Birthers and Obama's Birth Certificate

Barack Obama, America’s 44^th president, was plagued by those who claimed he was not legitimately born in the United States, and that his birth certificate was forged. This was prominent before he even became president in 2008 and throughout his two presidential terms. The conspiracy theorists claimed that Obama was born in Kenya, his father’s birth country, rather than the United States.

In 2009, Orly Taitz, a Californian woman of many professions (none of which are political – a realtor, a dentist, and a lawyer) claimed to have the Kenyan birth certificate of Obama. Her source of the certificate was unknown, as Taitz said that the man feared for his life. However, the document itself was filled with many errors. The age of Obama’s father was wrong, the city where it said he was born was extremely far from where his father’s family lived, and the document reads “Republic of Kenya” rather than “Dominion of Kenya.” Kenya adopted the term “Republic of Kenya” in December of that year, but not until after Obama was born. Later on, it was revealed that the document was a photoshopped version of another man’s birth certificate that was found online.

Those accusing him, eventually hailed as “birthers,” attempted to point out many (fake) discrepancies with his birth certificate when Obama released his long form birth certificate in 2011.

However, the release of the birth certificate (which even claimed its own section on the White House website) did not fully convince the birthers. They speculated that there were many discrepancies in what was released and even that the birth certificate was tampered with.

The main arguments regarding the released birth certificate are as follows:

Statement: In 1961, African Americans were called “negroes.” Obama’s father was listed as African American on the birth certificate.

Truth:  The term “African American” does not appear on the birth certificate whatsoever. Obama’s father’s race is listed as “African,” which was commonly used by those actually born in Africa (his father was born in Kenya).

Statement: The birth certificate reads that Obama’s father was born in Kenya, but Kenya was not established until 1963, which is two years after Obama’s birth.

Truth: Kenya was known as the Republic of Kenya until its independence from Britain in 1963, where it then became called solely Kenya. Even before this, it was referred to simply as Kenya rather than the Republic of Kenya.

Statement: The birth certificate reads that Obama was born at Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital, but it was not called that until 1978. There was a Kaui Keolani Children’s Hospital and Kapi’olani Maternity Home around that time instead.

Truth: The Kapi’olani Maternity Home became the Kapi’olani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital in 1931. The Kaui Keolani Children’s Hospital was completely separate.

Works Cited

“FACT CHECK: Barack Obama Birth Certificate.” Snopes.com, 21 Feb. 2014, www.snopes.com/fact-check/birth-certificate/.

Farley, Robert. “Trump on Birtherism: Wrong, and Wrong.” FactCheck.org, 28 Sept. 2016, www.factcheck.org/2016/09/trump-on-birtherism-wrong-and-wrong/.

Tatum, Sophie, and Jim Acosta. “Report: Trump Continues to Question Obama's Birth Certificate.” CNN, Cable News Network, 30 Nov. 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/11/28/politics/donald-trump-barack-obama-birth-certificate-nyt/index.html.