Barack Obama Is Not Black

Re-posted from my blog on The Huffington Post.

In this supposed "Post Racial" age of Obama you would think that the silly concept of race would simply ease its way into obscurity. And I am not even talking about the stupidity of racism that has in some ways gotten worse as so many on the far right have simply lost their minds at seeing an African-American family in The White House.

No, I'm talking about our concept of race itself. The fact is that we have what some see as the first black president (sorry Bill Clinton) and what others rightfully recognize as our first bi-ethnic president, since Obama is undeniably not all or mostly black, he is half. Now I know to some, both blacks and whites, as silly and erroneous as it is to say it, half black simply means all black. This notion is the result of the concept of white ethnic purity which lead to the age-old but still going strong "one drop rule" that states, quite simply, no matter how stupid and wrong, that one drop of black blood makes you black. Frankly, I am still amazed that blacks accept this as much as whites do even though it means our blood is somehow tainted. But then again, I do know that for blacks, the acceptance is rooted in two things, one being the need to keep our numbers up for statistics and the other that any mixed person who does not unequivocally state that they are black is somehow ashamed of being black. So one is based on choosing to be inaccurate and the other based on self-esteem issues.

Ironically, the concept of race, which is a pseudo-scientific concoction anyway, has gotten more muddled of late than it has gotten better. I remember years ago people of mixed background had no choice on what to check off on demographic surveys that forced them to pick sides. Then came the "Other" category. An improvement in a way, but who wants to be "Other?" Well, thanks to a number of groups making sure the U.S. Census made more effort to be accurate in our rapidly changing society, one that is decidedly more mixed than it was just a few years ago, the choices increased. So we made progress. Right?

Well, just a couple of weeks ago I got my middle school kids' registration papers and, of course, there was the obligatory demographic survey for us to fill out. Much to my surprise and chagrin, the form proved that whoever is responsible for determining our governmental concept of that term "race" has gotten even more confused.

The form was simple enough in design, being a simple one pager. The top section asked you to fill out your "Ethnicity," for which you had but two choices. Ethnically, you were either Hispanic or non-Hispanic. That was the extent of all the world's ethnicities. Mind you, our kids go to a school that has over 30 languages spoken in it -- from Russian to Japanese to Armenian to Spanish to English and much more. But ethnically you were simply Hispanic or non-Hispanic.
Now the second and last section was even more interesting. In the infinite wisdom of the powers that be who try to define "race," the second section offered many choices. In this section, you were to pick your "race." Oh, oh, there is that pseudo-scientific word again. So much to my surprise, "race" now was defined by choices like these -- Japanese, Philippino, Chinese, Indian, etc., and of course there was black and white. White was seemingly the catch all for the Persian, Armenian, Iranian and other Middle Eastern kids who did not have categories of boxes for their "race." Why Asian's had countries for race and others didn't I had no idea.
I was flabbergasted. What used to be ethnicities and cultures were now separate races. And if you think I was confused my wife, who is Mexican American, was really thrown off. Of course, on the top of the form she could check 'Hispanic." But on the bottom there were no categories for "Mexican American" or "Mexican" or anything that related to a country of origin, though there was such for many Asian countries. Was she supposed to check "white," which she is certainly not?
And for our kids, who are half Hispanic and half non-Hispanic, which box should they have checked on the top of the form? And on the bottom they only had "black" but nothing to represent their mother.

Oh boy, this sure didn't seem like progress. It was pure unadulterated silliness. Many, many people, and the numbers are growing, cannot simply be defined by these stupid boxes. When will we let go of the concept of "race" that does nothing but continue to entrap us all in believing that that which is not real is way more than it needs to be?
Barack Obama is both black and white and he is neither black nor white, and he is mixed and he is half. He is all of those things and he is none of those things. They are simply labels that we use to make life supposedly simpler even though in the end, they make it much more complicated. It is stupid and I don't choose to participate in the silliness.

By the way we checked both boxes, Hispanic and non-Hispanic and we checked black and added a box for Mexican-American for the bottom.

The Wide Wide World of Cultures

I got an email from a gentleman the other day who contacted me because we share the same first and last name and he came across me while Googling his name. When he introduced himself he gave me a bit of his history and among other things pointed out that as a former Air Force man he spent a lot of time over in Japan many years ago. He also remarked about how much he really likes Japan and misses it very much.

Now that got me to thinking how two other good friends I have come to know thanks to the Internet are both African-American men married to Japanese women and both are great lovers of Japan and the Japanese culture as well. And I couldn’t help but wonder about inter-ethnic dating or marriage and which cultures seemed to be the most common, least common, etc. I am sure there are statistics out there that answer this and I’ll probably look it up. And I am excluding for the sake of this curiosity, American White and American Black, since we can already guess that would be the most dominant combo since those two are the most obvious.

