An email to my coworker after an earlier conversation:
I decided to do some research on what you said about Barack being Arab. I could not find anything except for a few blog posts about it. Where is your source? I would like to read it. In my mind, he is still African-American. His father (who more than likely is of Arab descent) was born in Kenya, and is Kenyan. Barack's mother is white, and he has never denied this, so your comment that he doesn't acknowledge that he's half-white completely blows my mind.
Anyway, I am more than happy to review any reading material you can provide. It's not going to change my mind about my vote, but I know that you would never expect that anyway. Just know that I will not engage in any war of words about the candidates with you. It is not the environment in which I want to work, and you never seem to talk about issues anyway.
His response:
He’s African-American in your (and many other people’s) mind, but he does not have one single drop of African-American blood in his body…and precious little African blood. To me, it’s dishonest for him to proclaim he’s one thing when, in fact, he is something else entirely. Yes, he does acknowledge that he’s half white (frankly, how could he not); that was a poor choice of words on my part. In fact, he grew up associating mainly with whites and even choosing to go by the nickname Barry. It wasn’t until college that he chose to abandon his whiteness and become black. I find this change interesting at best, deceitful at worst, but suspicious most of all. Why did he choose to be black when that’s the smallest percentage of his ethnicity? I could care less what color someone is, but it’s strange to me when someone tries to change it. Then I have to ask why. I believe his change was to further his own cause but I’d be happy to be wrong about that.
I like to discuss multiple “issues,” mainly out of the office (frequently, there’s not enough time to discuss serious issues in the office). I don’t discuss them with you because you’ve repeatedly said you don’t want to discuss them; however, I’d be happy to any time you’d like. I consider you an intelligent, thoughtful person and am always willing to hear such people out. For example, I’d like to hear why it is that you are a proponent of the Fair Tax.
- When I was 8 I lived in Southern California for about 3 months (my mom was about to give birth). We lived in a poorer neighborhood in Westminster, CA. One time some Vietnamese boys at school found out that I was half-Vietnamese, and they followed me home, taunting me. It really scared me.
- When I moved to Louisville after living in Taiwan for 5 years, I tried to change my name to Melissa (actually I went through a baby name book and circled a few names, but Melissa was the one I eventually chose). I saw how different I was from everyone in the school and I just wanted to be the same. Luckily, the name never stuck. I was 14 at the time, just starting high school.
- I had a friend in college who is half black half white. I noticed that most of her pictures were of friends who were black. I asked her about it, and she told me that while growing up she had some white friends, the black community accepted her more easily than the white community. That's where she felt most comfortable.
- After living in Taiwan for so long, I identified more with Chinese people than with Vietnamese people. After I moved to the states, most of my Asian friends have been Chinese, and not Vietnamese.
- In the early 1990s, I lived with my mom and siblings in Marietta. Our next door neighbor's sons would take any opportunity to make fun of us. Once my mom and I were in the driveway doing a perfectly normal American thing - washing our car - and they stood there the entire time calling us names (chinks, gooks) while we tried to ignore them. I'm surprised with my mom's temper that she didn't turn the hose on them. Eventually the neighbors moved away. Once again, this was East Cobb in the 90s.
I can probably come up with more examples, but I am pretty tired right now. My main thing is just to let you know that growing up different (15 years ago and even further back, especially) is not easy. Now I see my uniqueness as an asset. But know that I did not always feel that way.
What I can say with certainty is that many people of multi-cultural backgrounds did not have an easy time growing up. I am not going to pretend to know what was going through Obama's head as he made certain decisions, but people change and grow with their environment, especially in their formative years. Have you seen his H.S. basketball team photo? He was the only black guy there! No wonder he wanted to fit in and change his name. And I'm sure you remember in college how segregated blacks and whites were. Why wouldn't you think that it is the same for him at his college, 10 years earlier? If blacks were willing to accept him, why wouldn't he embrace that?
