There have been plenty of arguments that our current president, Barack Hussein Obama, is either not a Christian or was not born in the United States. The rumors suggesting that his certificate was forged or is otherwise faked were upheld and popularized by no other than rich loud-mouth Donald Trump. And though the document, or a photocopy thereof, was in fact produced, don’t expect that to be the end of it. We’re past election times, but you might have gotten an email forward claiming to deconstruct the purported birth certificate. This article will summarize three points brought out in a typical example of this document, and explain where the points are mistaken.
1. In 1961 black people were called “Negroes,” and not “African-Americans” and hence the certificate’s anachronism proves it could not have been a legitimate 1961 document.
Answer: the term on the certificate, “Africa” refers to the African born father, in fact, not to his race but to the continent he was born upon.
2. The birth certificate names Obama’s father’s birthplace as Kenya, but Kenya did not exist in 1961, but gained its independence in 1963 and changed its name from “British East Africa Protectorate.”
Answer: while it is true Kenya changed its name when it gained its independence in 1963, it was known as “The Kenya Colony” from 1920.
3. The birth certificate names “Kapi’olani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital” as Obama’s birthplace, but such an agency did not exist, being subdivided into “Kauikeolani Children’s hospital” and “Kapi-olani Maternity home” until the two fused in 1978. This anachronism suggests the document was not created in 1961.
Answer: the Kapi’olani Maternity home became Kapi’olani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital in 1931, until the name was shorted in 1971 to Kapi’olani Hospital. The Kauikeolani Children’s Hospital joined later in 1978 and became Kapi-olani Medical Center for Women and Children. The changing of names over the years may not have been clearly explained on the hospital’s website, but the birth certificate is correct.
4. Obama states in his book or elsewhere that he is proud of his father for fighting in WW2, but his father was 9-years-old and in Kenya at the time.
Answer: Obama must have meant his grandfather, who did serve in WW2, who played more of a fatherly role to him growing up.
5. Obama mysteriously wasn’t wearing his watch or wedding ring during the month of Ramadan. Pious Muslims don’t wear jewelry during the month, but why wasn’t he? The White House claimed they were being “repaired.” Meanwhile, he hasn’t even once gone to church in his presidency.
Answer: Jewelry can be worn in Ramadan, and anyway, there are plenty of pictures of Obama wearing his watch as well as his wedding band during Ramadan. Also, the claims that he hasn’t gone to church during his presidency are false, as he most certainly did.
As with any president, there are plenty of mistaken statements brought against him, as well as some true ones. But it seems, from the evidence, that he really was born in Hawaii in 1961.
