We are told that Soledad's mother is Cuban, but she sounds pure black American in her attitudes.
Quote:
Patricia Sheridan's Breakfast With ... Soledad O'Brien
Monday, July 21, 2008
By Patricia Sheridan, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Soledad O'Brien.
CNN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O'Brien speaks frankly about her own identity as a black woman, raising her children and what she found while doing "Black In America," a CNN special series about the state of black America since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. Her parents, both immigrants, met and married at a time when interracial marriage was illegal in some states. Her father (from Australia) is white and her mother (from Cuba) is black. O'Brien has four children. More of "Black In America" (she previously reported on King's assassination) will air Wednesday and Thursday at 9 p.m. Wednesday's installment is "The Black Woman & Family" and Thursday's is "The Black Man."
Q: Were many black men and women you spoke with in the process of making "Black in America" feeling there had been big improvements since the days of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?
A: I think many people felt that the answer to that question was yes and no. Many people felt that clearly there had been some huge steps forward for black Americans in this country over the last 40 years. But there was a large portion of the black population in this country that was not getting to experience those achievements. In fact, you saw families that were middle class that would fall the next generation to basically working poor. So they were not able to build on the success of the parents and keep kind of growing in the right direction. They were going the wrong direction. What we ended up seeing, and it was confirmed by many people, was the sense that there are two black Americas. One black America is doing very well. There's another black America that is incredibly poor. The gap between those two is getting bigger.
Q: Do you identify yourself as biracial?
A: When I was growing up, my mother used to always say, and this was from the time I was zero, "You're a light-skinned black girl." So growing up I always identified as being a light-skinned black girl. That's what I am. I'm a black girl. Then as consciousness grew, probably in the '80s, biracial became the dialogue. I consider myself black because historically people who are part black are black. And also I happen to be biracial, which is sort of an explanation of skin tone. That's how I describe myself.
Q: Did you ever wonder why they didn't say you were white since your dad was white?
A: No. My mother is black, which means I am 50 percent black and in this country just because your dad's white doesn't make you white. It makes you black.
Q: You interview a biracial couple and the mother clearly wants to raise the children black and the father wants to leave it up to them. How are you raised differently when you are raised black?
A: Well, white people don't tell their kids "You are white." I think that's a huge difference right there. My kids are very light skinned. Some look like they are 100 percent white. Some don't. My husband and I are on board [with our message], but I think the two of them (biracial couple interviewed) are not quite on board with how they see their children. They have a little boy who looks black. I'm not sure it helps the kid to be told you get to pick. I'm not sure he does get to pick. My mom and Dad were very clearly on board with how they saw their six kids.
Q: So is it a false racial assignment when a biracial person is told he or she is black or white?
A: Black people have a history of having relatives who are white, otherwise you get into a complicated game. If you looked at my brothers and sisters, for example, you would look at my brother Tony and say he's black. Most black people have a history of white people in their families, and that's why you see in most black families a whole range of hues.
Most? No Way!
Q: And is there prejudice in the black community to this day about that range of hues?
A: Oh yeah, I think that that's very true, absolutely. A lot of the people we talk to in our documentary talk about that. There's prejudice and preferences within the black community and also reflected in the white community too.
Q: What was the most unexpected thing you found in doing this documentary?
A: For me one of the things that was really interesting was to see how many people are working to turn around what are some very dire conditions for disadvantaged African Americans in this country. People like a trauma surgeon in Baltimore, who deals mostly with kids in his city who've been shot because they are mostly involved in gangs and violence and drugs. After he literally patches them up, he then goes to their bedside and says, 'I want you to join a program. What do you need? Do you want a GED? If you want to get out of this life you've been stuck in because of all the circumstances that surround you and some really bad choices that you have personally made I can help you.' That's very impressive to me.
Patricia Sheridan can be reached at psheridan@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2613.
First published on July 21, 2008 at 12:00 am
We are told that Soledad's mother is Cuban, but she sounds pure black American in her attitudes.
Quote:
Patricia Sheridan's Breakfast With ... Soledad O'Brien
Monday, July 21, 2008
By Patricia Sheridan, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Soledad O'Brien.
CNN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O'Brien speaks frankly about her own identity as a black woman, raising her children and what she found while doing "Black In America," a CNN special series about the state of black America since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. Her parents, both immigrants, met and married at a time when interracial marriage was illegal in some states. Her father (from Australia) is white and her mother (from Cuba) is black. O'Brien has four children. More of "Black In America" (she previously reported on King's assassination) will air Wednesday and Thursday at 9 p.m. Wednesday's installment is "The Black Woman & Family" and Thursday's is "The Black Man."
Q: Were many black men and women you spoke with in the process of making "Black in America" feeling there had been big improvements since the days of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?