My guess is Asian and Black would be the smallest group, despite my personal connections to those couples. And I would guess that Black and some Hispanic culture, say Mexican-American or Puerto Rican, would likely be the next largest to White-Black. And I say that based on population size and proximity, as well as shared economics and issues.

However it goes, it is so interesting to see the world coming together like that. And to come across so many people who have been brave enough to step outside of their familiar zone. The world is so big and so full with so much to gain from. Thank God people do see the choices are as wide as the field.

Which Box Should I Check?

I came face to face with the insanity of race the other day as I looked over my kids' school registration papers. Among the usual papers was an "ethnicity survey" that I presume is used for federal reporting or funding or something. I've got no problem with that.

But here is what we had to fill out.

The first section for "Ethnicity" gives you two choices - Hispanic/Latino or non-Hispanic.

What the...?

So now ethnicity is either Hispanic or non-Hispanic. That is it? And you can only check one box. So since my kids are half Hispanic and half non-Hispanic, which one box should they check?

Then comes the second section where you check your "Race." Here they say you can check as many as needed. Which of course is a big improvement over many years ago where even here you used to be able to check only one box.

The choices included many Asian categories of "race." Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, you get the picture. So now these are supposedly different races and not just different countries of origin or cultures?

And of course there was the standard "White" or "Black." But interestingly no Brown category for race. I guess that was covered under ethnicity in the first section which means Mexican, Honduran and Brazilian people or simply Hispanic but Asians can have countries which makes them have races.

I am confused.

Now I get that Hispanics can be black, white and brown. But so too are there Asian Hispanics. And if my wife is Hispanic thus checking that box under the ethnicity section for example, what is she supposed to check in the "race" section where there is nothing available for her that is a "Brown" category. She is not White nor Black nor any of the Asian categories. Which also means what are my kids supposed to mark on this form? I am truly not getting this.

Race is so untrue that even when they tried to fix these forms, they have only served to make them even more useless and confusing.

You Tell "Em Rachel!

You gotta love this from Rachel Maddow. If you haven't seen this, her rebuke of Pat Buchanan who made the statement that "white people built and made this country" you should watch it.

I love Rachel Maddow.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Paris Jackson's Debut A Beautiful Thing For The Blended Family

One more thing about Michael Jackson I promise. Despite the fact that his kids are clearly not his biological kids, seeing his daughter, Paris, really for the first time unmasked and speaking, was so so wonderful considering she and the family were broadcast to the entire world as a family that was certainly not mono-racial. Even if adopted, they are still his kids and still a good example of a blended or Mixed family.

I loved seeing her and look forward to seeing more of the kids. I just hope they get a shot at a normal life, at least as far as normal can be considering.

Richard Nixon on “Interracial” Babies

O.K. we already knew Richard Nixon was a complete crook and liar. But now we can add to his legacy, complete idiot.

As you may have heard, the Nixon library released last week more recordings of this crazy man. Which by the way, I don’t understand why they keep doing this since they exist to honor the man, and yet the more we know about him; the more history will see him for what he was, a person totally unfit to run this country. Anyway, one of the things Nixon can be heard expounding on in this most recent batch, is his opinion about exceptions for abortion. In a nutshell he said that while he was against abortion generally, he felt that there were two exceptions that should be allowed, in the case of rape and in the case of Mixed, black and white, babies.

Yep.

That’s what the idiot said.

Need I say more?

What a fool he was.

Forever A Fan of Michael Jackson

Wow I’m still in a state of shock about Michael Jackson passing away. It just doesn’t feel real. I was, no I am, one of his biggest fans and supporters. There will never be another entertainer like Michael, with that kind of longevity and fan base worldwide. What a loss. We all have to go sometime, but this was definitely too soon for him.

I still remember how cool that he sang proudly the lyrics “if you wanna be my baby, it doesn’t matter if you’re black or white.” That was great. That song and its lyrics didn’t change the world, but coming from someone as big as him, it certainly put forth the concept of inter-ethnic harmony and love in a big way.

Of course there was the irony of such words coming from a guy who seemed to want to deny his own ethnicity and become another. But I don’t really care about that. Michael had issues no doubt. Don’t we all. In the end, he was a flawed human but a great one no less. What he gave to the world was a supreme gift, and music, the world for that matter, will not be the same without him.

The irony for me was that as a kid I was so connected to Michael partly because I was his mirror image (when he was a kid with the afro and brown skin). Literally everywhere I went, strangers would stop me and my parents and say how much I looked like Michael Jackson. So I felt a special connection. How odd then that he died on my birthday, June 25.

I guess we will continue to be connected, because that date will now have even more meaning to me.