Date: Thu, 7 May 2009 07:13:01 +0530 From: Frederick [FN] Noronha * ???????? ????????
Please note, I didn't come out aggressively to suggest that Mario's original statement was incorrect (though there could be further scope for debate) but only put up a tentative question saying: > Which Latin American country had a Black president? In the bargain, I was forced to wonder what exactly goes into forming "Latin America", and who exactly is a "Black". Mario responds: Aren't you glad you did not come out aggressively? One has to be very careful to even THINK that the only voice on Goanet of reason, truth and peace, can be incorrect, because this is a rare ocurrence:-)) Other Latin American Presidents with African blood that come to mind include Manuel Noriega of Panama [de facto President] and Papa Doc and Baby Doc Duvalier of Haiti, all scurrilous dictators. When you asked your question I thought you were kidding. There has been so much ethnic cross-breeding throughout this hemisphere for centuries that even Americans and Latin Americans who look white could have African blood, just as those who look black, like Obama and Colin Powell and Harry Belafonte, have white blood. Some figures on African blood in Latin American ethnicity are shown here: http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Afro:Latin:American.htm Also, based on the peculiar "one drop" standard that is used by African-Americans, if, in fact, Thomas Jefferson, Abe Lincoln and the other three American presidents, who all looked white, had black ancestry there had to have been others in the western hemisphere. Fred writes: While JC might cringe to hear me quoting his favourite knowledge gathering tool, the Wikipedia, Mario observes: Wikipedia is a convenient tool for most people in the internet age and provides decent information most of the time. Because a broad spectrum individuals have an input in the information, including those who are writers and editors of recognized encyclopedias, Wikipedia may be more correct than other encyclopedias that only a few people have control over because individual biases would tend to cancel each other out over a period of time, and abuses have declined due to better controls than there were originally.