A: I think many people felt that the answer to that question was yes and no. Many people felt that clearly there had been some huge steps forward for black Americans in this country over the last 40 years. But there was a large portion of the black population in this country that was not getting to experience those achievements. In fact, you saw families that were middle class that would fall the next generation to basically working poor. So they were not able to build on the success of the parents and keep kind of growing in the right direction. They were going the wrong direction. What we ended up seeing, and it was confirmed by many people, was the sense that there are two black Americas. One black America is doing very well. There's another black America that is incredibly poor. The gap between those two is getting bigger.
Q: Do you identify yourself as biracial?
A: When I was growing up, my mother used to always say, and this was from the time I was zero, "You're a light-skinned black girl." So growing up I always identified as being a light-skinned black girl. That's what I am. I'm a black girl. Then as consciousness grew, probably in the '80s, biracial became the dialogue. I consider myself black because historically people who are part black are black. And also I happen to be biracial, which is sort of an explanation of skin tone. That's how I describe myself.
Q: Did you ever wonder why they didn't say you were white since your dad was white?
A: No. My mother is black, which means I am 50 percent black and in this country just because your dad's white doesn't make you white. It makes you black.
Q: You interview a biracial couple and the mother clearly wants to raise the children black and the father wants to leave it up to them. How are you raised differently when you are raised black?
A: Well, white people don't tell their kids "You are white." I think that's a huge difference right there. My kids are very light skinned. Some look like they are 100 percent white. Some don't. My husband and I are on board [with our message], but I think the two of them (biracial couple interviewed) are not quite on board with how they see their children. They have a little boy who looks black. I'm not sure it helps the kid to be told you get to pick. I'm not sure he does get to pick. My mom and Dad were very clearly on board with how they saw their six kids.
Q: So is it a false racial assignment when a biracial person is told he or she is black or white?
A: Black people have a history of having relatives who are white, otherwise you get into a complicated game. If you looked at my brothers and sisters, for example, you would look at my brother Tony and say he's black. Most black people have a history of white people in their families, and that's why you see in most black families a whole range of hues.
Most? No Way!
Isn't she talking about ancestrially having white people in their family?
Q: And is there prejudice in the black community to this day about that range of hues?
A: Oh yeah, I think that that's very true, absolutely. A lot of the people we talk to in our documentary talk about that. There's prejudice and preferences within the black community and also reflected in the white community too.
Q: What was the most unexpected thing you found in doing this documentary?
A: For me one of the things that was really interesting was to see how many people are working to turn around what are some very dire conditions for disadvantaged African Americans in this country. People like a trauma surgeon in Baltimore, who deals mostly with kids in his city who've been shot because they are mostly involved in gangs and violence and drugs. After he literally patches them up, he then goes to their bedside and says, 'I want you to join a program. What do you need? Do you want a GED? If you want to get out of this life you've been stuck in because of all the circumstances that surround you and some really bad choices that you have personally made I can help you.' That's very impressive to me.
Patricia Sheridan can be reached at psheridan@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2613.
First published on July 21, 2008 at 12:00 am
Posted: Wed 13 Aug 2008 23:04 Post subject: More ODR from Soledad O'Brien
ODR supporters preach the "Whites will see you as black" line to their victims while at the same time condemning the many (if not most) whites who either don't know, question, or refuse to support the ODR.
Soledad O’Brien
CNN Anchor and Special Correspondent
I’m on the phone with a confused reporter, and I’m confused too. She keeps asking me why I “count myself as black… And why does Barack Obama?” My answer (for Sen. Obama, at least) is “have you seen him?” But she won’t let it go. “Is your father annoyed that you deny him?” My dad is white. I interject. “Let’s conference him in,” I say. “Listen, he married a black woman, he has six black children. He’d be the first person to tell you I’m black.”
The questions, to me, reveal more about the asker. This (white) reporter surely doesn’t know a lot of black people, or she wouldn’t be struggling so hard. She’d know black people come in all hues.
If "whites" supposedly enforce the ODR, why didn't the "white reporter" learn that crap at ther mother's knee?
Our documentary, Black in America airs on Wednesday and Thursday and now all anyone wants to talk to me about is race. A clear sign, if you ask me, that this is a discussion that’s been long in coming.
The TSA screener at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson airport asks me if the documentary is “worth letting his sons stay up to see?” I tell him definitely yes.
It’s an indication that the story of black people in this country needs to be told - a wide range of stories - some of successful blacks, stories of some who are struggling. We interview corporate execs and recovering addicts, parents who’ve proudly sent all six kids to college and single moms who are struggling. We have lots of stories that make up who we are - and guess what, we’re more than rappers and ballers and Secretaries of State (though we are that too).
Which brings me back to the reporter. Finally I tell her “this is clearly more about you than about me. Why is it so hard for you to see me, and Barack Obama as black?” I’m trying to remember that talking about race is a difficult conversation and it sometimes means starting at the very beginning. Let’s start talking.
