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  • Profile picture of jakelafort

    jakelafort posted an update 6 years, 2 months ago

    Brain Droppings: How blind are the talking heads and intellectual leaders of a movement rightfully seeking equality and yet using a descriptive moniker, person of color? A person of color is any of us with possible exception of albinos. But Caucasians are not included. Therefore the moniker is from the perspective of Caucasians. So the dominant group sees color in the OTHERS, not in themselves. What separates the Caucasians and the Others is the RIGHT COLOR. Person of color is an expression that is perpetuating the power structure.

    Another observation about race is how inaccurate we are in describing mixed ethnicity. Obama was an African American. Why not describe him as a Caucasian American since he had a black parent and a white parent? Is it arbitrary or does it again reflect the power structure? Now we see Kamala is being described as African American. As far as I know she has an Indian parent and a Jamaican parent. Why not an Indian American? Better yet Indian/Jamaican American. Jamaica had generations of mixed ancestry. There are Irish, Indian, Chinese and African among others in Jamaica. So why is Kamala an African American? In mixed ancestry the bad part of the ancestry is chosen. I have Jewish dad and Irish mother and i was never the Irish kid, always the Jewish kid. It is always the perceived bad part of the ancestry that is highlighted.

    • Profile picture of Simon Paynton
      Simon Paynton replied 6 years, 2 months ago
      Do you think it would be better to say black people, white people, dual heritage etc. ?
        • Profile picture of jakelafort
          jakelafort replied 6 years, 2 months ago
          As long as we describe one group as white it is consistent to call the other group black. In mixed ethnicity we ought to name the ethnicity of each parent. It is BS to name just one when it is dual or multiple. We will not have truly progressed until we are post racial and do not give a rat’s old cheese about such matters.
        • Profile picture of PopeBeanie
          PopeBeanie replied 6 years, 2 months ago
          Prejudices and identities have been like this for thousands of years, even when the difference was an inborn class with no skin color difference. I’m hearing “women of color” a lot, now, and never (so far) “men of color”. People in power in typical human fashion make up names they want to call others, but when those “others” want to call themselves something else their wishes are largely ignored.
          Due to political correctness, the Washington Redskins are changing their name… so these imperfect or even misrepresentative names and labels undergo an evolution that depends on people’s social awareness, political awareness (or lack thereof), and attention spans.
          I’ve complained for years about the custom of calling Obama “black”, especially when some of the intentionally PC-ignorant folk say “we no longer have racial problems, after all we have a black president”.
          The problem, imo, is more a problem of lack among the established majority of awareness of those “other” people’s legacy, current experiences, and lack of questioning what’s been the traditional labels vs what those other people would choose to call themselves… and it’s less of a problem of any kind of scientific definition of color, race, or whatever.
          Languages usually evolve too slowly, or sometimes too quickly, but “it is what it is”. (That’s a cynical remark on my part btw, prompted by Trump’s recent use of that phrase regarding the nature of the covid epidemic. Language is imperfect, even abusive at times, largely depending on who’s using it and what their world view and “agenda” is.)
          (I feel partly woke on this topic because of my mixed-race kids. hope y’all don’t mind my use or misuse of that word woke!?)