Actually, Dihey, it’s “schwartzer” in Yiddish, meaning explicitly “Black one”, but it’s, in America, basically the same as “nigger”.  In MY home it is NEVER to be used and I have ripped more than one in-law a new one for using in front of MY kids…with the threat of cutting contact if my wishes are not complied with.

However, if you are Jewish, you are admitted under the Right to Return law—and it applies to Black Jews as well as whites.  Obama, of course, is not Jewish.

BTW, the term for a White Gentile female in Yiddish, “shickse”, is even more derogatory, being the feminine form or “shagetz” which derives either from “abomination” or “imp from hell”, so it’s in ACTUAL meaning far worse than “schwarzer”.  Black women gentiles are still called “schwarzers” but white women gentiles are called “shickses”. White gentile MEN are called “goy” from “goyim” which means “nation”—originally not derogatory.  But they are never called a “shagetz”. I don’t know why.
OCCASIONALLY a White non-Jew will be called a “weisser”—White.

All them are derogatory and can be treated as the racial and racist slurs they are.

ITW

Yes, in the “Old” South Africa Mr. Obama would have been classified as coloured. Ironically, if he lived there today as a citizen he could not be called an African South African!

He would have been classified coloured in Kenya too while that country was still run by the white colonialists. If he lived a simple life as a farmer in Kenya today no one would call him black or white. However, during elections his opponents would effectively marginalize him by pointing out that his mother is “white” as a Kenyan student at my University told me.

There is a good chance that Obama is called “Schwarzes” by Israelis with a Yiddish background. “Schwarzes” literally means black but is terribly derogatory and deliberately insulting!

Hitler would have called him “Mischling Zweiten Grades” meaning “Mongrel in the Second Degree”, i.e. two “black” grandparents.

As I said, it all depends on where in this crazy world you live and what your cultural background is.

dihey, April 5 at 11:08 pm #

There is only one context in which the term black may still be used, namely when the discussion is about racial discrimination or race-based-crimes.
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I cannot argue with that. I don’t know about Kenya, but in S.Africa in the bad old days he would be “coloured” (with a “u”, british-style).

I do wish we could see skin color as being like hair color or eye color and no more.  In my house, I’m the only one without brown eyes.  My wife’s hair color is whatever she wants it to be, my kids both have near-black hair, mine is light brown with some gray (no! SILVER!) accents, but one kid is fair-skinned (like me) and the other is golden brown.  And, from a TOTALLY unbiased POV, they are the two handsomest boys in the world.  Of course that’s totally objective!

Inherit the Wind

I am afraid that you did not get the point.

If Mr. Obama had tried to run for the presidency of Kenya he would have been called a “Whitey”.

So much for who your father/mother is. So much of how dark your skin is. It all depends on where in the world you live. It all depends on your culture/tradition whether you call Mr. Obama a black or a white man.

There is only one context in which the term black may still be used, namely when the discussion is about racial discrimination or race-based-crimes.

Racism comes from both sides. We are better than we were before. We can be better. We - Not whites, not blacks,Asians,Mexicans. We!

The only Color we care about now is Green- the kind NOT found in our pockets, thanks to 3 decades of Trickle Down. Economic devastation is the Great equalizer (and Ammonia capsule).
Who’s afraid of the Tall Black man with the Funny man, when the old White guy is the Who robbed you blind.Hell who’s even afraid of the 6 ft Dialysis cave dweller when it’s your own neighbor (or spouse)shooting.
Race? We have far more thing to be concerned over or fearful of than the mere color of someones skin at this point- to bad it has had to come about under such dire conditions.Skin color is irrelevantwhen it comes to what consitutes a clear & present danger.But then again perhaps not- seems the White boys are the ones Terrorizing communities and even their own families. Now theres a profile that needs to be monitored Carefully.Crazed Rightwing Evangelicals are far more likely to gun you down than anyone else at Church, sporting events, visiting granny,...

Helena, April 4 at 6:43 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Surely, you mean the first “black” president of the United States is, in fact, mixed race, i.e., not “black”.
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In America, to be half-Black is to be Black.  We used to differ between all-Black (whatever that’s supposed to be), Mulatto (1 Black parent), Quadroon (1 Black grandparent), and Octaroon (1 Black great-grandparent), and, no, I don’t know what 1 Black great-great grandparent was called.

But, BY LAW in the Southern states, ALL of them were defined as “Black” (“One drop of blood”) and therefore subject to ALL the slavery, Jim Crow and later segregationist laws that existed until 1967 when the Loving decision tossed miscegenation laws out.

Therefore, anyone who has any Black ancestry may well call themselves “Black” and not be wrong.

Since our President had a Black father, went through life treated by society as a Black man, has wed a Black woman and has Black children, it’s disingenuous to claim he’s not “Black” but “half-Black” and therefore that this wasn’t a MAJOR step in our nation’s progress toward our STATED and CLAIMED goal of being blind to all but merit.

I also cannot remember being this excited or a delighted with a new President since Jimmy Carter’s first months 32 years ago—and I think this guy’s a lot better at it than Carter was.