In Defense of Soledad
By Justin Weitz
Created Apr 11 2007 - 1:12am
Column
On the last night of my sophomore year, several roommates and I decided to mark our halfway point at Cornell with a night of revelry. This was our graduation from underclass to upperclass, from campus to Collegetown, and dammit, we were going to live it up.
We threw someone’s bicycle into the gorge, bought a six-dollar cigar that wasn’t all too good and smashed a printer with baseball bats, a la Office Space. We even crashed some strangers’ toga party. Nothing could live up to that debauched night, so I’ve generally accepted that Commencement would be a rather boring postscript to college. When my friend called me and said, “We have a problem with graduation,” I thought about hanging up. I really couldn’t care less.
We had been planning a cocktail brunch for our families for graduation weekend, but the preparation had taken a turn for the lazy; none of my housemates wanted to shoulder the responsibility of ordering food from Old Man Wegmans and deciding on a time. Something probably had gone horribly awry, but how awry can brunch planning go? Worst case scenario was BK Lounge tater tots and Andre mimosas. Seems classy enough to me.
But brunch wasn’t the problem. Apparently, he said excitedly, his words crashing into each other, Soledad O’Brien was scheduled to come for Slope Day. Or not. TI’s coming for Slope Day, he corrected himself. O’Brien’s speaking at Convocation.
I was actually pretty happy to hear the news. She’s better than Martin Luther King Jr. Jr., last year’s Convocation speaker. Everyone else, I would soon learn, disagreed with me. “Soledad O’Brien?” they said quizzically, their faces contorting awkwardly. “Ew. Gross. Who did Harvard get?”
I jumped to S.O.B.’s defense. Who did people expect would come to Commencement? There’s always the politician approach. But does anyone really want to hear from Hillary Clinton? Bush or Cheney could come, but then our Convocation would become a circus. We could bring the new, “funny” Al Gore to talk about global warming and crack punchless one-liners.
Politicians weren’t the answer, but my friends still didn’t like Soledad. Someone suggested Stephen Colbert. Adam Schnabel ’07 wanted Dave Chappelle. “He’s funnier than you, and he talks about real issues,” Adam said. David Kiferbaum ’08 offered Ned “Carlos” Mencia. Basically, it seems, Cornell students want Convocation to become Comedy Central. Sounds grand.
Since nobody else could help out, I took an hour out of my usually packed schedule to mull it all over. The first name to pop into my head was Mike Tyson. Tyson, the former boxer who has said that he normally doesn’t do interviews with women unless they fornicate with him, might seem like an odd choice. But at the least, he’d be entertaining, and less hackneyed a choice than the unfunny Mencia.
I continued mulling. Could we go the alum route? Cornell has dozens of famous alumni, from Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’54 to world-renowned internist (and former sprint footballer) Joel Moses ’86. But Convocation isn’t about old alumni. It’s about new alumni being spawned from the loins of Cornell, emerging from Ithaca’s womb and severing the umbilical cord which has, for better or worse, attached us to our beloved Alma Mater.
I had one last idea. Remember that scene in Swingers when they’re in the diner, and it’s three in the morning, and Vince Vaughn stands up on the table and starts yelling “’Cause you’re growns up and you’re growns up and you’re growns up?” I think we need someone who can tell it like it is, who can give us the business. We could get Ron Livingston to talk about TPS reports (two Office Space references in a column = columnist running low on ideas) or Dwight Schrute to lecture us about being on-guard. Maybe Jim Maas can tell us we need to get more sleep. Some sort of life lesson about being “growns up” might be nice.
But back to Soledad. Her last name might be O’Brien, but she looks about as Irish as Shaquille O’Neal; that is to say, not veryTalk about colorblind!!. After consulting with some sources, I found out that her dad is Irish and her mother is Afro-Cuban. She’s one of the “Top 100 Irish Americans”In Irish America magazine and People en Espanol’s 50 Most Beautiful People. In short, she’s everything and nothing at the same time.
We spend a lot of time — at Cornell, in America — tussling over race and identity. Last week, we enjoyed the antics of the Oppressively Themed Parties Scandal, which featured a Ho Plaza rally that will change absolutely nothing. Recently, the baseball world has been up in arms because of new studies showing that a record-low 9 percent of major leaguers are black. Remember the Duke lacrosse rape case? Turns out the only things that were raped were people’s reputations.
What Soledad offers then, is something different. Martin Luther King III was supposed to be about fighting for justice, about the courageous struggle for civil rights. But what came across was that King the Third is a specter of a generation past, trying to hold on to the politics of a movement that has been remarkably, though not completely, successful. MLK III was the ’60s incarnate, and he was so vigorously and unanimously rejected because he spoke for an America whose time had come and gone.
