Why is Barack Obama black? Um, isn't his mother white? So one parent is black, one is white. But he's black. I do not understand.**
I've got a friend that is biracial. She was raised by white, Scottish parents and opts for long braids in her hair. She often refers to herself as black but in many other conversations, she has said she's just as much white. She just 'looks' more black so that's what people expect of her.
Is being biracial like accidentally washing a red sock in with your whites? People are going to notice it so you might as well claim it as what you are, ignoring the rest?
Perhaps I'm just pissed off by hearing about how important the womens vote is now and how incredibly important the black vote is now. Bullshit. Bull-fucking-shit. Your vote was just as important in all the previous elections but so many chose not to use it. If you need to be prompted by Hillary, or by a black man that I still don't think is black, go ahead. As long as it gets you to vote.
One thing, though. Don't be stupid. Vote for who YOU want to vote for, not who they are telling you that you want to vote for. It's exciting to have a female candidate for nomination as well as a black candidate (although technically...). It is fabulous that this will stimulate some people to think and act. I just hope they don't hop on the Hillary train because just because they're female or the Barack train only because they're black. She could be a hardcore PMSer and take you on that ride every month if elected. You think you want that just because she's a woman? Is it worth it? And he may turn out to ban everything you hold dear because you didn't investigate. You think you want that just because he's black? Is it worth it? The idea of either candidate becoming a nominee is exciting; a first for both. I just think that's all people are focusing on.
So back to the other issue. I really want to know the answer. Is there some unwritten clause that states that the darker skin color wins out for racial declaration? Ok then. So what if you are Asian and Puerto Rican? Honduran and Indian? I'd think that in some circumstances, this would be rather difficult to navigate. Do we really have that much of a desire to label people and toss them into neat little compartments that they can't even acknowledge their heritage?
Then again, has anyone ever heard of capturing the biracial vote? I don't know. I still don't think he's black. (And if he can use that term, so can I.) I just get pissed off when I hear this... "Uh, huh. Oh, you know that's right! My vote gonna get his black ass in THE. WHITE. HOUSE!! 'Bama in the hizouse!" (Don't give me any shit, I witnessed this conversation today.) If he had 'whiter' features, my guess is that he'd get all sorts of shit for trying to 'pass' and have very little popularity no matter what he stood for. People are fickle.
So in the end, we all gripe about inequality of many sorts, including racial. Most often we try to say 'ignore color' and 'were all the same on the inside'. Blahblahblah... But in the next breath we are drawing dividing lines... the female vote... the black vote. In which case, you're black when it suits you if you're the candidate. I mean come on, if he were a regular guy he'd be not black enough for some and not nearly white enough for others. Just ask my friend, she lives it.
I find it confusing to figure out when people want to be compartmentalized and when they want to just be free to be who they are. Do they want to be herded and told where and when they count or do they just want to go about and do what seems right? Is being who you are really that hard? I'm afraid the answer might be 'yes'.
** Look, I'm just really pissy today and I have all these questions and no one to ask them to. If you've been around here long enough you should know that I don't really discriminate... I'm annoyed by ALL people. The questions I'm having are more about the state of what is acceptable and why. We seem to set all these taboos and morees just to knock them down while condemning others for doing the same. When it all comes down to it, either Hillary or Barack will get my vote, barring any bizarre happenings. Terms like 'womens vote' and 'black vote' piss me off. Its as if it discredits voters' ability to select a candidate prior to someone pointing out that there's a woman or a black man to identify with. Then there's still the question of 'how much black makes you black'? How much white is too much to mess it up? Look, I'm being honest in asking, not trying to step on toes. Or perhaps little miss white girl over here is just jealous that she doesn't have a drop of anything remotely interesting in her.
11 comments:
Friend of mine, black woman, recently was asked "are you gonna vote your gender or your race?"
The person asking being a white guy, friend smiled and said "well, I vote based on the candidate's competence...but you, are you going to vote your race or your gender?"
This doesn't answer your question, of course.
