Why Harris and Obama are Not Black
CAPS -- denote my own writing style -- I am not screaming!
I am happy and proud of people like Obama and Harris, who are clearly multi/bi-racial members of America's minority groups who have ascended to political affluence... and they should be proud of themselves as well... but they are NOT (just) BLACK... and should not IDENTIFY as Black. Here is my argument.
Let's pick Harris, since she is the most recent news... she should also be proud of both her Black and Indian heritage. She is the first Black and South Asian American woman to run on a major political party's presidential ticket. She should identify herself as both INDIAN and BLACK. Not just Black. NOTE THAT, Harris was raised by her Indian mother, just like Obama was raised by his White Mother. They are NOT BLACK. They are BIRACIAL. It simply offends me when people do that!
If racial categorization is not important then why is it on any important application or document? Human beings love to categorize/box things. We do so both for good and bad reasons. And sometimes because it makes us feel good. But we build norms on based on such categorizations, which is why it is so important. For instance, some diseases are more prevalent in certain racial categories than others. Moreover, certain personality traits or cultural norms are more pronounced with certain races or even nationalities.
For instance, pigmentation matters. More pigmentation implies more repelling of light rays, less burning of the skin or even less skin cancer. On the other hand, it also means less absorption of heat in darker complected people or more absorption of heat in lighter complected ones or more Vitamin D synthesis (because of more light absorption) in lighted complected people and less Vitamin D synthesis in darker complected ones.
But it is even deeper than that. AFRICANS are the ORIGINAL HUMANS. And therefore, people of direct African Ancestry are clearly closer to the original human beings. Thus, grouping everyone into ONE GROUP called "BLACK" (even if they are DILUTED genetically) is a disfavor even for medical (family history) reasons. After all, the source of grouping everyone under one group was America's racist systemic past and laws known as JIM CROW LAWS, which essentially made someone who was 99% Caucasian (White) and 1% Black still Black. Clearly, that's scientifically stupid and ridiculous just like America's racist Jim Crow era was.
Essentially, calling someone like OBAMA (who was raised by only his White Family), and HARRIS (who was was raised by only his Indian) family JUST BLACK is not only disingenuous or at least misguided in JIM-CROW remnants, but also scientifically stupid.
Both HARRIS and OBAMA are biracial or multi-racial (White-Black and Indian-Black). Anything less is not intellectually accurate. While race involves both GENOTYPE (one's genes, which can only be detected via a lab) and PHENOTYPE (visible physical attributes). One's phenotype is not good representation of one's true racial background. One may look much more Caucasian/Black than another person, while genetically being much less Caucasian/Black. This is why it is told that we are all 99% the same as humans because what determines our PHENOTYPE is about 1% of us.
I will stop here because it can be much more complex than this. But, one is who is BI/MULTI-RACIAL will FEEL SPLIT on so many issues at times. The latter can induce a sense of confusion even in the most sound-minded people. Far too often, it 's easier to pick the DEFAULT -- BLACK, because while WHITES will not accept everyone as WHITE, Blacks will gladly adopt everyone who has been rejected as NON-WHITE with a drop of Black blood as Black. I personally find this offensive, because as a predominantly Black man, I don't accept the same categorization as HARRIS and OBAMA. I hope this will shed some further light on this topic!
Read my previous article on THE ORIGINAL MAN:
Mixed-Race-America -- Who is Black?
The following Associated Press Article shed some light on this topic:
IN A RUSH!