Dean Of Cincinnati Vindicated - Barack Obama's Multi-Racial Status Discussed On MSNBC

Well, maybe the Dean was right after all ...

This morning what do I see popping up on my RSS feeds but a story running on MSNBC about Barack Obama's Presidential run bringing out the multiracial Americans who identify themselves as multiracial.

Yes, there are a few I've run into over the years.

A fellow by the name of Louie Gong, listing Native American, Chinese, French, and Scottish ancestry helped found this outfit called the Mixed Heritage Center.

Uh, yes - once you've gotten up to 3 or 4 typically physically dissimilar ethnicities, THEN you might want to punt to the "multiracial" label.

However, the commentary bouncing around the MSNBC article is that somehow Obama's run for the Presidency has somehow initiated more dialog about multi-racial issues.

Somehow I don't think so.

Barack considers himself Black - at least I'm pretty sure he does.

And, if you're familiar with the works of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., you know that having European ancestry in the 20 - 50% range (and sometimes more) is very simply an inalienable aspect of the African-American experience.

However, as more and more people from increasingly diverse backgrounds come to the United States and start producing families with each other, yes, at SOME POINT, pretty much EVERYONE will be "mixed", and then perhaps some of these conversations will be complete non-sequitors. Everyone will be just "American", or maybe even plain 'ol "human".

Until then, there's definitely a "White" and a "Black", and one's particular admixture of European and African genes does NOT necessarily indicate which group one might associate with ...