Our first black president?

Ok Ok. Maybe he wasn't black. Maybe he WAS. With all of that baggage not withstanding one would think that at least ONE achievement of his administration could have been noted here since it is indirectly pointing to Barak Obama's run for the presidency. I look at bringing this man up the same way I did Jimmy Carter. This is another sleeping dog that would have been better off left sound asleep. That mistake called prohibition started under his administration and there was blantant corruption surrounding it as well. It was also followed by Herbert Hoover. Remeber that thing called the great depression? Let the dogs stay asleep. They can bite unintentionally. .

I think a whole lot of "whites" would find out they have the old one drop rule if DNA tests were done to see just who is and who might be "passing," those whose ancestors were here before the huge influx of immigrants in the early 1900's! Very interesting article.

There are a few interesting points raised within this article: 1. lineage in America and the highly controversial issue of the "one-drop" rule; 2. the social phenomenon of Barack Obama's possible democratic candidate; 3. more importantly the issue of Bill Clinton being the first "Black" president. I would like to focus on the later issue. I must admit that growing up in a household that was not "traditional" (and I ask, in America today what a traditional household is). My grandparents never once really gave into a notion that he was the first Black president; therefore my socialization didn't warrant such discussion. However, I can vividly remember believing that he was somewhat of a savior for Black people during the 1990's. Then I began college, and this opinion completely changed. Now I do not see how Black people could have made such a mistake in believing that he was "our" president. I must admit the economy was better, educational opportunities did increase for some Blacks, and housing did improve for Blacks. However, researching his work internationally in numerous African Geography courses and contemporary African-American History courses, a new light was shed upon his administrations. This president stood by as the Rwanda genocide took place. This fact itself is enough for Black people to take a deeper review of how Black he is. Now this does raise an even more pressing issue, relations between Black Americans and Africans/African Americans. If Black Americans are in the state to believe that their Brothers across the ocean have no direct correlation or relationship to them, then I could see why one may buy into the notion that Clinton was our "first". This is a deep issue that not many people on either side can really discuss, understand, and reconcile the differences, similarities, and need for a unification of the two masses. It is my belief that Brethren shared between Black Americans/African Americans is one of great similarity; similarity so deep that there is no need for a debacle. Both masses experienced slavery (American antebellum/colonial {gang vs. task}; Neo-colonialism in Africa). So now the bigger issue from whether Clinton is our first or will Obama be our first should be the examination of the political system in America as a whole. This means examining American politics from a global perspective, always refining this usage to application of Black American history. This could help us open doors of discussion locally, regionally, and nationally that could be beneficial to all Black Americans. Let's raise the bar in political involvement, utilizing it as a teaching tool, therein, truly representing CHANGE.

Give me a break! Warren Harding was probably the worst president this country has ever seen. He was corrupt to the core. Even if he was secretly Black, why would we even want to claim him? This whole rumor of his black heritage is nothing more than an early version of "swiftboating"--dirty politics. It may be hard for us to accept, but the worst thing any White man of stature could have been called at that time in history (and really, even today) was BLACK! To attack a White man's whiteness was worse than insulting his mother. Politics in the 18th and 19th centuries was hardball compared to todays' gamesmanship. These same "he might be Black" rumors were spread about Abraham Lincoln by his political enemies. Alexander Hamilton was also atacked in this way because he was born in the Carribean. None of these people even looked remotely Black. Trust me on that one. We have enough of our own heroes and sheroes with out having to claim the worst of the White race as our own. Do your own research on Warren G. Harding and you too will shout down any ignorant negro who wants to claim him as a Black hero.

Kasim you write like a very young university educated black american. You write very well. I am not so if I go in the wrong direction here please forgive me and set me on the correct path. What I was looking for, or hoping for, is that you would have mentioned how Mr. White Man came to africa in a boat no larger than three and a half present day tractor-trailers lined bumper to bumper and conquered it without the complicity of the blacks that were there. He could have came with 10,000 boats of this size and still not convered 1/4 of the Ivory Coast. Reading your post you sound more lost than informing. If the U.S. had sent troops to Rwanda there would now be an occupation on the scale of Iraq in order to make sure the warring factions STAYED APART FROM EACH OTHER. Bush was told this by his generals in regards to Iraq and did not listen. I know him and his black parrot (sister Rice) wish they had now. Your comment that the Brethern shared between Aficans and black americans is one of great similarity is one I question. The children of africans who come here with their families along with Haitians and Jamaicans now outnumber black americans at the Ivy league universities here. And the majority of these kids attended the same schools that everyone say are failing in the inner-city. Somehow they manage to ignore the rap-a-dap-dap style and mp3 player image and make progress. And they are not native born. What happened here? Your comments and the very topic of this post only adds strength to my personal belief that we black americans are so lost that not even a GPS (global positioning satellite) system can get us back on track. I have mornings where I am incarcerated in a subway car listening to foolishness about black popes, the lineage of kings and queens of england and europe, even a black jesus. I never hear anything about africa BEFORE MR. WHITE MAN SHOWED UP. IT HAD TO HAVE EXISTED. Africans do not want to discuss the slave trade because if they did they know they too would be implicated. Mr. White Man did not have satellites to help him. He had the help of africans who knew the terrain and knew where the best places to capture other blacks to sell were. Only a lost people who are fortunate to live in the wealthiest country on the face of the earth would have SLAVERY as a battle cry. Who else but a totally lost people would find sense in walking up to a white person and tell them they have black blood. Topics like this do more harm than good to Mr. Obama's campaign. As cmoney said there is virtually nothing good to report on the administration of our possible first black president. And don't forget that the great depression did follow his adminstration.

I know the main article is about the 29th american president. But I like the talk about the 42nd. It was the imperial Toni Morrison who first wrote about Bill as the first black. Besides my belief that we are all genetically coloured (and socially racial), I think Toni was relatively right. I really dont think Clinton was the monster he has now become in the psyche of many african americans in the face a rising biracial Obama. I love Obama's heart. I hate the disingenuity of those who are only in love with his skin colour. It's probably the same crew that today finds Bill a racist. All presidents and politicans mess up, just like our own parents do, and some just more than others. The cases of Rwanda, Somolia, Sudan were bad decisions by Bill especially in the minds of pan-Africanists at the time. Brucito: to compare a possible intervention in Rwanda to the actual Iraq invasion is just silly. But you are right about flaky Africans - wherever they are - who did not only sell their kids to slavery, but continue to do so today. Those who'd stand-by and watch as Zimbabwe further slips into its contemporary ruins. It's called 'being spineless'. Always going with the winning horse. But for sure this is no African bound disease. The questioning of Bill's (even faint) loyalties to blacks in america, or the vernom reserved for non-american born black kids or the questioning of any historical bonds between Africans in Africa and those in diaspora is a bright sign that this disease is borderless too. Dare I say it epitomises 'debauched' values of a mercantilist society.

Once again - I think it's more important for Black Americans to worry less about the things that whites have done to us in the past but to focus on what we haven't done and can do in the future to make us greater and how we can come closer the achieving "the DREAM." All this blaming people for what they didn't do - we have to learn to unite and find a sense of togetherness that has been missing from our community honestly since the 60's.