Since when is African-American a race and other thoughts on racial politics

This is perhaps a roundabout away of getting to my point, but I was reading an article by field negro on Tiger Woods today, which led me to a variety of other articles on race. One in particular by Carmen Van Kerckhove, I found particularly perplexing.

Van Kerckhove self-identifies as Chinese and Dutch. Umm. Carmen, dear. Neither of those are races, but nationalities. That Van Kerchkhove would "nitpick" about race when she self-identifies by her ancestors' national origin is just plain wacky. Which brings me to my next odd example of race in America.

I recently was asked to sign a contract which asked for my racial identity. I was perplexed by the selection. The options were:

Caucasian
African American
Asian
Native American
Mixed race

Since when did African American get to be a race? That term has only been around for about 20 years! I am 46 years old and I can remember when black people, regardless of nationality, were referred to as Negroes. At some point in the 60s, Negro was thought of as condescending. So then it was Black. Then it became Black American. Now, it's African American. As if all black Americans are of African origin. I'll be honest. There have been times when I have thought that these shifting ideas about what to call POC was merely a way to prevent white Americans from having any sort of voice in the race discussion. As long as you can shout down the majority group by making them feel prejudiced for daring to open their mouths, you own the direction and tenor of the discussion. Bad form, I say.

The black community seems to think that Tiger isn't black enough. At least, that's my take on it. He doesn't date black women. He doesn't seem to want to be "one of them". I don't have any problem with Tiger's behavior. Tiger self-identifies as Cablinasian (Caucasian, Black, American Indian, and Asian). I sort of like it that he hasn't allowed anyone to own him, racially speaking. I think we should let people be what they want to be. If they don't agree with our ideas of race, so be it.

If we are to split hairs, and since this is my blog I will, shouldn't the options more appropriately be:

Mixed-race with primarily Caucasoid features
Mixed-race with primarily Negroid features
Mixed-race with primarily Mongoloid features
Mixed-race with primarily Australoid features
Mixed race without categorical dominance

I'm just saying. I don't know that I have the answer about how best to identify race in the first place. Aren't we all "Out of Africa"? There is no scientifically meaningful way to describe race. Race is, whatever we want it to be. I think I'm going to start self-identifying as mixed race. After all, my ancestors include some colorful people.

Of course, my comments are not meant to belittle the experiences of persons of color who have been actively discriminated against based on racial prejudices. But when I read a recent blog post on Feministing wherein people say that if a minority calls me an epithet, it's just being rude, but if I call a minority an epithet, it's a hate crime, I wonder how f*#@'d up our ideas about race have really become.

It would seem that Tiger Woods, a mixed-race individual, has had several affairs, all with white women. field negro appears to think that white America has given Tiger a wake-up call to the effect that his ass is actually black. I never actually thought of Tiger as black. I thought of him as Asian. I guess this is my prejudice. He looks more Asian than black to me. But it is almost as if we demand that some racial group own him lock, stock, and barrel.

Like Tiger, we are not all black or all white. We are not all white culture or all black culture. I think that the "black experience" in America has been well enough known to me that it has influenced who I am and how I look at myself. Yes, I have had black Americans treat me as though I had a sheet hanging in my closet because I am from Appalachia. Weren't they surprised to learn how far that was from the truth.

We are a human race. Our blood flows into and between us all. I'm not prepared to throw Tiger Woods or anyone else under the bus based on their skin color, racial identity, or sexual proclivities. Tiger is a man. He has to deal with his stupid shit, same as you and I do. I would suggest that race has very little to do with his current issues. Money and fame make everyone colorblind.

Why I've Broken Up with iTunes

Ok, I admit it. I was sucked in. I liked the idea of being able to sample new music types and new artists for a mere 99 cents. I had an iPod. Everything is working fine. Just when I thought everything was going right in my love affair, I get this nagging feeling. I hear whispers. And now, I'm face-to-face with the hard facts. I've been duped. Betrayed. I was so blind.

It's this MP3, MP4, ACC, Digital Rights Management bullshit. Call me American, but I don't like the idea of being told by a company that I have to buy their products until the end of time if I don't want my purchases to have all been in vein. Vein? Vain? Vane? Well, shit. Wasted. Neither do I want to rip roughly 500 songs to an audio CD only to reload them into my computer in MP3 format.