Soledad O’Brien, though, speaks to the new America. In this America, race matters, but it doesn’t have to be polarizing. The new America is a country where you can have your Spanish (or African) first name and still make it to the top, where the politics of macaca are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Soledad may not have the charisma or rock-star status of Barack Obama, but she exemplifies the same message. Unlike King, both O’Brien and Obama are self-made children of immigrants, getting by not on the name their parents gave them but in spite of it. Soledad’s a messenger of the new America, and while all the Grumbling Grannies might have a problem with it, I want to be the first to welcome her to Ithaca.
She can even crash my toga party.
Justin Weitz is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be contacted at jdw42@cornell.edu. Free Weitz appears alternate Wednesdays.
I hate to say this because it doesn't sound "politically correct", but if this young man in the brown t-shirt is indeed Justin Weitz, given his looks, it doesn't surprise me that he would make such an ignorant (and untrue) statement about Soledad.
"But back to Soledad. Her last name might be O’Brien, but she looks about as Irish as Shaquille O’Neal; that is to say, not very"
IMO, based on experiences I've read about, it's actually common for stereotypical looking American Jews and other "ethnic" (non Aryan/WASP looking) folks to verbally blacken non hispanic identified Americans with known African ancestry.
By doing so, I think it may psychologically make them feel "whiter" and thus ALSO a true "member of the club" so to speak. Because everyone knows that not so long ago Jews themselves we're (and still are amongst racist whites) considered NON white.
Some - especially of the younger generation - I imagine would not like to think about the time (not so long ago) when they were considered non white minorities.
And I've seen PLENTY of Jews who look far less white than Soledad. With nappy hair too.
It seems Americans of all backgrounds are constantly trying to legitimize and normalize Hypodescent when it comes to African Ancestry.
Now sometimes I can see where this notion stems from, but other times it clearly doesn't make any sense to me.
Regardless, it truly seems to be "The American Way".
I think some stereotypical looking Jews and other non WASP looking folks may have a complex, and therefore try to seperate themselves - in peoples minds - from those they THEMSELVES could be mistaken for.
Anyone seeing this young man alone - not knowing his mother is black American - would most likely take him as Jewish, Italian, Latino, or Arabic.
An "ethnic" white. Which is exactly how my kids are perceived before people make the connection that they're mine. And often still, they're perceived as white "with a little flavor".
Aside from having hair that is noticeably relaxed, IMO Soledad CERTAINLY looks at least as Irish as actor Colin Farrell.
She certainly looks closer "racially" speaking to Colin then she does to Shaquille.
IMO Hair-texture really seems to be the "racial dividing line" in America if you have an Anglo last name. If you're Hispanic identified, it's that "gentleman's agreement" thing. People pretend not to notice obvious African ancestried traits.
Last edited by zsana on Thu 14 Aug 2008 13:57; edited 2 times in total
I hate to say this because it doesn't sound "politically correct", but if this young man in the brown t-shirt is indeed Justin Weitz, given his looks, it doesn't surprise me that he would make such an ignorant (and untrue) statement about Soledad.
"But back to Soledad. Her last name might be O’Brien, but she looks about as Irish as Shaquille O’Neal; that is to say, not very"
Justin is being dishonest and he knows it.
I am willing, here and now, to publicly bet $50 that the person making that bizarre counterfactual claim has never set foot in Ireland. I suspect that his image of the Irish is based on the U.S. fantasy of red hair and freckles. In reality, most Irish are quite swarthy. (Yes, Mary Lee and I have spent quite a bit of time in Ireland--her family is from County Cork, after all.)
IMO, Soledad is kinda silly and a bit 'racist' by telling her kids they are [only] Black, but let's see what they say when the are grown and experience racism and colorism. They may each have a different 'race' when they are off on their own in life, apart from mom and dad. A White parent and nowadays a Black parent will not protect you from bigots either way. And with a population to be majority minority in 2042 (Todays' news), I highly doubt they will be going around telling people they are [solely] African-American, especially the boys who will probably be 'rejected' by Black females.
Also, as a biracial/mulatto person, I think I have true mulatto looks in that I am 'yellow' and have intermediate White/Black features and wavy-curly natural hair (think Slash G&R). I have had people IN THE SOUTH, (including Blacks) often ask me my race from teen to adulthood. I have also had both White and Black Americans tell me that I am not really Black. I have had Whites, apart from family, 'claim me' or claim a 'White heritage for me'. Now, this has happened in the DEEP South (LA-GA).
While yes, there are regional beliefs and feelings about race in America, there is also basically a single 'American' culture, in which race-based concerns and issues are solved at the community level. I think it was Frank or Powell (correct me if I'm wrong) that have posted that a person is White or Black if their community at large readily accepts them as a White or Black American - no matter what other Americans or outsiders may say. I will also say it is easier to say you are Black, for 'mixies', than to say you are White. Few people apart from AAs, will question someone on their ethnicity.
