It’s disturbing when people make a concerted effort to write opinion pieces about how ‘black’ Senator Barak Obama’s really is, questioning his ethnicity, how really ‘down’ he really is with us coloured folks (okay, I’m kinda guilty on that one). Call me paranoid, but part of me thinks that there are a whole lotta people who believe that he is more credible as a potential presidential candidate because of his mixed heritage and that he is not a descendant of West African slaves. To put it bluntly, I imagine that in some circles, racial stereotypes do not, and will not apply to Obama. There’s even a new phrase that has been created in his honour: Halfrican.