Re: OT: Bill Moyers on Obama

epc123 · 2008-11-08T04:43:49+00:00

Pat, historically in the United States, a person who had onegrandparent who was black was considered black by the legal system. Idon't know exactly when that changed, perhaps not until the CivilRights movement in the 1960s. But even though the laws changed, ithas taken the culture longer to catch up and we still tend to consideranyone who is not "pure" white as black. Obama talks about hisawareness of being black as being conditioned partially by others'reactions to him as a child in school in his book _Dreams of MyFather_. In college, he specifically chose to associate with otherAfrican Americans and to self-identify as black. So in Obama's case,it is both a societal conditioning and a personal choice.Where I live, Pat, Hispanics are not considered white unless they comefrom very specific South American countries. The Dominicans aroundhere find themselves in an interesting situation because they considerthemselves white, but the average white person of European descentdoes not.Elizabeth