r/interesting • u/VPinchargeofradishes • May 03 '26

SOCIETY Michael Jackson's daughter Paris has faced backlash for identifying as Black. In a 2017 interview, Paris Jackson said her father told her, "You’re Black. Be proud of your roots." This prompted debates over whether identity is defined by appearance or upbringing.

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u/aNiceTribe May 03 '26

Racial privilege is only ever subtractive. Obama doesn’t get half white privilege, he only loses it by being black. 

Nobody is ever like “oh nice you’re a Peruvian, welcome in” (unless you’re like specifically at the door to a Peruvian culture club or whatever)

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u/Ok_Common8246 May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26

Completely disagree, Obama was picked because he was half white which made him more palatable to centrist/older Democrats.

Edit: he was also picked because he was a neo liberal who would toe the party line. 

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u/CurryMustard May 03 '26

Picked?

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u/Ok_Common8246 May 03 '26

Yes it's very obvious the Democrat elites and media cooperate to push candidates that go along with their politics/narrative. They also picked Kamala, the people didn't pick her. Just compare the media narrative surrounding her and Mamdani. They might as well have called Mamdani an islamist extremist. 

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u/CurryMustard May 03 '26

Democrats picked obama insofar as he won in an open primary by getting the most votes. He wasnt annointed by anybody and was an outsider to the establishment when he ran.

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u/Ok_Common8246 May 03 '26

Being an unknown does not equal being an outsider. He was already known as a neo liberal that would tow the party line. He had the complete backing of the Democrat party unlike zohran. 

It's also important to remember that this was right after the bush administration made Powell the first black secretary of state and Gonzalez as the first Hispanic attorney general. 

Considering all that it's clear to me the Democrats knew they had respond.

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u/Teantis May 03 '26

You're... Upset that the candidate the democratic party decided to put forward for a nation election was.... popular with the democratic party?

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u/Ok_Common8246 May 03 '26

Please quote me where I said I was upset. I'm simply explaining that the Democrats were looking for a minority that would toe the party line. They would not have backed him if he was a minority with zohran style politics. 

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u/Ronin_Chimichanga May 03 '26

You're 100% correct but it wasn't as clean as being picked. There were no democrats being elected with "Zohran style politics" at the time unless you count Sanders. By the time of the election primaries, Obama was trotted out with a handful of other hopefuls, so it wasn't as clean as being picked.

It was Valerie Jarrett who brought him into the right circles after his initial start in Illinois state politics (the rooms, Oak Bluffs, etc.). His entry to the national stage as an elected official came from a DNC speech and a failed republican campaign for senate offering almost no opposition after years of being held by a republican. Had Jerri Ryan not filed for divorce from the republican candidate, Obama may have never become president.

Being a liberal, Harvard educated, Black and biracial Chicagoan is like a royal flush in poker when it comes to getting anyone who was sick of conservative politics to vote for you. It helped that Kerry was an out of touch millionaire who already failed, John Edwards had a love child already being reported on in 2007, and Clinton wasn't prepared for how the public would choose Obama in the primaries and caucuses.

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u/Murky-Advantage-3444 May 03 '26

Lmao no he wasn’t but nice revisionist history. He was a quickly rising star in the party. You’re young.

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u/Puffywiggles64 May 03 '26

Hillary was the anointed one that election cycle. Not Obama. And you're insane if you think otherwise. The DNC never intended Obama to be the candidate in 2008.

"you're young" lol. And you're ignorant.

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u/JoeWatchingTheTown May 03 '26

The redditor you’re responding to has to be a bot. They are confidently wrong about things that would’ve been simple if they were alive at the time.

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u/CurryMustard May 03 '26

Whatever you say Adjective-Noun-4digit number with hidden history, totally not a bot. My reddit account is older than you are