Some recent kerfluffle about celebrity self-identification makes me want to comment on a painful, controversial arena. There is a real problem in this headline: it accepts without question and validates the meme that one drop makes you whole. While utter bullshit scientifically or logically, it was promoted by slavers and bigots, and absorbed by black Americans who had been wiped of cultural memory. Useful politically and destructive psychologically. Destroyed my mother. For four hundred years this poison has been pumped into the descendants of slaves, and frankly I call it the little tiny turd spoils a great big punchbowl meme. It only seemed to start breaking down post-Obama, when I heard large numbers of white folks asking why he wasnt considered white rather than black, since he was half and half. As if black Americans hadnt had it hammered into their heads for centuries that a single touch of the tar brush made you salable. Convenient lack of memory there. While it is important to remember how others might label you, human beings have the right to define themselves, or they are owned by the society around them.
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 13:26:34 +0000
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