George,

"Race is the most explosive issue in American life precisely because it forces us to confront the tragic facts of poverty and paranoia, despair and distrust." (From "Race Matters") - Cornel West.

Race matters. Barack Obama is more white than black. Usually, when a black person is acknowledged as being white it means that he is behaving in a way that aids white supremacists in maintaining and promoting what they misconstrue to be black inferiority. Sometimes blacks who are accused of "acting like" whites or on the behalf of whites are called by other blacks, conservative blacks or "Uncle Toms." Blacks in this grouping are often given preferential or affirmative action treatment by high-level white people in the government and the private sector, mainly because they feel that these acting-white blacks help them to maintain the status quo. These blacks do not contribute positively to leveling the playing field for blacks and whites.

Some nine years ago when many Americans were anxiously waiting for General Colin Powell to become a candidate for President I wrote an article titled, "Is Colin Powell Too Black for Whites and Too White for Blacks to Be President" that the Los Angeles Times was about to publish when General Powell announced that he would not be a candidate for President. Despite Powell's achievement there existed a strong feeling among many blacks that he, a Republican, would strongly represent white interests in such a way that he would not be a good president for them.

Not long before the speculation that Powell would run for president Clarence Thomas, a black man, considered by many blacks as being too white or just simply an Uncle Tom became a Supreme Court justice. Blacks wanted a black person to replace Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court who was committed to the advancement of equality and justice for all. Blacks did not then nor now feel that Thomas would serve their best interest.

The issue with Barack Obama being white is different from the aforementioned uses of the term white. Obama being white is not about "acting white" or promoting a white supremacy agenda, and certainly not about maintaining the staus quo at the expense of black people. Fundamentally, Obama's whiteness is a matter of the biological, not political, nature of race.

Obama is white or mostly white when his race is considered biologically and scientifically rather than politically and culturally. Employing the democratic rule, that is, the majority rule principle, Obama is mostly white. By this writer's calculation based on the factors presented below, he is at a minimum 53 percent white and 47 percent black. However, American law that is rooted in racism and tradition would not agree. Dating back to slavery the one-drop rule is a historical colloquial term in the United States that holds a person with any race of sub-Sahara African ancestry cannot be considered white and so unless said person has an alternative non-white ancestry he can claim, such as Native American, Asian, Arab, he must be considered black.

Early in the twentieth century most Southern States, adopted Virginia's race classification formula which defined anyone with one-eight or more Negro to be black. Alabama use a one-thirty-second rule. Massachusetts's statutes and Ohio case law (not statutes) ruled that someone was legally of the white endogamous group if they were mostly of European blood (a one-half rule). The most popular blood fraction used before nineteenth century Jim Crow was one-eight rule that was also adhered to by the military in the North and South and at home and abroad. There was a segregated military until President Harry S. Truman's executive order of July 26, 1948, four months after I enlisted in the Army, ending segregation in the armed forces.

Obama was born in Hawaii to his black father, Barack Hussein Obama, and to his white mother, Ann Dunham from Kansas. His black grandparents were Onyango, later Hussein Onyango Obama, and Akumu of Kenyan, Africa. His white grandparents who raised him were Stanley Armour Dunham and Madelyn Payne of Kansas.

With the above infomation it is easy to determine Barrack Obama's race. To repeat, he had a white mother and a black father. What makes it important at this juncture in history that Obama be correctly classified racially is that there is a preponderance of evidence that Obama cannot be elected President of the United States unless the majority of white people accept him as being white or mostly white. For some white people mostly white means white just as for some black people mostly black means black.

Biologically a child is half paternal and half maternal. However, a child inherits more DNA from his mother than father. The mithochondria cell contains some mitochondrial DNA. The mithochondria sperm cell drops off once the head of the sperm has penetrated the ovum. This indicates that the mother contributes more DNA to a baby than the father. In the making of a male or female there are chromosomes that determine the gender. Chromosomes are aggregates of genes that carry heredity information. They are composed of DNA adroteins. The human cells contain 23 pairs of chromosomes for a total of 46. There are 22 pairs of autosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes for a total of 46. The sex chromosomes are the X chromosome and the Y chromosome. The male contains one of two types of sex chromosomes. They are either X or Y. The female eggs contain only the X sex chromosome. If a sperm cell containing an X sex chromosome fertilizes the egg there will be XX or female. If the sperm cell contains a Y chromosome, there will be YX or male. We can say the father determines the sex.

With Obama, as is true with all male children the father provided the Y chromosome that determined his gender. Bu there are other factors that are even more important with regard to his race. Obama is the child of a black father and white mother. As indicated earlier the mother contributes more DNA to a baby than the father. This more than suggests that the child with a white mother, male or female, is biologically more white than black. The opposite would be true if the mother was black and the father was white. The person's race cannot be changed.

