Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Busy Week

Just wanted to say I haven't forgotten to write this week, I've just been swamped with some family matters. Will get bak at you next week. Have a good one.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

The South Shall Not Rise Again

I know the South isn't the only place where we still have outdated notions of the evils of "race-mixing" but articles like the one in today's New York Times, titled "For Some, Uncertainty Starts at Racial Identity," still makes me glad my family and I don't live anywhere near there. Here are some choice excerpts from the article, referring to Barack Obama:

“He’s neither-nor,” said Ricky Thompson, a pipe fitter who works at a factory north of Mobile, while standing in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart store just north of here. “He’s other. It’s in the Bible. Come as one. Don’t create other breeds.”

Whether Mr. Obama is black, half-black or half-white often seemed to overshadow the question of his exact stand on particular issues, and rough-edged comments on the subject flowed easily even from voters who said race should not be an issue in the campaign. Many voters seemed to have no difficulty criticizing the mixing of the races — and thus the product of such mixtures — even as they indignantly said a candidate’s color held no importance for them.

“I would think of him as I would of another of mixed race,” said Glenn Reynolds, 74, a retired textile worker in Martinsdale, Va., and a former supervisor at a Goodyear plant. “God taught the children of Israel not to intermarry. You should be proud of what you are, and not intermarry.”


And how about this line:

“He’s going to tear up the rose bushes and plant a watermelon patch,” said James Halsey, chuckling, while standing in the Wal-Mart parking lot with fellow workers in the environmental cleanup business. “I just don’t think we’ll ever have a black president.”


My Zen practice challenges me to have compassion for these people, but I'm sorry, these people are idiots. And it gives me a bit of pleasure knowing that no matter how much they may not like it, there is nothing they can do to stop the amount of ethnic mixing that is going on in this country and that will only increase in the years to come. Even in this New York Times article, there was an example of this:

Bud Rowell, a retired oil field worker interviewed at a Baptist church in Citronelle, Ala., north of Mobile, said he was uncertain about Mr. Obama’s racial identity, and was critical of him for being equivocal and indecisive.

But Mr. Rowell also said that personal experience had made him more sympathetic to biracial people.

“I’ve always been against the blacks,” said Mr. Rowell, who is in his 70s, recalling how he was arrested for throwing firecrackers in the black section of town. But now that he has three biracial grandchildren — “it was really rough on me” — he said he had “found out they were human beings, too.”


Read the entire article here.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

The First "Black" President?

O.K., my last video blog before I get back to writing. I couldn't resist this one, especially since it does get into the mixed ethnicity status of Barack Obama. Truly funny.

Friday, October 10, 2008

A Video That Captures The World We Hope For

Continuing my string of interesting videos, check out this very inspiring music video, which to me is about a lot more than electing Barack Obama, it is also about people coming together.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Who would've thought Ann Curry of "The Today Show' was funny? I didn't even know she was Mixed. Check out here comedy routine which for the most part talks about her Mixed heritage. Well done and once again shows being Mixed is not the tragic event some like to make it out to be.

Monday, October 6, 2008

SNL At Their Best

This is just too good. Queen Latifah absolutely steals this with her expressions.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Mixed Kids Are Often Better At Dealing With "Racial" Problems

I have mentioned before how there seem to be no shortage of people and "studies" that subscribe to the idea of the tragic or torutred Mixed child, which I have always found to be a bit out of touch with reality. Well, here is an academic study that gives the other side, a report that says on the contrary, Mixed people and children are possibly better adjusted than same ethnicity people. The study is "A Positive Approach to identity Formation of Biracial Children" and was authored by Mary Ann Cunningham at San Jose State University.

Here are some of her findings:

...Some studies have found that it is more likely for interracial children to experience difficulties related to a poor self-identity, such as gender confusion, self-hatred, alcohol and drug abuse, suicide, delinquency and alienation. Yet other studies have found interracial youth to show high levels of creativity, adaptability, and resiliency" (Herring, as cited in Hoskins, 1996).


And this:

A study by Alvin Poussaint, M. D. of biracial children disproved the myth that these children have conflicts over which race to identify within society. "Rather, biracial young people appeared to be more open-minded and seldom used racial labels to describe others" (Gay, 1987, p. 41). Tiger Woods, the twenty-one year old golf pro, has brought the issue of multi-ethnicity in to the limelight, lately. He has openly stated that he objects to being called African-American. His parents raised him to embrace all of his heritage. When he was a boy he made up a name to describe himself, "Cablinasian", which encompasses Caucasian, black, Indian and Asian. "But to be called any one of them, he said, was to deny a part of him" (Leland, 1997, p.59). Times are finally starting to change; multiculturalism is "in". Multi-ethnicity confers both individuality and a sense of shared values. Though, this does do not mean that the path is easy. Multiracial children know who they are and where they come from even if society does not accept it. Racism still exists, but "by asserting their multiracial identities, they can throw light on the nation's racial irrationality, even pressure it" (Leland, 1997, p. 60).


And finally,

In conclusion, an interracial child is not preordained to experience conflict as a result of their mixed heritage. If the family is open and communicative about both or all the cultures that have come together to create this child, the child can grow up to appreciate diversity in themselves and in others.


The main point of her study and report, is that in the end, it is how the child is raised and how they are taught about their heritage that is the primary key to whether or not they experience conflict over being Mixed. Makes sense to me. But again, I don't base my beliefs on whether these studies support or run counter to my experiences. I just know that people, and our responses to all kinds of things, are not just a factor of the color, even if the color is a blended one, of our skin.