“Our major newspapers regularly produce epic-length examinations of the issue of race in America that are meticulously reported, brilliantly written and beautifully presented. Having been involved in a few of these projects, I’m proud of them. But the truth is that they were more admired”... by Eugene Robinson and other self-interested and self-regarding corporate journalist hacks than by the general public. In fact, it’s hard to imagine how anything could be very “meticulously reported, brilliantly written and beautifully presented” if Robinson had any part in it, but that doesn’t stop him from blowing his own horn, of course. Or Barak Obama’s either. So if, “already it tends to slip the nation’s collective mind that the first black president of the United States is, in fact, black” that’s no fault of Robinson, who uses the purported “irrelevance of race” to re-emphasize it all the more. “In the cacophonous commentary about the president…it’s striking how seldom” Robinson ever mentions “an issue or even an attribute.” “That’s only natural, since race could hardly be more irrelevant to the multitude of urgent problems Obama wrestles with every day” - or more relevant to Robinson’s partisan commentary on them.  Just as Robinson could never find anything good to say about Bush because he was white, so he can never find anything bad to say about St. Barack because he’s half black. About the only thing black chauvinists like Robinson can find to criticize Obama for, is that he’s half white. “Eric Holder, our first African-American attorney general, touched a nerve a few weeks ago when he said we are ‘essentially a nation of cowards’ in our hesitancy to speak frankly to one another about race” - including speaking frankly about black racism. Unfortunately we’re even more hesitant - to put it mildly - to talk about class. Especially in the corporate media at places like the Washington Post, where they make very sure never to “regularly produce epic-length examinations of the issue of” class in America. Robinson and the corporate talking heads can go on safely prattling about race in one guise or another but what’s really irrelevant to the American ruling elites and their corporate media apologists is class. You could hardly imagine a black elitist like Eric Holder calling for a “frank, meaningful dialogue” about class in this country. Certainly not in the administration of a corporate Uncle Tom like Obama. So Robinson can go on declaiming about the irrelevance of race while at the same time seizing upon an issue like the Steven’s prosecution which even he admits “had nothing to do with race” simply because he sees “a black man was large and in charge” - the only reason an ethnnocentric shil like Robinson ever needs. And “when we see Obama and his wife and children climb into Marine One, the presidential helicopter, for a trip to Camp David, we see” - a black imperialist supporting the seige of Gaza, continuing war on Iraq and escalating the assault on Afghanistan. And “when we see other heads of government treating Obama with the deference due any president of the United States, as we saw at this week’s economic summit in London, we see old” habits of American arrogance of power recast, now with a new politically-correct black face. Exactly why his presidency was invented.

Dihey,

Just wanted to add to your statement. Racism was manufactured early in the 17th Century.

The powers that be realized there was a danger of the poor, the indentured servants, the Indians, and the slaves joining together to fight for their rights. Various steps were taken to segregate these groups and pit them against each other. Racism thrived. 

And it’s not over yet in a broader sense. Red states against blue states. Liberals v. conservatives. We are still being pitted against each other.

War and hatred are two things that will make human beings act against their own self-interest. The powers that be understood this fact in the 17th Century and they understand it now. Hopefully, we commoners will realize this fact, too, and stop fighting amongst ourselves as we’re being led around by rings in our noses. 

Overall, though, I with you Dihey. Racism needs to be buried forever. May we also bury a multitude of other petty differences that prevent us from acting for our common good.

Mr. Robinson,

I agree we are a better nation.  But I would add that we are better nation than our leaders, political and corporate.

On a broad scale the majority of Americans want energy independence and clean energy; we want to stop fighting perpetual wars at the behest of corporations; to provide affordable health care; to stop supporting dictators and tyrants; to stop the selling of weapons all over the world. We want, in short, to help create a better world.

On a small scale, we pick up our dogs’ poop. We stop at red lights and stop signs. We return wallets when we find them (most of the time). We help our neighbors when they need help.  We are a good people. 

But we do get confused. We get caught up with issues like abortion, not realizing the debate prevents us from discussing overpopulation. We get caught up in debating the cause of global warming, not realizing that prevents us from discussing the destruction of the ecosystem. We fight about illegal immigrants without discussing just WHY Mexico is such a miserable place to live. We bicker about gay marriage without considering more than half of all marriages fail. 

A lot of our confusion results from powerful corporate lobbying and a powerful corporate media that wants us to focus on our disagreements and not our agreements. 

Take just one issue: affordable health care.  Americans want it. Corporate lobbyists do not want it. The lobbyists have been winning, but now, with the Republicans being roundly trounced in the last two elections (2008 Presidential and 2006 Congressional), politicians are starting to realize they eventually have to pay attention to what voters want.     

Regarding the powerful corporate media, everyone hates the mainstream media and with good reason. It plays the role of the non-violent sociopath, not caring who is debating legitimately and who is engaging in sophistry, ignoring history, enforcing Puritan morality with public punishments, delighting in pitting people against each other and trying to profit from the mayhem. Hopefully, the shutting down of newspapers will open publishers eyes to the fact that their methods are unsound, and journalists themselves will start protesting for the breakup of the corporate media. After the corporate media is broken up, people can start working together on their agreements instead of fighting over their differences. 

