Obama's Candidacy Sparks Debates on Race
Kevin Johnson, a professor of law and Chicano studies, was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle on Illinois Senator Barack Obama's 2008 presidential run. Polls show that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is leading among African Americans and that Black America is divided on Obama.
Obama was president of the Harvard Law Review. He is the son of a Kenyan immigrant and a white mother. People across the political and racial spectrums are divided on whether Obama is a suitable African American candidate because he is not a direct descendant of slaves and hasn't had what they see as an authentic African American experience.
"He touches on hot-button issues among African Americans," said Kevin Johnson, a professor of law and Chicano studies at UC Davis.
In a "60 Minutes" interview on CBS television after Obama announced his candidacy, Steve Kroft spent as much time discussing Obama's blackness as he did the candidate's experience and politics. Obama said in the interview, "If you look African American in this society, you're treated as an African American. I am rooted in the African American community, but I am not defined by it.”
San Francisco Chronicle/February 19, 2007
Obama was president of the Harvard Law Review. He is the son of a Kenyan immigrant and a white mother. People across the political and racial spectrums are divided on whether Obama is a suitable African American candidate because he is not a direct descendant of slaves and hasn't had what they see as an authentic African American experience.
"He touches on hot-button issues among African Americans," said Kevin Johnson, a professor of law and Chicano studies at UC Davis.
In a "60 Minutes" interview on CBS television after Obama announced his candidacy, Steve Kroft spent as much time discussing Obama's blackness as he did the candidate's experience and politics. Obama said in the interview, "If you look African American in this society, you're treated as an African American. I am rooted in the African American community, but I am not defined by it.”
San Francisco Chronicle/February 19, 2007