I would also say that White Americans are less 'race-conscience' than AAs (they can afford to be), but a lot of ODResque type thinking is advanced more so by Blacks. I have been around Whites who have said something negative about Blacks not knowing I was 'Black'. However, these comments were 'off-hand' bigotry and then topic changed. They didn't dwell on 'those people' (AAs). Whereas, it has been my experience that AA seem more belligerent in this area (internalized racism).
I will also go on record to say that Whites (as a group) still have prejudice feelings against Black Americans (for no reason), but I think they no longer feel that African ancestry is a stigma or makes one non-White.
I have had too many White Americans tell me about their African ancestry for me to believe that. They even post their DNA results on the Internet (including African).
Americans, in general, will believe you if you claim a certain race/ethnicity and look it. I have witnessed Whites question other 'suspicious looking' Whites about ancestry (esp. Louisiana), but accept the answer that person gives and let it go. IMO, AAs are less likely to 'let it go'.
IMO, Soledad is kinda silly and a bit 'racist' by telling her kids they are [only] Black,
When did she say that? I thought we all went over this already?
but let's see what they say when the are grown and experience racism and colorism. They may each have a different 'race' when they are off on their own in life, apart from mom and dad. A White parent and nowadays a Black parent will not protect you from bigots either way. And with a population to be majority minority in 2042 (Todays' news), I highly doubt they will be going around telling people they are [solely] African-American, especially the boys who will probably be 'rejected' by Black females.
Also, as a biracial/mulatto person, I think I have true mulatto looks in that I am 'yellow' and have intermediate White/Black features and wavy-curly natural hair (think Slash G&R). I have had people IN THE SOUTH, (including Blacks) often ask me my race from teen to adulthood. I have also had both White and Black Americans tell me that I am not really Black. I have had Whites, apart from family, 'claim me' or claim a 'White heritage for me'. Now, this has happened in the DEEP South (LA-GA).
While yes, there are regional beliefs and feelings about race in America, there is also basically a single 'American' culture, in which race-based concerns and issues are solved at the community level. I think it was Frank or Powell (correct me if I'm wrong) that have posted that a person is White or Black if their community at large readily accepts them as a White or Black American - no matter what other Americans or outsiders may say. I will also say it is easier to say you are Black, for 'mixies', than to say you are White. Few people apart from AAs, will question someone on their ethnicity.
I would also say that White Americans are less 'race-conscience' than AAs (they can afford to be), but a lot of ODResque type thinking is advanced more so by Blacks. I have been around Whites who have said something negative about Blacks not knowing I was 'Black'. However, these comments were 'off-hand' bigotry and then topic changed. They didn't dwell on 'those people' (AAs). Whereas, it has been my experience that AA seem more belligerent in this area (internalized racism).
I will also go on record to say that Whites (as a group) still have prejudice feelings against Black Americans (for no reason), but I think they no longer feel that African ancestry is a stigma or makes one non-White.
I have had too many White Americans tell me about their African ancestry for me to believe that. They even post their DNA results on the Internet (including African).
Americans, in general, will believe you if you claim a certain race/ethnicity and look it. I have witnessed Whites question other 'suspicious looking' Whites about ancestry (esp. Louisiana), but accept the answer that person gives and let it go. IMO, AAs are less likely to 'let it go'.
I will also go on record to say that Whites (as a group) still have prejudice feelings against Black Americans (for no reason), but I think they no longer feel that African ancestry is a stigma or makes one non-White.
I have had too many White Americans tell me about their African ancestry for me to believe that. They even post their DNA results on the Internet (including African).
I do not know whether "Whites (as a group) still have prejudice feelings against Black Americans," but I share the second opinion. My experience with genealogists at conferences has been that even those who distance themselves socially from A-As have no problem discussing their own African admixture.
It makes me wonder if U.S. attitudes are reverting to those of the pre-ODR 1890s Lower South, when anti-Black feeling was expresed by the very same people who felt that a touch of African ancestry in themselves was a good thing.
As "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman's brother said, in the SC Constitutional Convention of 1895, "It is a scientific fact that there is not one full-blooded Caucasian on the floor of this convention. Every member has in him a certain mixture of… colored blood. The pure-blooded white has needed and received a certain infusion of darker blood to give him readiness and purpose."
Go back and read Powell's posts. Soledad in them refers to herself as Black and her children as light-skinned, not Mixed or White.
Here's one quote:
Quote:
Well, white people don't tell their kids "You are white." I think that's a huge difference right there. My kids are very light skinned. Some look like they are 100 percent white. Some don't. My husband and I are on board [with our message], but I think the two of them (biracial couple interviewed) are not quite on board with how they see their children. They have a little boy who looks black. I'm not sure it helps the kid to be told you get to pick. I'm not sure he does get to pick. My mom and Dad were very clearly on board with how they saw their six kids.
