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Birther movement has racist undertones

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President Barack Obama’s place of birth has again come into question after Donald Trump finally admitted that, yes, our commander in chief was born in the U.S.

We didn’t wonder where our last two presidents were born, so why now? Why would people think that Obama is lying?

There are many excuses as to why Obama’s birthplace becomes a hot topic, but in the end it’s all nonsense. Obama was born in Honolulu — that is a fact. The information is as real as the racism that exists around the birther question.

The stark reality is that Obama is a black man. This is enough for some people to debate his citizenship. It’s important to know that his mother was born in Wichita, Kansas and is a white woman named Ann Dunham.

No, people like Trump would rather have you focus on Obama’s Kenyan father — if that even is his father.

Trump has publicly displayed his suspicion of Obama’s birthplace since the latter ran for president in 2008. Back then, like now, he repeated a lot of what he heard from others as fact. Trump is trying to play the media again.

“Three weeks ago, I thought he was born in this country. Right now I have some real doubts. I have people that actually have been studying it, and they cannot believe what they’re finding,” Trump said to Meredith Viera on NBC’s Today on April 11, 2011.

Trump has also tried to pit Hillary Clinton against Obama through falsely claiming that she was starter of the birther question. Of course, like every other lie he has told, people quickly discovered that this was not true at all.

There are so many conspiracy theories surrounding Obama’s birth that it’s hard to fathom a presidential candidate embracing one of them and pushing the idea to the media. The mogul’s knack, however, is turning the unfathomable into a reality.

Although our gracious president can joke about Trump’s recent announcement, we need to realize that this question arise because of the president’s skin color. Trump was only using the birthplace question to degrade the accomplishments of a black man who has become president.

Trump thinks he can simply say that Obama was born here and just like that everyone will forget the years of questioning and suggesting that he did.

Thankfully, Trump’s reversal may be to little too late. He may be gaining in the polls, but Trump is lacking in the minority vote.

It doesn’t matter how much he backtracks or pretends like things didn’t happen, the minority community would be wise to remember what type of man Trump is and his birther comments when Election Day finally comes.

We live in an awesome country with a president whose full name is Barrack Hussein Obama. As a country, we have overcome all types of hurdles and will do the same to the “birther” argument.

Opinion editor Frank Campos is a media production senior and can be reached at [email protected].

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