President Obama calls African-Americans a ‘mongrel people’

The Hill ^

[Sub-Driver]

President Obama calls African-Americans a ‘mongrel people’ By Sam Youngman - 07/29/10 11:00 AM ET

NEW YORK CITY -- President Obama waded into the national race debate in an unlikely setting and with an unusual choice of words: telling daytime talk show hosts that African-Americans are “sort of a mongrel people.”

The president appeared on ABC’s morning talk show “The View” Thursday, where he talked about the forced resignation of Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod, his experience with race and his roots.

When asked about his background, which includes a black father and white mother, Obama said of African-Americans: "We are sort of a mongrel people."

"I mean we're all kinds of mixed up," Obama said. "That's actually true of white people as well, but we just know more about it."

The president did not appear to be making an inflamatory remark with his statement. The definition of mongrel as an adjective is defined as "of mixed breed, nature, or origin," according to dictionary.com.

[TruthConquers]

We have a MONGREL president!!!

Use it often, use it every time!!!!

[9YearLurker]

I agree, there’s a racist double-standard in the card that would have been played had a white Republican used the phrase—but that doesn’t mean the word itself is actually racist by any objective measure.

[Disambiguator]

Obama is our first BI-RACIAL President and should have been labeled as such from the get go

Half-human and half-???

[Windflier]

Still and all, would you describe your family as “mongrel”?

No. That particular term has never occurred to me, to describe my family. I sometimes jokingly call myself Neapolitan (as in ice cream).

But "mongrel"? I think a lot of black folks across the country winced when they heard that come out of Obama's mouth.

[Windflier]

...some people can use the “N” word and not be called racist while others lose their jobs for saying it. Go figure.

The Thought Police enforce politically correct speech about the same as the feds enforce our immigration laws.

[hoe_cake]

Neapolitan? So you’re Italian?

:`)

[dforest]

and the black caucus will support him......

Imagine if GWB had said that.

[Windflier]

Yep, and whites can have perhaps not quite as varied blood in significant amounts, but it’s called ‘white’ regardless. Obama was, in a shockingly rare case, just being straightforward.

Remember Professor Henry Louis Gates? He's the black professor of African-American studies who got in that kerfuffle at his home with the cops. This is the incident where Zero said, "[the cops] acted stupidly".

I just watched his genealogy special on TV. He had his and his father's blood analyzed for racial markers, and lo and behold - he's got less African blood than European blood.

The irony of all ironies in my mind, is that we're even having this conversation in America - "the great melting pot."

[mware]

Taking it backjust to my grandparents I am a mix of English, Walsh, German, and French.

[Windflier]

Neapolitan? So you’re Italian?

Ice cream. Ice cream! LOL

Oddly enough, my baby sister is half Italian (believe it or not). Talk about "diversity". The gene map in my family looks like a crazy quilt.

[Windflier]

Taking it back just to my grandparents I am a mix of English, Walsh, German, and French.

We've got all that too, including Irish, Scottish, and Native American. The grandkids have even more diverse genes.

[Windflier]

Then there is Hitler's racial ideology, his notion that the US was a multiracial "mongrel nation" that could never compete with a racially pure Germany on the battlefield.

Jesse Owens sure popped Schicklegruber's bubble when he beat the German athletes in the Olympics, didn't he?

[mware]

One of my great grandparents was Quaker and married a women from the Lenna Lennipi tribe (part of the Delaware Indian groups.)

My degree is in anthropology and one of my courses required tracing my family tree. Got a really good link and was able to go back to 1411 and a fellow called Stuckley Wescoat.

There were over two dozen relatives that fought at Algincourt (on the French side)

[Windflier]

My degree is in anthropology and one of my courses required tracing my family tree. Got a really good link and was able to go back to 1411 and a fellow called Stuckley Wescoat.

There were over two dozen relatives that fought at Algincourt (on the French side)

Genealogy can be fascinating stuff. I recently discovered an ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War. His descendants included a US Attorney General who had sons who fought on opposite sides in the Civil War.

I never knew any of this, growing up.

[rabidralph]

We are not mongrels; we are hamsters!

[Windflier]

Let Rush or Beck call him a mongrel and watch how worked up people get.

You'd better believe it. They'd be pushing the envelope to even mention that American blacks are genetically diverse.

[mware]

I had five great uncles who fought in the Civil War. One died at Gettysburg, two died at the Battle of the Wilderness(one on each side), and one died at Andersonville.

Only one from that family line returned home.

[Windflier]

I had five great uncles who fought in the Civil War. One died at Gettysburg, two died at the Battle of the Wilderness (one on each side), and one died at Andersonville.

Yep. It's some interesting history, to be sure. I know of at least three ancestors who fought in the Civil War (two white - one black). I'm sure that more will turn up as we continue researching.

[mware]

Good luck in your research. It is indeed an interesting hobby.

Look hard enough you will find nobles and knaves.

I have more than one that I rather not discuss.

[Windflier]

Good luck in your research. It is indeed an interesting hobby. Look hard enough you will find nobles and knaves.

I'm sure that's true. Our family's Scottish ancestors were notable horse and cattle thieves.

My dad retired from the military some 25 years ago, and has been digging up our family roots, ever since. He's sort of hit a dead end on the black side, but records are good for the caucasian side.