http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bill-clinton-mixed-race_us_56c1cf6ce4b0c3c55051de41
When Toni Morrison wrote that Bill Clinton was the first black president, many people misunderstood what she meant. (she can be quite obtuse, if you’ve ever read her. That’s why she’s so freakin’ great)
She clarified;
Do you regret referring to Bill Clinton as the first black President? --Justin Dews, Cambridge, Mass.
People misunderstood that phrase. I was deploring the way in which President Clinton was being treated, vis-à-vis the sex scandal that was surrounding him. I said he was being treated like a black on the street, already guilty, already a perp. I have no idea what his real instincts are, in terms of race.
Why did you endorse Barack Obama for the presidency? --Chris Francis Lightbourne, Long Island, N.Y.
I thought about voting for Hillary at the beginning. I don't care that she is a woman. I need more than that. Neither his race, his gender, her race or her gender was enough. I needed something else, and the something else was his wisdom.
So the popular meme about Clinton being our first black president ‘in spirit’ is completely erroneous and not at all what Toni Morrison meant.
But President Clinton has a completely different explanation.
"The other thing I want to make a funny comment about is Steve Cohen's remark that I was just a stand-in for the first black president," Clinton said. "I'm happy to do that, but you know what else we learned from the human genome? We learned that unless your ancestors, every one of you, are 100 percent, 100 percent from sub-Saharan Africa, we are all mixed-race people."
Hmm. So he wasn’t just metaphorically the first black president, he was ACTUALLY the first black president?(ignoring that his point could be used to say that just about any previous president was our first black president)
So relax black people! It turns out we have had many, many black presidents.
We just didn’t know it until Bill Clinton enlightened us.
And for the record, Bill, I didn’t think your comment was funny at all. And while we are all technically mixed race, that has nothing to do with the way people of color are treated in this country. Everyone being mixed-raced is of little consolation to Tamir and doesn’t really effect our reality AT ALL.