Biracial People Offended by Obama’s Mutt Reference

When I blogged Obama’s first press conference last Friday, I mentioned his two failed attempts at humor:

“Obama’s ridicule of the aging Nancy Reagan at this stage in her life may have seemed inappropriate to some.

“In response to a question about finding a puppy for his daughters as promised after the election, his second attempt at humor – although self-deprecating this time - might also have fallen a little flat; he compared his own biracial lineage to the pedigree of a mutt.”

Foon Rhee at Political Intelligence (Boston Globe) has a very thoughtful post today on Obama’s “mutt” reference. Rhee quotes Obama:

‘“We have two criteria that have to be reconciled. One is that Malia is allergic, so it has to be hypoallergenic. There are a number of breeds that are hypoallergenic,’ he said. "On the other hand, our preference would be to get a shelter dog, but, obviously, a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me.’"


Rhee goes on to say:


“During the campaign, Obama celebrated his biracial heritage as the son of a white mother from Kansas and an African father from Kenya -- and many biracial Americans celebrated with him.

‘“But now on some message boards and blogs, some are saying they were offended by his self-deprecating description of himself as a ‘mutt.’

‘“One of the most thought-out is from a woman who runs a blog for Korean-American mothers. ‘I've heard mixed-race people use that term to describe themselves before, usually in the same ha-ha way Obama did. I've also heard it thrown around as an insult, a pejorative, a slur. I've felt the slap of that word across my face and it is not a word I can 'reclaim,' she wrote.

‘“My fear, however, is that Obama, as the first mixed-race president, will shape the way most Americans view people of mixed race for at least a generation. And will Obama calling himself a 'mutt' -- with humor, as if the word is nothing, nothing at all -- make it socially acceptable for people to start calling me a mutt? My kids?’

‘“Because not only does the word have a history as a slur, but there are reasons that that word makes such an easy slur. It allows people to rhetorically reduce us to animals -- people 'bred' like dogs are bred. For all our 'mutts are better!' talk (it is, as Obama knows, better to adopt a dog from a shelter, right? Rejected, but nonetheless in need of love), it still comes from a place where 'purebreds' are better.”’