Is Obama "Bi-Racial Or Black?"

That was the question CNN or some other mainstream news organization posed in one of their major pieces the other day. The problem with the question is the basic problem with our society in general. We have an insane need to categorize, to fit everything into neat little boxes. And making that instinct worse, is the further need to define everything in "black and white terms." You are either this or that, is the conventional wisdom. You cannot be both.

How silly.

At the end of the day, the nature of Barack's family tree gives him the freedom to choose to identify himself any way he chooses to. That is his personal choice and one he seems to have made based on how people see him when they look at his skin tone. While I would love it if he had chosen to bring light to the mixed ethnicity moniker by identifying as mixed, multi-racial or bi-racial (despite my being against any usage of "race"), I do understand why he has made the choice he has, as I do when Halle Berry calls herself black. Though for Obama it is much more political since he risks great push back from his black base if he were perceived to be shunning "blackness."

But back to the main point. It is not necessary to say whether Obama is Black or Bi-racial. He is both. It would also be equally correct to identify him as White, Hawaiian, Multi-Racial, any of the above. They are all absolutely correct. Now I do applaud the media for trying to get this right. I have been known to write to editors and journalists myself to make sure they noted a person was mixed and not "black" when they did not acknowledge the distinction. My purpose in doing so is always to point out that to simply label a person black (or any other single ethnicity) when they are more than that, buys into the racist concept that whites are pure and blacks and others are not. But to move that discussion into a pure either-or question is still missing the point.

Progress won't come easy I know. At least they did bring it up, is one way to look at it. But hey, I'm still pushing for them to go all the way to accepting and understanding the new reality.

The Trouble With In-Laws

My wife and I have been having a big discussion about whether or not we should limit our kids' contact with her parent's, our kids' grandparents, since they are quite undeniably racist.

The thing is they are not the kind that has ever or would ever say anything that is blatantly bigoted in front of me or the kids. They are the kind that is more subtle than that. They tend to simply make it clear that our kids are just not as on par with the other grandchildren, that they are "less than" and more of an interesting and cute amazement.

That does not mean my wife has not heard them be more direct in their opinions of blacks when she was growing up and when we were dating. She certainly heard the "N" word on many occasions let's say. And based on other comments they have made to her, it is not like they have become more enlightened since the kids have been around these 11 and 9 years.

The good thing is we live in Los Angeles and these grandparents are in Texas so we don't really see them all that much anyway. But of late my wife has come to the conclusion that she has had it with putting up with their attitude. I have always felt we should limit our time around them since I am not one to fake affection or hold my tongue. But at the same time I have also been concerned of damaging the kids by keeping the away from their grandparents, concerned that that could also do harm since the kids would at some point wonder why they could not see them and ultimately learn of their views anyway.

This week, thanks to posting a question on the wonderful site, "Anti-Racist Parent" we got some good advice from others, and the overwhelming consensus seemed to agree it was more important to keep the kids away from anyone who treated them with disrespect than to feel obligated to a familial tie that was not loving.

My wife and I had pretty much concluded that. Frankly I am still not sure we will never allow them to see their grandparents on my wife's side (my family has no issues with their multi-ethnic make-up), but we will certainly make it very very limited visits. We know we can't keep them protected from stupidity all their life, it is just so much more complicated when that idiocy is within your own family.

Like James Brown Said, "I'm Back!"

After spending some time working on a broader concept for my blog over at "A Different Way" I have happily and excitedly decided to restart this blog again. It seems no matter how hard I try and no matter what my other interests, nothing seems to motivate me more in terms of social causes and political/social discourse than the issue of race relations and multi-ethnic relationships and children.

So I am back at it again and look forward to focusing again on these issues. So much has happened since I was last here, from the primaries and general election to other national and world affairs that I think bringing our issues to the forefront and again demonstrating just how critical it is that we increase our efforts to improve the "racial" dialogue in this country, is of supreme importance.

So come back, join the discussion when it suits you, or just read and think about what is printed or appears here in the news or video section. I am so happy to be back!