Race and Politics - Who is What and Why?

Barack Obama is equal parts white and black yet every media mention of the junior senator labels him an African American. Why? Would it not be just as accurate to label him white? Given his background he is probably closer to Liberal white thought than that of African Americans. After all, what does his father, a Kenyan, or his mother, a white woman from Kansas, know of the plight of African Americans? It seems any person can be labeled a 'person of color' as long as that person has a smidgen of non-white ancestry and can somehow be seen to positively represent the community that they claim or that claims them. Take Gov. Bill Richardson as another example. He's labeled a 'Hispanic'. Why? Because his mother was Mexican? So. He still has a good chance of being 100% white if his mother came from upper class Mexican society. And unless his mother was 100% Aztec, Mayan or some other Native American of Mexico, most Mexicans are of mixed heritage, he's more white than anything else. Yet he gains political advantage from being something other than white. The list goes on. Halle Berry, Lenny Kravitz, Tiger Woods, et al. We won't ever be able to move beyond race because Liberals don't want to. The race card is too advantageous to them in the game of politics.