Who Are We? New Dialogue on Mixed Race

[babylonsister]

Who Are We? New Dialogue on Mixed Race


By MIREYA NAVARRO
Published: March 31, 2008


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


Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J. Phillip Handy and Dana Sacks, mixed-race students. Mr. Handy said Senator Barack Obama, by giving equal weight to both parents, was not “bailing out on any of us.”


“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.

They recalled the friends, as in Ms. Bratter’s case, who thought they were not black enough. Or the people who challenged them to label themselves by innocently asking, “What are you?” Or the relatives of different races who can sometimes be insensitive to one another.

“I think Barack Obama is going to bring these deeply American stories to the forefront,” said Esther John, 56, an administrator at Northwest Indian College in Washington, who identifies herself as African-American, American Indian and white.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/us/politics/31race.html?_r=2&scp=2&sq=Mireya+Navarro&st=nyt&oref=login&oref=slogin

[theoldman]

1. Every human on the face of the earth has about 90% identical

DNA. The other 10% is what makes us European, Asian or African. I think it is only 2% that makes a Pygmy different from a Watusi.

[Karenina]

2. Your numbers, correct as they may be

ignore the "one drop" American rule and the experiences of those of us who live between two worlds.

[Betsy Ross]

3. Every time I hear Barack Obama called "Black"

I cringe at the racist inference. Quadroon, octaroon, one drop, all bull shit. He definitely is African-American but is equally white and black. I do realize the reality of looking more one color than the other. So rather than call Obama bi-racial, people refer to him as black because it makes him more "lucky" :sarcasm:.

[Karenina]

4. Oh? Being referred to as "black" is racist?

Legions of us never heard such quibbles about our backrounds...
How is it that he is suddenly accorded such "white privilege?"
Please don't misunderstand me, BR, the whole dynamic in Amurrikkka is JUST. SO. BESCHEUERT! VERRUCKT! MESHUGGENAH! OUT. TO. LUNCH.

[Betsy Ross]

5. Neither the use of black or white should be racist.

But selecting a color for a biracial/multiracial person can be racist. And when it follows rules from the days of slavery in America, even more so.

I support Obama and am very happy that a person of color will be our candidate. My support is no more based on race than my lack of support for Clinton is based on sex.

Looking at the polling numbers I should be for Clinton: white, female, over 50, Jewish. But Obama has been my candidate since Edwards dropped out.

[Karenina]

6. I'm not interested in your choice of a candidate or why...

My issue is about us who are "half-black, half-white, half-Jewish, (funny how no one EVER says half-Muslim), half-Asian, half-Mexican or any part or parcel thereof. I'm going into serious nuance here as I have this spidey-sense that you just might understand me...