Jarvenpa - I always like the way you think, as well as your circle of friends. Competence is key for a candidate. When I initially said that I was glad to see Dennis Kucinich and Bill Richardson in the running, you'd have thought I'd grown a second head by the looks I got. Everyone said Kucinich was an idiot; I disagreed. I was asked if I could really vote for a 'Mexident' in reference to Richardson. After rephrasing, I said 'of course'. I take my voting seriously. The first time I got to vote I was literally dancing in place in line because I was so excited. My thoughts count and I use voting as a vehicle to convey them. It just frightens me to know that there are those that don't think it through. It irritates me further that the campaigns hone in on that. Count on it even. I don't care what gender, race or religion my president is. I don't sleep with them, share make up tips, or go to church with them. As far as the other question, I've seen my friend having a difficult time with it lately and it really bothers me. Perhaps I just hate how there's a double standard built on a double standard anymore. We want the lines drawn then we don't. By asking what I asked it may be taken out of context, which I hope it isn't. But by not asking it makes it a 'taboo' subject and gives it more power. Even though I ask out of sheer interest, nothing sinister, I don't think there is just one answer to it. Humans just confuse me.
Aren't *we all* bi-racial?!
There is no difference from having ancestors from England as there is having ancestors from Africa. Both sets of ancestors are of the same race: humans
I had a grandmother who was mostly German. She HATED the Irish and considered her husband mixed as he was half Irish half German.
So, you are right. Being black is like having brown eyes or blonde hair or a big nose. It is just one of the many physical traits which expresses itself from a gene pool.
M - Very good point! I think the one thing we have effectively done is made the word 'biracial' into a term that tends to be interpreted as 'color-altering' for the most part. As you mentioned, not so. I suppose the little idealist that stubbornly lives on in my head would like traits such as this to be a positive thing, not something to promote taking sides. And thanks for stopping in - hope to see you again!
I don't have much to add to this debate other than I actually have some sympathy for Hillary, this side of the pond portrays her as being somewhat frazzelled and waspish in the face of Obama's oratory and coolness (which has to be said, is rather exceptional). Of course I have no vote being English so my humble opinion counts for little!
Just please gods don't let the republicans in again, not just for your country's sake but mine!
I agree with your points, but I did find Bill Clinton's recent speech entertaining. He said, "I've been waiting my whole life to vote for a black man and I've also been waiting my whole life to vote for a woman. I sometimes think God is playing a trick on me."
It's cute and works for him, but the truth is that it matters. If one of them wins, it will be a threshold that we as a country will cross together and trying to ignore that is simply ignoring reality.
Great post - good insight.
Ben O.
Hey girl! How did I miss this post? I subscribe to your RSS feed, so I'm not sure how this one got lost but anywho...
I feel that I have *some* authority on this subject since I am black. :) And no need to apologize for using the word "black." As far as I'm concerned, I'm not African-American. I've never been to Africa. I was born in San Diego. :) And for the record, I know quite a few black people who feel the same way.
Anyway ... I've got two black parents, so to answer your question, I'll borrow from what I've heard a few biracial people say - Halle Berry and Mariah Carey to be exact. They say that it wasn't they or their families who made the distinction between black, white, black enough, etc. Rather, it was *society* who made the distinction for them. Unfortunately, we live in a society that wants to put people in little categories. It's uncomfortable for a lot of people to just accept that someone is a *person*, they want to know how to *identify* them, which category to put them in.
Halle Berry calls herself black because that's how people classify her, even though she fully embraces her entire heritage.
The "not black enough" thing comes from silly black people who are jealous of someone with non-white skin who has combable hair. I can say that cuz I'm black! LOL!
Actually, when Barack first announced his candidacy, there were some silly black folks who said he wasn't black enough.
In truth, we can talk about this for *days*. Race was not an issue on the planet earth before Europeans started terrorizing, ahem, I mean *colonizing* everything. I mention that because in MY experience, it is mostly caucasians who feel the need to categorize things. The issues within the black community stem from 400 years of shitty treatment by white folks. We were bred to hate ourselves and that doesn't just disappear from the gene pool after a couple generations.
I was also asked a couple of years ago when there were rumblings that Condoleeza would run if I would vote my race or my gender - yes, I was asked by a white man; black people would never ask anything that ridiculous - and I told him I would vote my conscience. In truth, I was pulling for John Edwards this time around. Yes, I picked the white guy. lol! But why? Because I wasn't looking at race or gender, I was looking at policies.