It's Apple yanking me around by the short hairs. Plain. And. Simple.

Oh, they were smooth with their all-in-one package deals. Ok, they raised my eyebrows with their "exclusive to iTunes" business. I mean, what artist would limit themselves to one sales outlet? But when I realized that I cannot purchase any other portable music player other than iPod, it was over. I'm done with iTunes. When my iPod bites the dust, I'll be purchasing a replacement portable music player that is something other than iPod. And on that day, I hope that some brilliant software upstart has figured out a way for me to convert all my music without that burn-reload-reformat procedure. Because I will gladly pay the difference betweeen an off-brand music player and an iPod just to be done with that bastard lover. Oh yes, Daktari is pretty pissed about the whole deal.

Apple can bite me. And not in the way they already have.

And I'm knot the only one

...who gets my panties in a knot. Proof forthwith.

On Panty Bunching - A List of Lingerie Twisters

Ok, I've been giving J a lot of grief lately about his self-proclaimed Eeyorism. Actually, I don't think that Eeyore is the right literary character. He's more like Pigpen. He walks around and a dark cloud follows him. To the outsider, it seems that Obama's win only made J more introspective and melancholy. Glad to see that his attitude about the event seems to be improving. The man has been in a funk I tell ya. He's just plain glum. I promise not to point out (innocent angelic face, hehe) that happy is something you decide to be. He's getting something out of his boot dragging and I just have to learn to accept that.

Barbs aside, at some point in our ongoing discussions, I described J as having his "shorts in a knot", probably having something to do with 3rd party candidates and their inability to rock my socks off (which apparently is the catch phrase of the day). In any event, J misunderstood me in thinking that pantie bunching is a bad thing, so I thought I'd let loose on the list that is sure to increase my lingerie laundry.

1. New Coke (the fact that they sprung it on us one day without giving us proper time to create a cache of "old" Coke to get us through until they reached that "what the f**k were we thinking?" phase)
2. People who want to impose their religious beliefs on the rest of us (Prop 8 anyone?)
3. George W Bush (the sight of him, the sound of him, the thought of him, you name it)
4. Assholes who rip religious symbols off other people's cars and laugh about it
5. People who want to be congratulated for doing the right thing (John McCain's campaign staff, my ex-husband who wanted applause for taking out the garbage)
6. People who damn everyone else when they should be examining their own behavior (*cough* John freakin' Aravosis*cough*)
7. People who discriminate against things they don't understand instead of taking the time to understand them.
8. Hand-me-down thinking in general (includes religion, politics, social beliefs, cultural biases, etc.)
9. People who do not obey Chicago driving rules (what part of 3 cars get to turn left after the light turns red don't you people understand?)
10. Drivers who think using blinkers are a sign of weakness
11. Lane defectors (those who mindlessly shift into whichever lane is moving in bumper-to-bumper traffic)
12. People who think if one of their low beams are out, you can remedy this by turning on the high beams (there seems to be an epidemic of this in Kentucky)
13. People who can't make up their minds in restaurants and ask the waiter/waitress for a laundry list of recommendations and then end up ordering what they always order anyway
14. Music/beer/wine snobs, but certainly not food snobs =)
15. Litter and the people who create it
16. The fact that despite my best efforts, there are still racist bigots in my family
17. People who give minimum-wage workers a hard time
18. People who think withholding a tip is making a statement. If you want to make a statement, make it prior to leaving when someone might actually be able to turn your experience around. Allowing your money or lack thereof to make your statement for you is an act of cowardice, plain and simple. Grow some balls and speak up.
    
19. People who refuse to stand up for themselves and want to complain about how the rest of the world doesn't treat them right.
20. People who think that just because I can do something better that I have an obligation to do it for them, for free.
21. The fact that I don't live in Chicago. Right now. That I am not sitting in Chicago watching a football game or doing something other than what I am doing. Right now. Life is so unfair.
22. White Republicans who can't understand that it is THEIR TURN to feel the pain of being out of power. I am sick, Sick, SICK to death of their whining about how the world is going to end because Obama is our new President. If the world didn't end because that fucktard Bush is President, nothing is going to end this world.
    
23. Poverty, hunger, and the price of prescription medicine.
24. Voters who found themselves disenfranchised because of party politics.
25. Lactose intolerance. Oh, the humanity!