Obama a Third Culture Kid President!!
Buy Elimite Online Prevacid Without Prescription Ultram No Prescription Prevacid For Sale Ultram Generic Buy Prednisone Online Toprol XL Without Prescription Amoxil No Prescription Elimite For Sale Cipro GenericHey TCKs,
Wow…I never thought this would happen. We have a biracial Third Culture Kid as the President of the U.S. But what does it mean for you, and how will you be affected by this change?
Today, Obama is the President of the United States. As a teenager, though, Obama was a young man with a confused identity. He experimented with marijuana and cocaine. He faced the same challenges I hear every day from TCKs in emails.
As Obama writes in his memoir, “Dreams from My Father,” he felt alienated, struggling to understand his biracial identity, fearful of fulfilling a stereotype. “Junkie. Pothead. That’s where I’d been headed: the final, fatal role of the young would-be black man,” he writes.
Personally, it means a lot to me, because I can actually relate to Obama. I’m sure many TCKs can too.
My father is a French/Vietnamese U.N Peacekeeper and my mom is Ethiopian. I was born in France, and grew up in Canada, Mayotte (an island most people have never heard of), La Reunion and England. As a teenager, like Obama, I’ve struggled to understand my multicultural identity and asked myself: “Where do I really belong?”
I shared these thoughts with our friend Ruth, and here’s what she had to say:
“Brice, I think it is HUGE for us all! I hope now this becomes one more part of “normalizing” our identity. thanks for what you do towards that same end… send him this story you just wrote us and let him know he should join our forum! - Ruth E. Van Reken”
It’s been said that: “America is Ready for Change”. But politics aside, I can’t help but wonder…
Will his multiracial identity promote a culture of inclusion? Will this change the meaning of belonging?
Will a young TCK be able to tell their friends after repatriation: “I’m half Kenyan, and I grew up in Indonesia.” … without feeling excluded?
And most importantly, how will you personally be affected by this change?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
PS: If Obama didn’t win, I told my friends I’ll change my name to “Baraice Robama”. I’m glad he won. 
Young Obama.
March 28th, 2009 at 8:39 am
To Doreen: there is a clear distinction between winning and election and running a country. Democracy doesn’t end at the voting booth. There is also a clear distinction between book-learning and actually practical experience. I never really noticed or thought about his skin color so I can really comment on that. I agree people are idolizing him and expecting too much so perhaps he will be perceived as failing more that he actually will.
To Vinod: Yes, I know I live in Bolivia and we don’t have socialist leanings, this IS a socialist-run country. That’s why we can see the socialist leanings so clearly. Even Chavez and Evo Morales, both socialist presidents, were ranting and raving and saying “hurray finally” so it’s not like we’re blind or don’t understand what socialism is. We live in it.
To Both: I’ll repeat what I said before - I don’t want him to fail, I hope he proves me wrong, and if he does I’ll vote for his re-election. I obviously am able to appreciate his good qualities as well. I just wonder if being charismatic is enough.
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April 1st, 2009 at 2:06 am
@ Charis- I know there is a distinction between winning an election and running a country. You can’t run a country without winning the votes of the people.
As far as not noticing his skin color, that’s great and all, but that’s not a luxury that you’re afforded as a black person in America. The amount of attention that was focused on his race, the number of people who attacked his wife and called her an angry black woman (remember that New Yorker cover?), the Fox News story that referred to her as “Obama’s Baby Mama” (a loaded racist term), the comments about Sasha and Malia looking like “gang members” when they wore their natural black-person hair, and the number of white people who expressed concern that the election of Obama would be unfair for them because he would “favor” blacks (somewhat hypocritically, because whites have been favored since the colonization of the west) are all reminders that America is not even close to being a post-racial society. And that you will never be allowed to forget about your race if you’re black. Even people who voted for Obama still harbor racist beliefs (http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/11/03/racists_for_obama/).
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