Senate "Race" Relations (was "U.S. Society and Black Men")

As Merkurian suggests, this seems a bit much. Why do you find this request especially cruel or unreasonable? There are extremely few dark skinned characters depicted in a positive light. Almost none of prominence (possible recent exception to Black Panther, solely on the strength of his recent film outing). Don't you think people might put more value around having another, in that circumstance?

You must keep in mind that in the past, people have expressed wishes that even other black actors had been replaced with different black actors that looked more a certain fashion. I haven't seen yet that it's some deep animus against a mixed person in particular.

 

So I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I don't think it's fair to say someone like Johnson is not black enough to play a black man. That seems to send the wrong message to mixed race people. I mean, is Obama not black enough to be the first black President....?

On the other, John Henry the character has always been portrayed as darker-skinned. So I get why many feel someone like Mike Colter from Luke Cage would be better casting.

There has recently been talk about how Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes is breaking some stereotypes of black QBs because he's being acknowledged for his intelligence and arm talent, not pure athleticism (which is normally how people talk about black QBs).

But Mahomes is biracial. So does the fact that his mother is white mean he's *not* breaking barriers for how we see black QBs? Or does it just say we will only acknowledge mixed race black people, not majority black people?

To me it's very complicated. But I do feel a little uncomfortable with labeling someone "not (insert race)" enough in most circumstances. That itself has a dangerous history.

 

1) this request is cruel because it constitutes the ongoing Erasure of mixed race people in society. People like you want us to go away and disappear.

2) I believe I also called out that controversy for Get Out.

 

Yet again...

https://boingboing.net/2018/10/11/p...5iMHvVMTe5C2g1HKQQFN9BsFeG5cIIhh78To37Q_qYfAA

...campus police were waiting for me when I arrived at the reception desk at Whitmore. I had no idea why, but I knew it couldn’t be good. My heart started pounding.

Two university detectives sat me down me in an office and closed the door. Bewildered, I asked what was happening. They refused to answer as they peppered me with questions.

“What time did you wake up?” “What were you doing at the campus recreation center?” “Did you come into the building agitated?” I felt confused, powerless, and scared, but I made sure to maintain my composure. I remembered that even unarmed Black people disproportionately get killed during police encounters, and it was incumbent on me as an innocent Black man to show that I wasn’t a threat.

It wasn’t until the end of their interrogation that they revealed why I was being questioned. Someone had called the university’s anonymous tip line, reporting that they had seen an “agitated Black male” who was carrying “a heavy backpack that is almost hitting the ground” as he approached the Whitmore Administration Building. I — the “agitated Black male” — apparently posed such a threat that police put the entire building on lockdown for half an hour.

 

White people have weaponized sexual assault accusations, this time calling the police on a 9 year old kid for brushing up against her

 

Those kids weren't mixed race so I don't see how that's related

 

Anyone hear about the Lyft driver story?

 

I get what you're saying about mixed race people. I've been called an 'apple' (red on the outside, white on the inside) by people, for not being Native enough. It's silly.

 

Same for me. It is silly. I feel a freedom to explore a variety of cultures and build my own identity without either assimilating into "white culture" or being a "real Indian." I use Native, rather than Indian, when speaking for myself, but I'm quoting phrasing I've heard from Natives who find me to be too assimilated into mainstream culture. But each individual has to build their own identity; mixed race people seem to struggle with that a lot but I think the key is realizing that to respect or even love a culture is not to swear allegiance to it.

 

^Quoted because just a "like" isn't enough.

I am honestly just so sickened, repulsed, and heartbroken by the behavior of way too many of my fellow white people these days.

I've wondered--are these types of incidents actually growing more frequent, or are we just seeing them reported more?

For example, I understand that police brutality has been going on against black people in America since there have been established police forces, and that it's unfortunately only in the smartphone video age that examples of such incidents have gotten wider public attention (with some exceptions in earlier periods, such as with the Rodney King beating, etc.), despite of course many POC speaking, singing, rapping, and writing about their lived experiences during this time (but with the truth largely falling on deaf ears).

But of what of these types of incidents where random white people are calling the police for stuff like "selling water without a permit," and "suspiciously" babysitting/barbequing/sleeping in a dorm common room, etc.? Is the sense out there that these incidents are actually growing more frequent (due to, for example, the Trump effect of further inflaming pre-existing racism and "egging on" racist whites' sense of fear/entitlement)...or have such incidents just become more widely known/visible due to the use of smartphones and social media?

 

NPR - Code Switch:
Our Homeland Is Each Other
"October 10, 2018 • This week, we're handing the mic over to transracial adoptees. They told us what they think is missing from mainstream narratives about adoption, and how being an adoptee is an identity unto itself. "

Thought it would be of interest.

 

Apparently the woman who said the 9 year old assaulted her realized how bad that was taken and has 'apologized' for accusing the young boy. I put the apology in quotes because apparently she still wants to charge the mother.

 

So here's a question for you. Elizabeth Warren just took a DNA test that proved she had a fully native ancestor 6-10 generations ago.

Does this qualify her being marked as Native American for diversity purposes at jobs?

Because I have to be honest, my tests showed I have a fully West African ancestor fewer generations back than that (not surprising, one branch of my grandma's family had slaves)... And I would never ever consider myself at all partly black.

I connected with a black cousin on 23andMe and we have a good idea of where our families intermingled in Tennessee in the 1800s. I think it's a challenging and real part of the history of white Americans from families who have been here a long time like mine. I am glad I met my distant cousin to talk about it and compare our genealogies.

But that does not in any way give me the right to claim African status of any kind.

 

Well it does qualify Donald Trump to pay out the $1 million to charity he said he would if it turned out Warren did have some Native American ancestory.

 

Warren never used her claim of Native ancestry for admissions or hiring purposes. At this point it's just a pointless pissing contest with the person who may be her opponent in a couple years.

 

You claim Dutch ancestry; how far back does that go?

Didn't he also, despite there being actual evidence to the contrary, claim he didn't say it and therefore won't pay?

 

Well, that's Trump for you.