(And don't forget to read the comments. As expected some of them are seriously "out there" to put it mildly. While others show how far - in a positive way - the thinking has changed concerning biracial identity. At least with some.)
Quote:
Although I found this segment of “Black in America” to be highly informative for the general public, I was disappointed that the interviews in the section on what it is like to be biracial in America seemed to focus only on the more negative aspects. With the eyes of the world now on Barack Obama, I had hoped for a more balanced discussion on what a positive symbol a mixed race person can project.
Obama’s candidacy embodies change and hope for so many in this country of all generations, genders, races and cultures. His message of bringing us all together as Americans is enhanced by his mixed heritage. The biracial person personifies the breaking down of racial barriers that so many fought and died for in the civil rights movement. It is what Dr. Martin Luther King stood for and what his legacy of equality imparts to us today. So one should feel nothing but pride to be mixed in America.
If parents of biracial children are too concerned about what race their children identify and associate with, the only outcome will be confusion. They should rear their children to have enough self-esteem and self-confidence to be their own persons — encouraging them to be strong children who can grow up to be strong biracial adults.
There should be no need for them to say “I am black” or “I am white” because they are neither, yet they are both. Trying to force a choice is often done just to accommodate the people around them. Why should it be so difficult to understand that a person can be and take pride in two races, ethnically and culturally? Those who cannot accept this are perpetuating the kind of ignorance that would only resegregate society by taking away a positive symbol of integration, the mixed child, and restricting him or her to an either-or status.
In a world where a biracial man may well become the next President of the United States, all that a parent should be trying to instill in a child is pride in his or her race or races.
I am proud to be a child born to two loving, talented, creative people – a mother and father who happened to be of African-American and English descent, respectively. I do not feel confused at all nor do I have an identity crisis. I do not feel lost in society nor rejected by any race because I am all races in one.
I am the melting pot, and in our global society, soon all the children of the world will be a mixture of races as well. So why should we try to pick and choose what we want and don’t want our children to be? Why can’t we just accept our common humanity and try to refocus our energies on more pressing matters such as Hurricane Dolly in Texas, infected children in flooded Burmese streets, earthquake victims in China, AIDS patients in Sub-Saharan Africa or those here in Washington, D.C.?
As the world confronts these and other serious challenges to survival, why add more complications by trying to reduce a living symbol of racial harmony to a checked-box identity?
Go back and read Powell's posts. Soledad in them refers to herself as Black and her children as light-skinned, not Mixed or White.
Melani we have a few topics on Soledad, in some she refers to herself as multiracial. But you said she called her children black. She never said that. Even the part you made bold says the opposite. She and her husband are on board that their children are multiracial.
in your Posts: 886 } you even questioned that.
Soledad:And also I happen to be biracial, which is sort of an explanation of skin tone. That's how I describe myself.
A: Well, white people don't tell their kids "You are white." I think that's a huge difference right there. My kids are very light skinned. Some look like they are 100 percent white. Some don't. My husband and I are on board [with our message], but I think the two of them (biracial couple interviewed) are not quite on board with how they see their children. They have a little boy who looks black. I'm not sure it helps the kid to be told you get to pick. That is the message they are telling their kids(Soledad & her husband)
Here's one quote:
Quote:
Well, white people don't tell their kids "You are white." I think that's a huge difference right there. My kids are very light skinned. Some look like they are 100 percent white. Some don't. My husband and I are on board [with our message], but I think the two of them (biracial couple interviewed) are not quite on board with how they see their children. They have a little boy who looks black. I'm not sure it helps the kid to be told you get to pick. I'm not sure he does get to pick. My mom and Dad were very clearly on board with how they saw their six kids.
Posted: Thu 14 Aug 2008 19:57 Post subject: Soleadad and the ODR
gemini072 wrote:
Melani23 wrote:
Gemini -
Go back and read Powell's posts. Soledad in them refers to herself as Black and her children as light-skinned, not Mixed or White.
Melani we have a few topics on Soledad, in some she refers to herself as multiracial. But you said she called her children black. She never said that. Even the part you made bold says the opposite. She and her husband are on board that their children are multiracial.
in your Posts: 886 } you even questioned that.
Soledad:And also I happen to be biracial, which is sort of an explanation of skin tone. That's how I describe myself.
