Guest guest,

The problem is as you have rightly pointed out. that to talk about race relations you need to talk about more than just black and white.

But if you're going to talk you need to start somewhere.

But for the record, Obama didn't bring it up, he just ran for president.

If he'd been Latino, the issue would have been about latino race relations.

By him running for president, the whole issue has been stirred up.

Why?

... He didn't bring it up specifically ...

It came up because it is still a big enough issue that if a black man has the audacity to run for president it will inspire a race controversy.

And cos he's black, people are likely to talk about ... well .. erm ... black issues in politics before they get to other races.


We're only talking about it because he's black, not because he has a civil rights agenda.

That seems pretty clear too.

Just to rephrase,

The reason we're talking about black racial status on the political and social ladder in the context of this election isn't because it is a platform ticket for any of the candidates, it's because one of the candidates is black.

See the difference?

So you may as well ask "why doesn't he have more hispanic blood if he wants to be truly representative?"

I don't know if I can make that point ant clearer.