Quote Originally Posted by witeowl View Post
Since you brought it up, I think that's the view Obama took. He didn't set out to be a black president. He set out to be president. Period.

Continuing to make such a big deal about "race" (which really needs to be recognized for the myth it is) continues to point out a physical difference that we really need to learn matters about as much as hair color.
I think Obama's position on this is that he doesn't identify himself as a "black" man - America sees him as one, so that is what he is. A black friend who grew up in the Caribbean, south America & Europe puts it the same way - He was never "black" until he moved to the US. Previous to that, he was just himself. I can say the same with my childhood - I never identified as half asian or anything other than just me or human until at some point in elementary school I started getting the chink comments or the chanting "chinese, japanese, nursery rhyme stuff" with the accompanying eyelid pulling. I'm not going to complain about any issues of racism or anything like that, but I do notice it when it's directed against my mother, even when it is subtle.

And the problem with what you're saying - is that the people that keep saying let's not make an issue of race or talk about it are typically white people who never have to deal with it and aren't comfortable discussing it, especially with black people around and in some ways that's a form of racism. And they're typically very ideological nice ones - but the problem is that's not all of the US and parts of the US is racist, and ignoring that by sweeping it all under the rug is not the solution.

I do completely know where you're coming from with the "playing the race card" thing, and I know people that are overly sensitive and scream it all the time about stupid stuff... My sister will get super hypersensitive when her hispanic husband is told that he needs better written english skills by his boss, and how it's discrimination... but the reality is that the guy does need better written english skills, especially for a management position.

Quote Originally Posted by witeowl View Post

True enough. And, as you say, this occurs around the world. But does that mean that it has anything to do with race? Does that mean that they're trying to look "whiter"? No, it means that they're trying to look richer. Little if not nothing at all to do with race.
Nah, in south America it has more to do with looking whiter, because then you have more Spanish ancestors than indian ones... It's actually a pretty huge insult to tell a south american they have indian blood.

As for the Asian example - when shooting star brought it up, you said why is this about race? what if it's just personal preference? And I explained that it wasn't just personal preference. And how a lot of it in asian society was an attempt to look whiter (hence all the plastic surgery examples)... The whiter vietnamese and the richer ones have mixed with the French during colonial times... Darker skinned vietnamese are looked down upon whether or not it is from the sun or their genetic heritage. Now, whether you want to call this racism or not (given that there really aren't any true races anyways), it is discrimination based on skin color.