[the invisib1e hand]

“descendants of slaves..."

An aside, perhaps, but just for the record, is Obama a descendent of slaves?

[nuconvert]

He’s a descendent of Arabs according to his records

[AnotherUnixGeek]

An aside, perhaps, but just for the record, is Obama a descendent of slaves?

Go far back enough in history and it's pretty much a certainty that everyone on the planet has an ancestor who was enslaved or forced to labor for others. Similarly, everyone on the planet has had ancestors who've been raped, murdered, robbed, etc.

What all this has to do with those of us currently alive, and why some of us insist on using it to claim victim-power isn't clear, especially since everyone on the planet also has ancestors who've committed all of the same crimes.

[raybbr]

An aside, perhaps, but just for the record, is Obama a descendent of slaves?

The black half or the white half?

[Fred Nerks]

“An aside, perhaps, but just for the record, is Obama a descendent of slaves?”

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

“Here is the truth about Mr. Obama’s name, and his father’s ancestors:

True Negro tribal members of western Kenya where his father was born have Christian names, not Arabic. His father’s decision to name him with an Arabic name is a matter of his father establishing his ethnic identity in Africa - it is done deliberately to separate him from the African tribes. He may live among them, but he is not one of them. His father’s message is that he is Arabic, not Negro.

Many will find these truths unsettling. I’m often asked, “But I thought his father was Kenyan. How could Mr. Obama not be African-American, how could his ethnic composition be so Arabic?”

The definitive clue to that answer is to look at his name, his father’s name, and the names of all his ancestors on his father’s side. They are all Arabic.

Researching his roots reveal that on his father’s side, he is descended from Arab slave traders. They operated under an extended grant from Queen Victoria, who gave them the right to continue the slave trade in exchange for helping the British defeat the Madhi Army in southern Sudan and the Upper Nile region...”