A: Well, white people don't tell their kids "You are white." I think that's a huge difference right there. My kids are very light skinned. Some look like they are 100 percent white. Some don't. My husband and I are on board [with our message], but I think the two of them (biracial couple interviewed) are not quite on board with how they see their children. They have a little boy who looks black. I'm not sure it helps the kid to be told you get to pick. That is the message they are telling their kids(Soledad & her husband)
Here's one quote:
Quote:
Well, white people don't tell their kids "You are white." I think that's a huge difference right there. My kids are very light skinned. Some look like they are 100 percent white. Some don't. My husband and I are on board [with our message], but I think the two of them (biracial couple interviewed) are not quite on board with how they see their children. They have a little boy who looks black. I'm not sure it helps the kid to be told you get to pick. I'm not sure he does get to pick. My mom and Dad were very clearly on board with how they saw their six kids.
Soledad O’Brien
CNN Anchor and Special Correspondent
I’m on the phone with a confused reporter, and I’m confused too. She keeps asking me why I “count myself as black… And why does Barack Obama?” My answer (for Sen. Obama, at least) is “have you seen him?” But she won’t let it go. “Is your father annoyed that you deny him?” My dad is white. I interject. “Let’s conference him in,” I say. “Listen, he married a black woman, he has six black children. He’d be the first person to tell you I’m black.”
The questions, to me, reveal more about the asker. This (white) reporter surely doesn’t know a lot of black people, or she wouldn’t be struggling so hard. She’d know black people come in all hues.
When you look at all Soledad's quotes, don't you think she sounds like an ODR supporter? Of course she must know that Hispanics (and Arabs) dont follow it, but she is promoting it. The "on board" remark in regard to the way her parents reared her and how she and her husband are rearing their children suggests that she does tell her children that they are "black" but doesn't want to come out and say it because she knows that criticism will follow.
Your mother is a black Cuban and your father is Australian ‑- what are some ways you enjoy your multiracial background and your husband's with your kids? Soon, through travel. When the boys get older, we hope to take the kids to Australia and Cuba. The girls are starting to really understand and be curious about where Grandma's from and what she eats, and how it's different from what we eat.
Your mother is a black Cuban and your father is Australian ‑- what are some ways you enjoy your multiracial background and your husband's with your kids? Soon, through travel. When the boys get older, we hope to take the kids to Australia and Cuba. The girls are starting to really understand and be curious about where Grandma's from and what she eats, and how it's different from what we eat.
I note that the interviewer used the word "multiracial." I think Soledad enjoys basking in the increased acceptance of mixed-ancestry created by the multiracial movedment, but she will also endorse hypodescent and the ODR. It seems to depend on the forum. She plays to her audience.
Posted: Thu 14 Aug 2008 20:40 Post subject: Jews and the ODR
Zana said:
Quote:
IMO, based on experiences I've read about, it's actually common for stereotypical looking American Jews and other "ethnic" (non Aryan/WASP looking) folks to verbally blacken non hispanic identified Americans with known African ancestry.
By doing so, I think it may psychologically make them feel "whiter" and thus ALSO a true "member of the club" so to speak. Because everyone knows that not so long ago Jews themselves we're (and still are amongst racist whites) considered NON white.
Some - especially of the younger generation - I imagine would not like to think about the time (not so long ago) when they were considered non white minorities.
And I've seen PLENTY of Jews who look far less white than Soledad. With nappy hair too.
It seems Americans of all backgrounds are constantly trying to legitimize and normalize Hypodescent when it comes to African Ancestry.
Now sometimes I can see where this notion stems from, but other times it clearly doesn't make any sense to me.
Regardless, it truly seems to be "The American Way".
I think some stereotypical looking Jews and other non WASP looking folks may have a complex, and therefore try to seperate themselves - in peoples minds - from those they THEMSELVES could be mistaken for.
I suspect that's why the swarthy Philip Roth wrote The Human Stain.
"It seems to depend on the forum. She plays to her audience."
I agree.
Quote:
O'Brien tends to treat her own ethnic mix with a light touch. She said that people laugh when they see her without makeup "because I have so many freckles that I look very Irish." She also gently mocked the notion that her mixed-race background exposed her to unimaginable horrors.
"I have had people say, like, 'Oh, so you were a tragic mulatto?' Well, um, not exactly. I was just a middle-class girl growing up on Long Island."
I am the poster child for "multi-culti," for sure. Every group kind of sees in me what resonates with them. I think that people like to define me. I think it makes them more comfortable. I sent my uncle in Australia a tape once of me doing the news, and he's like, "Oh, my gosh, you're so Irish-looking. It just kills me." I'm just this light-skinned, middle class black girl with nappy hair.
Q: How did you feel about having the option of checking more than one racial classification box on the 2000 Census, and which ones did you check?
A: I checked all the ones that applied, and I loved it. I thought I was totally messing up the system. An archaic and bizarre system. If the system doesn’t keep up with who a lot of us are, that’s their problem.