One final point. Everyone loves Obama because we had a moron—well, that’s a little harsh—an arrogant, shallow, tongue tied—yeah, I guess it is the right word—moron for president just a few months ago. Obama is a breath of fresh air.  People don’t care if he’s pink, yellow, or blue. As long as he can conjugate a verb, we’re happy. The fact that he is a superb president, right up their with Theodore Roosevelt, is icing on the cake.

Get over yourself, Robinson.  Mostly everyone else was thinking about the economic crisis when choosing our next president last fall while you and other commentators were obsessing about skin color.  Yes, he’s black.  And?  We’re more worried about whether he’s another corporate hack that’ll sell us out.

According to Richard Dawkins Mr. Obama and I have exactly the same Concestor/Ancestor, a chimpanzee-like animal that lived in Africa some 6 million years ago and so do you, the reader of this piece. Within that context it is absolutely irrelevant that Mr. Obama’s skin is somewhat darker than mine.

The distinction between black, white, and mixes thereof is a relic perpetuated from the days of slavery and these terms should therefore be buried forever never to be used again.

Speaking of Nichelle Nichols she has a new film out that will put Bush behind bars.

http://thetorturer.com

By Thomas Mc, April 3 at 11:41 am #

Obama is black?

~*~*

Good one Thomas.

Actually, he’s only half-black, although I don’t know if it’s the right side of him or the left. It’s hard to tell, eh? Or, maybe it’s only his left hand that’s black, since that’s what he’s using to sign all of those documents that restore our Constitution.

(The same one Dick Bush put through the shredder.)

Whatever the superficial results of his DNA have produced is of no concern to most of us though, since we’re just so damn happy to have an intelligent pilot at the controls.

Who does Michelle Obama think she is, anyway? The Queen of England?

Well no, actually, she’s a lot better than that. She’s the First Lady of the United States of America. And nobody gave her the job when she was born—she’s had to work hard all her life, as a member of an excluded minority group that’s always been persecuted in this country. You know, just like the Irish have been in the UK.

The press loves a lot of silliness, and maybe it’s OK because everything is so awful with the worlds’ economy. So today we learn that when Michelle Obama was standing next to the Queen of England, Michelle put her arm around that little old lady’s shoulders, just like everybody does when they are standing right next to an 80-year-old woman. Maybe we instinctively know their balance is shot, or someone could bump them, so it’s a protective gesture. But some in the silly press gasped at the sight of a peasant “touching” the Queen.

Now I understand why the English lost their Empire. They have such silly rules: don’t touch the Queen. It’s like she’s a good luck charm, and Michelle’s headed for the crap tables. 
(More at): 
http://nabnyc.blogspot.com/2009/04/who-does-michelle-obama-think-she-is.html

Obama is making many white people regret they voted for him. We thought a black person deserved a chance to be president, but now we see that this particular person is a radical communist.  His arrogance in firing the CEO of a private company without even consulting the Congress, which is supposed to represent the people - is stunning. He has, in effect, made himself CEO, and is now dictating what kinds of autos to make.  No president in our history has shown such disregard for the Constitutional provisions of checks and balances aong the three branches of government.
I will not vote for him again.

Obama is black?

mmadden,

the whole country is racist.  the state with the highest KKK menbership was illinois.  the first daylight parade of the KKK was in maine.

so give a break that the south is anymore racist than the country as a whole.

Obama is left-handed?  IMPEACH!

Hey! Colorado! The first interracial kiss on TV came on the Star Trek, the Original Series when William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols are forced (by aliens, of course) to kiss each other and Uhuru admits it’s something she’s been wanting to do…

That was back in the 60’s

Still, I think what Gene is pointing out is that the President is the President—and will be praised and pilloried for what he does, not the shade of his skin tone….which, of course, is how our society should be.

Even “Dumb Blonde” jokes are kind of nasty…Not all blondes are dumb and not all brunettes are smart—even in the same family.  We have a mother and daughter working for our company—both natural blondes.  Daughter is one of the most talented people I know and masters any task given her at breath-taking speed.  Mom is dumb as a box with one hammer (2 hammers would be too smart), so dumb you sometimes think she’s retarded.

But as we (most of us) are less racist than our parents, hopefully our kids and their kids will not see race as anything different than eye-color or handedness.

(BTW, like SO many recent Presidents, Obama is left-handed…Are we biased that way??????????)

coloradokarl unfortunately the south is still racist. I see it every day but it is great that the nation elected an intelligent man who will set this country on a different path than the one that it has been on for over 8 years.

Eugene, we are both from the “Old school” hopeful,yes, but pragmatic and stuck in the reality of OUR times. I was watching 6teen, a cartoon, this evening with my girlfriend and her 11 year old daughter. Interracial kissing and relationships? This is not seen as anything more than what it is by the youth of today. Thank God !! We led the way in our own ways. We voted for Obama. I did Almost the best I could. The children,our children, will pound the final nail in the coffin of racism and their children will bury it for ever, I Hope. Thank you Eugene Robinson !    Karl