And if WP got it right the same person that wrote African American in our political and social vocabulary means those descended from West African slaves because Obama is not a descendant of West Africans brought involuntarily to the United States as slaves he is not African American also wrote President Barack Obama who is the son of a Kenyan immigrant although technically African American is not black 181 182 And yes if both his parents had been americans there probaly wouldn t have been a birther movement is that relevant here Your opinion is clear and you tend to state it as fact Mine is that Obama is an unusual kind of african american but nonetheless african american I don t see us agreeing on this so I guess this article will remain as it is unless other editors weigh in