Black heroes who honour their white roots

Obama should not let his white clan be forgotten - and he must deny those who insist he is plain black. New racing champ Lewis Hamilton needs to do the same. It's not easy, but it's crucial.

For while Obama and Hamilton are inspiring, neither is "black". Nor, incidentally, are Leona Lewis, Mel B, Oona King, Sade, Tiger Woods - and on and on. They are mixed-race, as were Malcolm X, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley before them.

When I said this on the radio earlier this week, I had many responses, highly emotional. One Afro-Caribbean listener said I was a "racist" because I hated the idea of a black man rising to the top, that I was stealing their glory. Tosh. There are brilliant black men such as Denzil Washington, David Lammy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rageh Omar, Sidney Poitier and many more. But Obama and Hamilton are not black. Yes, they face prejudice but that shouldn't mean they have to be misclassified. Under slavery and apartheid, anyone with one drop of "black" blood was classified as black. To perpetuate such a notion in the 21st century is an outrage.

It causes untold psychological distress, too. White mothers tell me it hurts when the label "black" is casually used to describe their biracial children. One wrote: "It's like a delete button is used and we are wiped out. As if we are nothing. Many of us are raising these kids on our own. I am proud my child has a black father but I want the same respect back for me and my racial background."

Thanks to Obama and Hamilton, hope surges today that racism, though ever present, ugly and incapacitating, can be transcended by both victims and perpetrators. Obama has known what it feels like to be rejected by whites and blacks, for not being "one of us"; I imagine Hamilton knows, too. These heroes challenge the abominable creeds of racial purity and superiority. In their veins runs a rich mix that cannot be separated. Both need to proclaim that, just as Tiger Woods did when he, too, was in this place, talented and victorious - and relabelled "black" in his moment of glory.