Quite an interesting bit of commentary the last few days over Obama. It seems some are upset Obama calls himself black and feel he should call himself multiracial. The usual argument is used, talking about how the use of the word would help other multiracial children in their identity. Both in print articles and in a revealing interview I heard on NPR, there were people writing and calling in who claimed that with Obama it was proof we needed to move to a more multicultural society and Obama was the pinnacle of what biracial children could do.

This is one of the fears some in the black community didn't want to happen.

The fear was with the election of Obama, with his multiracial lineage, would be co-opted and somehow wouldn't be black anymore. When I read the articles on it I thought it was a bit of hyperbole but when I heard NPR and listened to the people who give these rational reasons, in their minds, why Obama wasn't black it was laughable and disheartening. What made even less sense about the comments made by callers was that most claimed to have children that were biracial, with most of the people calling being white, and they were so intent on showing how colorblind they were and how myopic others were they didn't see their own baggage they brought to the table. One person, who rattled off a lot of credentials and gave the rainbow coalition of ethnic heritage, talked about how his organization saw how in countries like Brazil and France, where there is no distinction by race by the government, that is the system the US should adopt. The people on the NPR panel stated how in those countries, because of race not being an issue, race was actually more of a problem than less of one because of the status structure. Even when I heard this I remembered the riots that went on in France by Muslim youths, mostly from African countries, because they couldn't get jobs. The unemployment rate was astronomical for non-white partisans. The panelist reported the same disproportionate representation in Brazil.

It was weird hearing the callers feeling hurt and betrayed because Obama considered himself black, and not one of them looking into the time frame he was living in. The callers kept talking about now and not looking at then. I remember then, and if you looked like Obama you were black, no matter whom your mother was. You had the boxes where you had to put you were black or white. I remember, when I was filling out some racial form for a college, I filled in Klingon. That didn't go over so well.

My mother, when I talked to her a few weeks ago, talked about how people were 'taking what gains we made with Obama,' but I didn't fully understand what she was talking about until more of the articles came out. It was funny when one of the panelist on the NPR show said Obama is like a human Rorschach test because everyone want to see themselves in him. I guess that can be a good thing but with so many people trying to claim him I'm not sure what's going to happen when he starts to disappoint people. That was another thing the panelist mentioned. He isn't even the President yet and people have put the pressure of happiness and good times on his shoulders. I think he's putting together a good team, but people have to give him time, especially when he isn't even the President yet.

I see where Obama is trying to bring unity back to America, but for some unexplained reason, probably our own nature, we seem bound and determined to separate ourselves for the sake of unity.