[Jacob Kell]

>Wrong. This is an internet legend that has been posted often. Barack Obama’s father is a Luo, a BLACK Kenyan ethnic group that did not do much intermixing with the Arab traders.

I know that Kenneth Lamb is the source of that notion. What do you know or think of him?

>You do know that Arabs are “caucasians”, right?

For the most part. However, the Arabs who settled the East Africa coast intermingled with the native Swahili Bantu people, if I’m not mistaken.

[Clemenza]

From what I have read/heard from Ken Lamb, he is on target on the big picture issue, but often get the details wrong. This is an example of the latter.

The "Afro-Arabs" are indeed mixed, and are Arab is language only, in many cases. This is commented on by folks such as VS Naipaul and other observers of the continent. Barack Sr. was a Luo, however, and they tended to remain culturally/racially homogeneous.