion only, and not intending to upset or cause a row.

Maria xx

at the end of the day he is the first black president, regardless of the amount of black blood he has in him...

Yes Catherine, thanks, that's what I was waffling on about but maybe didn't get to the point quite as cleanly as you did :o)

Maria x

I think it was America who first thought of the 'one drop rule', ie, one drop of Black (sic) blood makes you Black. So, I suppose it would rather disingenuous of them to refer to Barak Obama as anything else.

Will someone please tell me the correct way to describe people of certain colours .Do I say Black,Coloured ,Brown ,Asian.I get so confused ,as I don't want to offend anyone ,but just don't know what is right or wrong these days.To me we are all the same ,but that probably is the wrong thing to say.
What is right???