Another Obamination

Standing in the grocery store's check out line on Friday, I was surprised to see the Globe's headline reporting that President Obama's birth certificate was forged.

"Good grief," I thought. "Talk about being behind the times. I read that on the Internet before the election and that the State of Hawai`i verified that his birth certificate is legit. Must be a slow news day."

Later that night, I read the ABC News article, "Fear for Obama's Safety Grows as Hate Groups Thrive on Racial Backlash" which has a line on the second page saying that the Secret Service "officials told ABC News that the President's daily threat matrix has yet to reflect a sharp increase in threats," making me wonder if ABC News was experiencing a slow news day, too.

While I didn't vote for Obama and think his stimulus and health care reform ideas are terrible, I get annoyed when he, who spent his formative years with a white mother and white grandmother and was educated at top-notch, private, predominantly white schools, two of which are Ivy League, is categorized as black only because the color of his skin is darker than the typical white person's.

Sure, he identifies himself as an African-American. However, it's only because "that's how I'm treated and that's how I'm viewed." He also calls himself a mutt.

(Technically, Obama is one of the few true African-Americans because his father was a Kenyan and his mother an American, but let's not get into splitting hairs since the term is universally accepted as meaning an American of African descent.)

Although treating people differently solely because of their race is deplorable, thinking of Obama as black is so wrong that it gives another definition to "Obamination," a made-up word I used in an earlier post. Yes, it would be odd to call him white and awkward to call him half-white or half-black. Why does he have to be either/or? Why hasn't Obama been categorized as biracial or Afro-Caucasian, Eurafrican, or mulatto? Are the members of the media purposely fueling the flame of racial hatred to decrease the number of slow news days?

Race shouldn't even be a consideration because it's morals, ethics, ideals, and goals and how they're achieved that matters. The only time race is necessary is for a physical description, as for a fugitive hiding from the police. Since we all learned what Obama looks like before he was elected President, references to his appearance should have ceased by Inauguration Day, but for some reason, people ignorantly perpetuate the racial card when it doesn't mean a thing.

Or maybe not so ignorantly.