Who Are We? New Dialogue on Mixed Race

[Kber]

More fall out from Barack's speach...

Who Are We? New Dialogue on Mixed Race

Jenifer Bratter once wore a T-shirt in college that read “100 percent black woman.” Her African-American friends would not have it.

“I remember getting a lot of flak because of the fact I wasn’t 100 percent black,” said Ms. Bratter, 34, recalling her years at Penn State.

“I was very hurt by that,” said Ms. Bratter, whose mother is black and whose father is white. “I remember feeling like, Isn’t this what everybody expects me to think?”

Being accepted. Proving loyalty. Navigating the tight space between racial divides. Americans of mixed race say these are issues they have long confronted, and when Senator Barack Obama recently delivered a speech about race in Philadelphia, it rang with a special significance in their ears. They saw parallels between the path trod by Mr. Obama and their own.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/us/politics/31race.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=politics

[AspenRose]

1. Proud to K & R

:kick:

My former OB in New Mexico can relate to the "nanny" and "maid" comments (latina married to an anglo with mixed kids)

I've had people ask me if my kids are "mine" as well.

It is more practical in current society to identify with what you most look like, but I don't think my maternal side should get short shrift either, just because I resemble the paternal side more. People shouldn't *have* to choose sides....but alas....

[Jensen]

2. If more people identify them selfs as Human American vs ......

White/Black/Hispanic/Asian/etc etc this country would become truly united ! I only accept the Human Label in every application,census report, poll, etc....Have done so for the last 20 years ! Me, I'm Human what are you?????:hi:

[goldcanyonaz]

3. I wonder what the response would be to a white woman wearing a "100% white woman" t-shirt.

[SoCalDem]

4. NO ONE is "pure" or 100% ANYTHING

well maybe a few Icelandic people might be..or a few Inuits..

but MOST of us are mongrels, made up of snippets of DNA from EVERYWHERE and EVERYONE..

When you look at all the mass-migrations of people and all the wars , it's naive to think that anyone could claim to be "100%" anything..

One of the biggest parts of "old-time" war was to capture the women, so that the "enemy" would evaporate as the young & the men were killed.. the captured women would bear the young of the conquerors, and build UP their population..

Warriors on the move, just raped & made sure that remnants of their victorious genes would linger in the vanquished ..