Was Obama Our First Multiracial President?
U.S. Resist News Op Ed | By: Ron Israel | September 6, 2021
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There is an excellent new HBO documentary on the President of Barack Obama -our 44th President. Much of the documentary focuses on Obama’s efforts (many of them outstanding ) to deal with race and racism, It points out the inner conflict of Obama being the first “black” President and his desire to be seen as a President for all Americans; of his deliberate outreach to black Americans who almost universally supported him, though some felt he could have done more to address racism and the economic needs of the black community.
But technically speaking President Obama came from a multiracial background not just an African-American one. His mother was a white woman from Kansas and his father an African from Kenya and he grew up in multi-racial Hawaii.. This multi-racial heritage could have influenced his makeup as a person and his outlook on the world.
The results of the 2020 Census show that the US population is much more multiracial and more racially and ethnically diverse than what was measured in the past. Census results show that the multiracial population in almost every county in the United States grew between 2010 and 2020. In Puerto Rico, half of the people said they were more than one race — a trend that demographers say happened across the US as people shifted to multiracial identities.
President Obama’s multiracial background mirrors this trend towards multiracialism that is going on across our country. Those who classify themselves as multiracial are still in the minority according to the Census, so it would not have been wise for Obama to identify himself as multiracial. In his public statements he always identified as being black.. But the truth, at least from a genetic perspective, is that he is a person of mixed racial heritage and our first multiracial President.