To these things we must be aware that for nine months the child is incubated in his or her mother's womb or bellly where he or she is attached to her by an umbilical cord, breathes her breath, and nourished and fed by her blood. During this period the child listens and dances to music in the mother's belly. Music that is sometimes harmonious and at other times discordant. Often it is the doings and misdoings of the father that determines the kind of music the mother makes. When the child-carrying mother is stressed out, angry or uptight, sometimes resulting from the father's behavior, the music may be discordant and damaging to the unborn child and may even cause a miscarriage. In most cases, however, the music the womb-nourished child hears is pleasant and beautiful and contributes to the child who is born in nine months or before as a healthy child entering the world smiling or even crying, shedding tears of joy.

Let us get real! Obama is mostly white. White supremacy-oriented people need to know this. They have an opportunity during the 2008 presidential election to vote for white or mostly white Obama. My message to them is consider that this writer, a black person, for fifty years voted for white politicians, including two dead white men, i.e., they were literally dead when I voted for them. It was not without difficulty that I registered to vote in my native state of Alabama following my four-year tour of duty in the military where I served during the Korean War.

I challenge white people who maintain that they cannot vote for a black person to be president to reject the political race classification of Obama and accept his biological race classification. Consider voting the way many white people in Iowa voted during the recent democratic primary when they cast the majority of their votes for Obama. I do not mention Obama's true race because I believe that a black man cannot be elected president of the United States, although I believe that is true, but rather because I am convinced that Obama is white or more white than black. I also believe that Barack Obama, not John McCain, is best qualified to be President of the United States. A word about Senator John McCain is in order.

Senator John McCain is too Old to Be President

Nobody can question the fact that Senator John McCain is a war hero and a pariotic American. But these things as General Wesley Clark, a former Supreme Allied Commander of Europe NATO, has publicly stated, do not qualify a person to be president. There are other Americans with those qualifications who are not qualified to be president. Remember, Senator McCain voted against establishing a "Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday," despite the fact that this "national action" was a significant gesture to acknowledge the African Americans' experience that included 244 years of enslavement and a century of racial discrimination, segregation and disfranchisement. McCain's home state of Arizona was the last state to ratify the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday, and that was long after enough states had ratified legislation making the Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday a national holiday. This is the way McCain behaved despite this sordid legacy that adversely impacts African Americans now and will do so in the future.

Another reason equally as important why Senator McCain should not be elected president is: he is too old. If elected, he would be the oldest person ever elected president. More than ever America needs a young or younger person than McCain for president. There is such a thing as being too old for certain tasks, including becoming a father that nature prohibits at an age that is much younger than McCain. How many old people did you see participating in the recent Olympics in China? Michael Jordon, perhaps, the greatest baskettball player in history, had sense enough to realize that the game is for younger people. Since McCain does not realize this on his own, the American people have an obligation to act responsibly. How many old men are counted among the 4,144 American soldiers who have died in the Iraq War? Living on one's laurels is not sufficient to be president.

After the last eight years of deterioration of America, primarily because of the reprehensible leadership in the pinnacle of the American Government the challenges ahead are astronomical, too many and too great to entrust into the hands of an old man. America needs a young and energeic president to lead in this twenty-first century global world, not a man who admits he does not know much about using a computer or the economy and who has already reached the pain-nursing and prone-to-sleep-on-the-job age, as some older politicians have and are doing today. Longevity on the job cannot be a substitute for job effectiveness.

Let Americans be reminded of the people in some other nations who chose younger people as their leaders. Last year 42-year old Dmitry Medvedev was elected President of Russia and earlier this year 52-year old Nicolas Sarkozy was elected the Prime Minister of France. And there are other young leaders of nations.

America needs 47-year old Barack Obama to be the next president, not 72-year old John McCain. Although I was a soldier in the Korean War, nearly a decade before McCain served as a soldier in the Vietnam War, like McCain I am too old and has been for a number of years to be president. The Bible informs us: "Your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions." (Joel 2:.28). More than a dreamer America needs a visionary. America needs a young president with a vision.

Who is the man to bring us real change, the change that makes a difference? Who is the man to unite us all so we are one America? Who is the man to let be President of this good old U.S.A.? The answer my friend is Barack Obama.

Obama is white or mostly white, young and experienced enough to be president. Experience is comparable to fashion. An action that is successful today may be unworkable and impractical tomorrow. Only principles endure. What counts are the principles a person has learned from his experience. It is evident that from his experiences Obama has learned principles that empower him with two of the noblest qualities a leader can possess: discernment and compassion. Obama is ready and willing to be president of the United States. He needs you and me and the majority of the people who will vote in November to empower themselves. How soon is too late? This is our time...now is the time for change.

Uriah J. Fields (Electronic mail, August 19, 2008)

Copyright © 2008 by Uriah J. Fields