Thursday, February 19, 2009
Obama is an African American
In a true sense of the label African-American Obama is exactly that. Since he is part Muslim and African and lives in America now. A lot of Africans are black in skin color and practice the Muslim faith, especially in the North-Western part of Africa. He fits the demographic of African Americans. However I don't fully understand why people that have lived in America for generations feel the need to separate themselves from others by attaching the names of their family's homeland. I am personally Irish German and Swedish, and you don't see me going around and calling myself Irish-American or European-American, or anything of the sort. My family has lived in America for three-four generations depending on which side. As for my Irish Heritage they were treated extremely poorly and were often degraded when they came to America, they hold no animosity towards other peoples and worked their way up to being successful in the business world. This is a personal view that we should drop all the qualifiers, and if you or your family has lived in America for a generation or more your are an American with heritage in some country. If you want to get technical too we all have heritage to somewhere in Africa/Middle east, since that is were homosapien originated from. It is only if you are a recent immigrant the there may be a reason to qualify yourself as to some sort of American
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Hi, Tim:
ReplyDeleteI do not comprehend how Obama is part Muslim? Most religions that I am aware of are very monoeistic. A person usually claims allegiance to one religion at a time, yes? While a person may "change lanes or religions" during his/her lifetimes, so to speak. Most religions contain language and/or rituals within thier readings that prohibit or discourage sharing one's heart while promoting loyalty of the individual.
Obama was raised as and has always claimed to be Christian. The following excerpt should be helpful toward unvieling correct data regarding Obama and religios aspects of Obama's life (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion). Another place to get answer about religion and race is http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081107113149AADrqXw.
Is it possible that you may have actually lost something culturally or psychologically significant from not knowing anything about your Irish heritage? By not actually speaking German, or knowing anything about the history of Sweden? Yes, most of us as immigrants from somewhere along the line came here because of dislocations in the places where our ancestors came from. And I would not deny that Irish immigrants were treated particularly badly during the 19th century (and even later) because of fear of their main cultural difference--their religion. But their coming to this country did not ask them to stop practicing their Catholicism, and they could look to that part of their culture for keeping a cohesive group identity and pride in themselves. Africans had all of that taken from them, and black people today are still in many cases searching for something to identify with that has meaning, and that is not tainted by racist practices, like racially segregated Christian churches.
ReplyDeleteThank you storm for the correction. I meant to say he has Muslim heritage in his lineage, however I may be mistaken..
ReplyDeleteand in response to Mrs. Winand i don't feel like I have lost any of my heritage's. I can speak partial German, my family is very interested in our past and how we came to be who that makes us into. however I do wish i knew more, which is why when I am older and can financially afford it I will travel to the countries my family originates from. I do agree with you that the Slaves who were captured and brought over were robbed of all their uniqueness but in the years of slavery and now as well African-Americans have been able to identify with music. Its not as large and substantial as church but it is something... Are there still racially segregated church's?