Obama and the "Race Card"

This is not a commentary on the politics of the Democratic party of of Barak Obama... I'm not even really sure what he stands for, other than "change" anyway. But rather an observation about race.

Why is it that the Clinton campaign seemed to bring up the "race card" first? Is it perhaps because Barak Obama is not really black? Let me further explain.

Barak Obama's father is from Kenya, so he is part black. But his mother is a white-girl from Kansas. To say that Barak Obama is black is a slap in the face to the 50% of his genetic makeup that did not come from Africa. He is every much a white person as he is a black person... he is biracial.

My two children are biracial. I never refer to them as black. They are not. If I need to refer to them by description, I'll say something like "he's the little tan boy over there" or "my daughter is the little tan girl." Tan is a color that describes their color.

They are not black... in fact, they have more European DNA in them than African DNA. I'm about as European as they come... every single one of my ancestors have been in America for five generations, and at that point, some of them immigrated here from Germany in the 1800s. Some of my ancestors have been here in America for 15 generations... they came from England to Jamestown in the 1600s. I've been an amateur genealogist for about 15 years, and I know that I'm about as European as they come. One of my ancestors did come from Italy in the 1100s, lol. But that's still Europe. My husband, on the other hand, is NOT as African as they come. He does have some French DNA floating around him. His family comes from Louisiana, and that's where the French comes in. So to say that my children are black is a lie... they are more white, more European, than they are African.

In Barak Obama's case, his father comes from Kenya, so he might not have any European blood on his father's side. But he is 50% white.

Sometimes I wonder, what are we, back in the slave days? Because back then, if your great-great grandpa was black, and every other member of your family was white, you'd still be considered black. That's not black, that's mostly white.

I know that it's easier for most of the media, and probably for many Americans, to see the world in terms of strictly black and white. But it's not that way, especially now. Even those little demographic boxes that ask you what race you are are starting to catch up. 15 years ago, most of them would say "check one", but now, more increasingly, they're starting to say "check all that apply". Which is how it should be... if you're going to bring race into the equation at all.

The country might be fawning all over themselves, congratulating themselves on how enlightened they are to have a "black" person running for president, but they have a long way to come. Maybe when we stop forcing people into boxes that they only half-belong in, we can start congratulating ourselves.

MLK and Kids

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

It's a pretty normal day around here. The baby is pinching his big sister and pulling her hair (as normal), we had school earlier today (although I made reading a little easier for her), and dh is off at work. He doesn't have school but he's going to his friends after work to build a computer, so he might as well be going to school after work.

I tried to explain Martin Luther King day to my 5 year old, but she really wasn't interested. I don't even really think she knows the difference between black people and white people... she knows that people come in lots of different colors, something that she can see in her own family, but she doesn't really know too much about race.

So how do you explain that at one time some people had to drink out of different water fountains and sit at the back of the bus?

She's just starting to get slavery. She knows that a slave is "a person that works for another person" and that they don't get paid. We've discussed that the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, and have touched on slavery in the colonies, because we're studying colonial America this year. But a 5 year old doesn't really understand much more.

I guess that it's good that we live in a world where kids don't know a thing about racism. I'm sure that time will come eventually, but it hasn't yet and in some ways that is good.

Juan Williams A "Happy Negro"? - CNN Thinks So

A day or two ago, CNN declared in its broadcast that Juan Williams, a frequent commentator on The O'Reilly Factor and other Fox television programs, was a "Happy Negro".

Say what?

O'Reilly was having lunch at a Harlem restaurant with Al Sharpton, talking about how sometimes whites feared black people, and that it was primarily driven out of fear. Just look at how the media portrays black people far too often as gang-bangers, or half-literate hoodlums that can't speak proper English. On his radio program, O'Reilly remarked to Juan Williams that the restaurant that they were eating at was just like any other restaurant run by white people.

The comment was taken completely out of context by CNN, and O'Reilly was portrayed as anti-black. Juan Williams, who was talking to him on the radio, was called a "happy negro" for speaking to O'Reilly and having a civil conversation about all this.

A month ago, if you asked me how race relations were in America, I would have said "pretty good." My family is about as integrated as they come. Between me, my husband, my husband's brother and my sister-in-law, my mother-in-law and her husband, there are exactly 3 white people and three black people. Nobody ever gives us problems. My biracial daughter has no problem making friends and tends to be popular wherever she goes. My biracial son is the darling of the church nursery... even the other children come up to him and call him "the cute baby."

But obviously, despite so much progress, underneath the surface there is much tension. Look at the whole Jena 6 controversy. That is a mess all around. There are both whites and blacks that have acted poorly in that one. Then you have this whole O'Reilly/Williams/Happy Negro controversy. How insulting can CNN be? To me, calling someone a "happy negro" brings up thoughts of old slave/plantation stereotypes a la Driving Miss Daisy.

Give me a break. Both me and my husband watch the O'Reilly Factor regularly and I've never seen anything on the program to make me believe that he is a racist. We've both read two of his books and never have seen anything that we perceive as racist. Juan Williams always appears intelligent and seems to have his own opinion.

CNN seems to be the racist ones to me. Happy Negro? Come on. Reminds me of when my husband decided that he was going to go to college and he asked for a small (1/2 hour a week) schedule accommodation from his boss. His boss's reply was a no and implied that he shouldn't be wasting his time trying to better himself, and what, was his job answering phones not good enough or something? Like maybe he should just be satisfied making below the mean salary for the rest of his life, letting his computer talents go to waste. I'm not sure if the comment at the time was meant to be insulting or not, but it sure sounded along those lines. And so does "happy negro". I didn't watch CNN before, and I'm certainly going to think twice before turning it on again.



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