Post by glaucus on Mar 16, 2019 15:39:24 GMT
Race is just social construct. I don't even believe in black and white races. They are social constructs. African is not synonymous with black just like European is not synonymous with white. There are Africans with light brown and tan skins. It depends where in Africa. White and black are social constructs created by race supremacists. We need to stop giving labels to people that are based on outdated race supremacist ideas. Human life originated in Africa any way, and so there is African in all of us.
I do believe that race is just social construct, but even my fellow tropical Pisces Moon, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. referred to himself as black. He said that he was black and beautiful. He was the main leader of the Civil Rights Movement and believed in equality of all people. Was it wrong for him to embrace the concept of race and see it as more than a social construct? I just don't know.
I have a mother who is mostly European with some African and a little Amerindian. Her African comes from her Cape Verdean,Madeiran,and Puerto Rican ancestries on her father's side. Her Amerindian comes from her Puerto Rican.My mother looks like she is "white" and is light as anybody as anybody who is "white." She looks like an Italian. Mom even told me that most people thought she was Italian or Jewish. Actually, my mother is part Ashkenazi Jewish on her maternal grandmother's side. Genetic studies show that the European ancestry in Ashkenazi Jews comes from ancient Italians.Many Latinos thought my mother was Mexican like one of those light-skinned Mexicans with predominantly Spanish ancestry. There were a Mexican apartment manager that thought my mother was Mexican and was prejudiced against people of visible African ancestry which both my stepfather and I had. The Portuguese/Spanish ancestry from her father is evident in her. My grandfather identified as a Portagee and Caucasian. He even told my mother that she was Caucasian in response to my mother telling about marking down "other" on forms in regards to race. My mother even experienced racial prejudice from people that were "black" in the past.
I was raised by a stepfather who was mixed with African,European,Amerindian,and Polynesian.He was a little lighter than me and looked just like Redd Fox from Sanford and Son. He was born in Boston, Massachussetts on August 4th (President Obama's birthday) 1929.His father was a Merchant Marine that he grew up not knowing.His mother was from Trinidad, and she was so light-skinned that she passed for white. He had a black identity himself. He identified as black. His 2nd wife was Japanese, and he had 3 daughters (Mieko,Misako,Tamiko) with her.Therefore, I had 3 half Japanese stepsisters that I grew up knowing.They were like real sisters to me.They didn't seem to have any of the so-called black features. They look mainly Asian.
I was 6 years old when my mother first showed me a picture of my picture of my father that I have never known. He was much darker than me. I didn't understand what black was.I was first told that I was black by one of my mother's paternal halfsisters.I told her that I am not black. I told her that I am brown because my skin is light brown.My stepsisters told me that I was black too. Of course, my stepfather told me to.I remember more than once "Get your black ass in the house!"
As a neurodivergent child with Dyslexia,Dyspraxia,ADHD and was in special education, I was already being singled out by others and being called "retard." I didn't understand the "black experience" until my 9th birthday on October 29, 1980. I was called "nigger" by a blue-eyed blonde girl who lived in the same apartment complex as me.It really hurt me inside that I even said that I wanted to just stab myself. This girl ended up having a child with guy with African descent. I have been called "nigger" numerous times after that. I was even called that name by an Asian kid in junior high school when I was in 7th grade. When I was in 9th grade, I was called that name by a Portuguese American kid in high school in response to my telling him that I am part Portuguese when I was in high school. I was called a "nigger" in an Astrology chatroom back in 2004. Even back in 2009, I was called a "nigger" when I was on my way walking home. That was the last time that I was called that term. Even though I experienced being called that ugly name, I never embraced the "black" label. I always identified as everything that I was mixed with. When my mother registered me for high school, she said out loud so that anybody could hear her "This is stupid" when she checked Black, White, Hispanic, American Indian, and Other when the form said pick only one.Ever since then, I did the same thing.
When I was in the navy in the 1990s, I lost my identification card. Umm...I actually did that numerous times. I was one of those absentminded people that tended to misplace and lose things which I read is common in people with Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and/or ADHD. I marked down Black, White, Hispanic, and American Indian for race.I got chewed out by a superior for that.He ordered me to pick only one.I told him that I cannot do that for I am more than one. I was so against the one drop rule that I disobeyed a military order.I didn't get into trouble though.
The last two Censuses, I marked down Black,White,Hispanic,and Native American for race. Only 2.4 percent did that for the 2000 Census. Only 2.9 percent did that for the 2010 Census.
Both the one drop rule and the concept of race was created out of race supremacy and to divide Homo Sapiens that differ in how they look. Race is a social construct. Black and white races are social constructs. Africa doesn't mean black and Europe doesn't mean white. There is much diversity in Africa to pin down Africans as black, and there is much diversity in Europe to pin down Europeans as white. It's the same in Asia and other continents.
It actually took the Rachel Dolezal Soul Woman fiaso for me to come to terms with the fact that race is a social construct. It wasn't just her disguising as a woman that was part black and a lot of people being fooled by it. It was the relative views and perceptions of what a white person and a black person look like. There were relative views about what she looked like. There is also the transracial argument. Of course, there is the multiracial people that don't fit in the box. I am all for doing away with not just the one drop rule but also the concept of race except for Homo Sapien which is our race. Every single human on this planet is part African for all humans stem from Africans - Evolution.