Categories - This race has been of particular interest to me because it is so historic and because for the first time in my life, there's a candidate who inspires me to participate as opposed to my usual sitting back and griping. Anyway, I noticed early on that there was a lot of categorizing going on. "Obama will win such-and-such because there's a lot of black people there." Truth be told, 6 months ago, 90% of black people who have voted for Hillary. It wasn't until Obama swept Iowa that most black people even started paying him any attention. Anyway, the newsmen and pundits still do it. After every primary or caucus, there's somebody breaking down the demographics: Hispanics voted this way, women voted that way, etc. It is, in my opinion, a grotesque oversimplication and insult to people's intelligence. Don't get me wrong, cultural differences are real, but at the end of the day we are all Americans and Americans are a diverse and free-thinking people. I loved when I heard one pundit say that they (the news media) should stop measuring Barack's potential by how many black voters were in a particular state esp. since their predictions and explanations couldn't hold up in places like Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, etc. And yet, they still do it. They need their categories for some ungodly reason.
Anyway, if you ever want to discuss this further, I'd be happy to share my thoughts with you, so feel free to drop me a line. No, I don't speak for all black people - lol - but being black, I may have some insight.
I sincerely apologize for all this rambling. :)
Sorry for the typos:
"90% of black people who have voted for Hillary" should have been "would have voted ..."
"a grotesque oversimplication" should have been oversimplification.
And sorry for any others I missed. :)
Ginger Doll - You get a sort of honorary vote, I think. By association and all. As far as republicans... ugh. Granted, they aren't all rotten, but I just can't see anything good coming of another four year minimum rep. term. Honestly, I think most have had their fill of that side of thing. You can count on me to vote in support of your thoughts at the polls!
Ben O. - Bill Clinton has always been a rather amusing man. I do think it's exciting to consider either Clinton or Obama in the White House. Of course, I'd hope that it's their abilities that get them not there, not their race or gender. Glad you enjoyed the post!
Meadow - Now just a minute... WHO says I have combable hair! ;) Harhar. I really enjoyed your comment. Interestingly, the only people that I know (currently) that jump on me by using the term 'black', are white people. None of my black friends care. Go figure. The funniest part of that is that we once had a student in from Nigeria visiting and someone referred to him as 'African American'. I calmly reminded them that he was not American in any sense, he was Nigerian. Yeah, all the white kids labeled me a trouble maker...lol. But he wasn't an American, he was visiting. Doesn't make me an American African if I go visit Nigeria, does it?!
Anyway... it's things like that, the categories, the neat little slots. Seems like it frustrates you as much as it does me. I'm all for noticing and embracing individualities, but when people try to make you become that one thing, and that only, I find it disturbing.
I never knew Halle Berry was biracial. When I hear her name the first thing I think is *absolutely stunning*. Full stop. Now, I'm sure in my life I've been guilty of categorizing. I'll probably do it this week without even realizing it. I suppose I just hope that my innate desire to put things into neat piles is left to the smaller things, not something on a grander scale. But we are human, and it is our nature to want to have things in neat little rows and all accounted for. I think it throws us for a loop when it's not. Think of the days when you can't find your keys, the ATM is down or your good shirt has a hole. Anything can get us out of whack. We like consistency and sameness. When someone messes with that, it can set us all flustered. For being so complex, humans are still rather simple. ;)
I so-so-so-so-SO agree with you on how the media and often the candidate's groups focus on 'how the hispanics voted'... ok, you know what? I'm just happy they voted, hispanic or not! That's why 'the black vote' and 'the women's vote' gets me all in a tizzy. If the media says only 8% of votes counted in Kansas were cast by hispanic citizens, well, perhaps the entire hispanic population of KS is only 12%! In which case, that'd be excellent but people hear that number as a failure. People just let others make their decisions for them without asking any questions of their own.
I do feel that after we vote, this will be a nation led by a democrat. As far as the house, senate, etc - who knows. But I can tell you that yes, I'm voting in the primary this Tuesday. If my candidate does not come out the victor, my full support will go to the other. I feel confidant enough with either, but in saying that, I still hope mine comes out on top. =)
This could be a country on the verge of an entirely new way of looking at things. Not because of gender or race, but because of ideas and the life circumstances that fostered them.
Thanks again - I loved reading your take on this!
I'm going to have to see if I can get to your email address... I had it at one time but it's gone. And blogger no longer sends me email alerts. *sigh*
ya, i hear you. why is halle barry black? she is with her mom all the time. not her dad.
her mom is white.
Acaligurl - You know, it's something I really don't understand. Personally, I care very little but when it becomes a topic that is in the spotlight and makes people kind of draw lines, it becomes much more interesting to me I guess. Glad you stopped by!
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