Who decided to call Obama black? - 'Mixed race' isn't seen as identity

If you didn’t know a thing about Obama and saw him on the street, how would you describe him?

He’s black.

Only because you're so used to seeing mixed race folks who are called black. Take him over to Sudan (or many other places in Africa or in comparison with his own dad) and look at him and you'll say "mostly white".

I only used the word to designate the color of a Caucasian person's skin, which is not white but pinkish beige. And that was in response to another poster who quibbled about the fact that black people are not really black but brown. Personally, I don't like the term "white." Given the huge range of skin shades that this term includes, and given the equally great range of skin shades included in the term "black," the only real difference is that on average, "white" skin is a little lighter than "black" skin.

I just think it's insulting and demeaning to designate someone as "white" or "black." What purpose does it serve? If it's for descriptive identification, such as eye color or height, then wouldn't it make more sense to designate someone's actual color? Instead of "white," we could use "bisque" or "tan" or "beige" or "peach." Instead of "black," one could be "bronze" or "walnut" or "coffee" or "nutmeg." In fact, to eliminate any word associations, instead of color names, hexadecimal RGB values could be used. So tan would be D2B48C. Nutmeg would be 81422C.

Race distinctions are pointless. Race is a concept that in reality does not exist. Why do we keep humoring the opportunists who make their living from it?

Or maybe burnt sienna, or raw umber. What difference does it make what precise shade he is? The fact is that strangers perceive him as "not white." He grew up with that and knows what it feels like to be treated like a black person. I'm not saying that he's not capitalizing on his skin color. I'm just saying that in terms of his life experience, he's a black man.

Could you please provide the pigmentation pallet that qualifies someone as "black"? Or is it all in the perception of the person? And what is it to be "treated like a black person"? What does that mean? How does someone know that they are being treated a certain way due to something in particular?

This victimology crap has got to stop.

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