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The First Black President?
Campus Report ^ | February 21, 2008 | Emmanuel Opati

Posted on 02/21/2008 9:02:16 AM PST by bs9021

The First Black President?

by: Emmanuel Opati, February 21, 2008

The rise of Barack Obama on the national political scene has inevitably rejuvenated a debate as to who was the first black President. Author Toni Morrison argued that, figuratively, Bill Clinton was the first black President; Lucas Morel believes otherwise.

Lucas Morel, Ph.D, Associate Professor of Politics at Washington and Lee University, says that “to the contrary of Toni Morrison, Abraham Lincoln not William Jefferson Clinton was our first black President and deserves to be studied and celebrated as an integral contributor to black progress in American History.” “No American regardless of color did more to establish human equality as the basis for fulfilling America’s promise than Lincoln,” he argued.

Discussing the topic The Problem of Black History: Race, Memory, and the American Creed at the Heritage Foundation last week, Morel said that “Black history month has mixed blessings because it emphasizes race and in so doing it obscures what makes the achievements of Black Americans worth remembering and celebrating, not race but the accomplishment of individual human beings.”

However, there are questions as to whether calling it African-American History month alienates African-Americans from the rest of American History. It is worth noting that there are many African-Americans worth remembering in American History, but “what is Black History in the context of American History? What is its relationship to American History and to America more generally? Rather than being divisive and separatist, could the narrative of Black History be uniting?” asked Matthew Spalding, Director, B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at Heritage Foundation....

(Excerpt) Read more at campusreportonline.net ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: 1stmuslimprez; americanvalues; barackhusseinobama; blackhistorymonth; chebama; multiculturalism; nobama; race
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1 posted on 02/21/2008 9:02:18 AM PST by bs9021
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To: bs9021

Since we’re dealing with silliness, I’ll go all the way and say it was George Washington. First in War. First in Peace. First in the Hearts of His Countrymen. First Black President. Now it’s settled.


2 posted on 02/21/2008 9:06:20 AM PST by Southside_Chicago_Republican (McCain '08)
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To: bs9021

But Toni didn’t know Abe personally.
she didn’t have the hots for Abe.


3 posted on 02/21/2008 9:07:25 AM PST by Sgt_Schultze
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To: bs9021

Another black racist who just can’t leave it alone.


4 posted on 02/21/2008 9:09:32 AM PST by Banjoguy (The stench that surrounds us, emanates from Washington, D.C.)
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To: bs9021
The first Black president would still have to be figurative even if Obama is elected since he would literally be the first “black&white” president. So, I’ll go for Lincoln, too.
5 posted on 02/21/2008 9:12:07 AM PST by Melinda
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To: Southside_Chicago_Republican
Pamela Gellar points out that Barak Hussein Obama is not even black, but a descendant of Arab slave traders.

A pretend black person running and winning the presidency? It's like an old Saturday Night Live skit!

6 posted on 02/21/2008 9:22:12 AM PST by Stepan12 ( "We are all girlymen now." Conservative reaction to Ann Coulter's anti PC joke)
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To: bs9021

I thought Warren Harding was the first black President.


7 posted on 02/21/2008 9:27:50 AM PST by oblomov
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To: oblomov

I thought Blowfly was the first black President?


8 posted on 02/21/2008 9:31:11 AM PST by VU4G10 (Have You Forgotten?)
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To: bs9021

Gee, I didn’t know McCain was black.


9 posted on 02/21/2008 9:33:07 AM PST by Kickass Conservative (Guns don't kill people, gun free zones kill people)
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10 posted on 02/21/2008 9:33:16 AM PST by evets (beer)
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To: oblomov
I thought Warren Harding was the first black President.

Harding! I was trying to remember which President supposedly had a black relative. All I could think of was Herbert Hoover but that didn't seem right.

Meant to google it - thanks!

11 posted on 02/21/2008 9:35:14 AM PST by meowmeow (In Loving Memory of Our Dear Viking Kitty (1987-2006))
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bump


12 posted on 02/21/2008 9:37:03 AM PST by Non-Sequitur (Save Fredericksburg. Support CVBT.)
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To: bs9021

Why is Obama’s white half routinely ignored? Is being white a disease?


13 posted on 02/21/2008 9:50:42 AM PST by Niteranger68 (John McCain has the blood of conservatives on his hands.)
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To: bs9021
African-American History month is an annual commemoration which began as Negro History week in 1926 by Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson in Washington, D.C. Fifty years later it became Black History month and now it’s referred to as African-American History month.

According to this blogger who has been a researcher for various publications, Obama is not a negro:

Why is the fact that Mr. Obama is only 6.25% African Negro not reported? Because to acknowledge it is to report this devastating truth about him: Mr. Obama is not legally African-American. It is impossible for him to be, in truth, America's first African-American president.

Federal law requires that to claim a minority status, you must be at least 1/8 of the descriptor, but for the sake of this article, I've converted it to a decimal fraction for easier comprehension. You must be at least 12.5% of the racial component you claim for minority status. Mr. Obama, claiming to be African-American, is half the legal threshold."

http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/2008/02/barak-obama-questions-about-ethnic.html

14 posted on 02/21/2008 9:53:51 AM PST by zipper ( Suicide voting is the quickest way to send the whole country to Hell.)
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To: Niteranger68

“Why is Obama’s white half routinely ignored? Is being white a disease?”

Yes. Whiteness is a disease and there are University professors who think openly advocate that white people should be eliminated.


15 posted on 02/21/2008 10:00:16 AM PST by Hacklehead (Crush the liberals, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the hippies.)
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To: Hacklehead

It will be interesting to see if Jesse and Al attack Obama for being half-white.


16 posted on 02/21/2008 10:06:18 AM PST by ozzymandus
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To: ozzymandus

“It will be interesting to see if Jesse and Al attack Obama for being half-white.”

I don’t care if he’s half white, only that he’s a half wit.


17 posted on 02/21/2008 10:11:51 AM PST by Hacklehead (Crush the liberals, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the hippies.)
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To: ozzymandus

How are we supposed to refer to him? An American or an African-Anglo American. its getting rediculas.


18 posted on 02/21/2008 10:25:56 AM PST by mriguy67
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To: zipper

Have you ever seen a picture of Obama’s father? There is no way he is only 1/8 black. Arabs are Caucasian racially, keep that in mind.


19 posted on 02/21/2008 10:32:21 AM PST by LWalk18
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To: bs9021

Fact: All human beings trace their genetic history to Africa.

Fact: Not all Africans are black.

Fact: Many blacks are only genetically from Africa, but happen to have been born or descend from those who were borm or immigrated to various other countries: throughout the Carribean, South America, etc.


Makes me wonder. Do black people from Brazil who come to America get upset when they are called “African American”

Do white people from Africa who come to America, and get called white instead of African American get upset?

Do black people who were born in the US, and descend from people who have lived in North America for 400 years, get upset when they are called African American?

Liberal policies and intentions seem to cause as many problems as they are intended to address.


20 posted on 02/21/2008 10:32:44 AM PST by Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh
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