But Barack Obama is as much a part of black America as me with my light skin; my dad's white and my mom's black, as my cousin who grew up in Guyana and her children are here. We're black America and it's a very wide picture that includes a lot of people. Not in our documentary necessarily where we tried to keep sort of a narrow focus but black America is a lot of things. I always hesitate when people like to try and figure who's in and who's out because it's not helpful and it's not realistic. Black America includes a lot of people.
"It seems to depend on the forum. She plays to her audience."
I agree.
Quote:
O'Brien tends to treat her own ethnic mix with a light touch. She said that people laugh when they see her without makeup "because I have so many freckles that I look very Irish." She also gently mocked the notion that her mixed-race background exposed her to unimaginable horrors.
"I have had people say, like, 'Oh, so you were a tragic mulatto?' Well, um, not exactly. I was just a middle-class girl growing up on Long Island."
I am the poster child for "multi-culti," for sure. Every group kind of sees in me what resonates with them. I think that people like to define me. I think it makes them more comfortable. I sent my uncle in Australia a tape once of me doing the news, and he's like, "Oh, my gosh, you're so Irish-looking. It just kills me." I'm just this light-skinned, middle class black girl with nappy hair.
Q: How did you feel about having the option of checking more than one racial classification box on the 2000 Census, and which ones did you check?
A: I checked all the ones that applied, and I loved it. I thought I was totally messing up the system. An archaic and bizarre system. If the system doesn’t keep up with who a lot of us are, that’s their problem.
But Barack Obama is as much a part of black America as me with my light skin; my dad's white and my mom's black, as my cousin who grew up in Guyana and her children are here. We're black America and it's a very wide picture that includes a lot of people. Not in our documentary necessarily where we tried to keep sort of a narrow focus but black America is a lot of things. I always hesitate when people like to try and figure who's in and who's out because it's not helpful and it's not realistic. Black America includes a lot of people.
I love this discussion actually because it asks the question: How should a biracial/multiracial/mixed-race person suppose to identify?
I believe she does see herself as Black Cuban & Multiracial seperately (that is my conclusion not hers) Mariah Carey I believe sees herself as Multiracial 1st 100%black 100%white(Irish?) and Venezualan
Kimora Lee Simons sees herself as 100%Korean(?) and 100%African-American Lisa Bonet says she is a Mutt, Derek Jeters says he is biracial, Tiger Woods Cablasian, Gloria Ruben defines herself as Afro-Canadian all very different ideas
Posted: Fri 15 Aug 2008 03:51 Post subject: Identity
gemini072 wrote:
zsana wrote:
"It seems to depend on the forum. She plays to her audience."
I agree.
Quote:
O'Brien tends to treat her own ethnic mix with a light touch. She said that people laugh when they see her without makeup "because I have so many freckles that I look very Irish." She also gently mocked the notion that her mixed-race background exposed her to unimaginable horrors.
"I have had people say, like, 'Oh, so you were a tragic mulatto?' Well, um, not exactly. I was just a middle-class girl growing up on Long Island."
I am the poster child for "multi-culti," for sure. Every group kind of sees in me what resonates with them. I think that people like to define me. I think it makes them more comfortable. I sent my uncle in Australia a tape once of me doing the news, and he's like, "Oh, my gosh, you're so Irish-looking. It just kills me." I'm just this light-skinned, middle class black girl with nappy hair.
Q: How did you feel about having the option of checking more than one racial classification box on the 2000 Census, and which ones did you check?
A: I checked all the ones that applied, and I loved it. I thought I was totally messing up the system. An archaic and bizarre system. If the system doesn’t keep up with who a lot of us are, that’s their problem.
But Barack Obama is as much a part of black America as me with my light skin; my dad's white and my mom's black, as my cousin who grew up in Guyana and her children are here. We're black America and it's a very wide picture that includes a lot of people. Not in our documentary necessarily where we tried to keep sort of a narrow focus but black America is a lot of things. I always hesitate when people like to try and figure who's in and who's out because it's not helpful and it's not realistic. Black America includes a lot of people.
I love this discussion actually because it asks the question: How should a biracial/multiracial/mixed-race person suppose to identify?
I believe she does see herself as Black Cuban & Multiracial seperately (that is my conclusion not hers) Mariah Carey I believe sees herself as Multiracial 1st 100%black 100%white(Irish?) and Venezualan
Kimora Lee Simons sees herself as 100%Korean(?) and 100%African-American Lisa Bonet says she is a Mutt, Derek Jeters says he is biracial, Tiger Woods Cablasian, Gloria Ruben defines herself as Afro-Canadian all very different ideas
I disagree. I don't see this as being about "individual" identity. Public figures like Soledad O'Brien, Gregory Howard Williams, etc. will often say that they had no choice but to be "black" (and therefore others don't have a choice as well) unless they are called on it.
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but let's see what they say when the are grown and experience racism and colorism. 
They may each have a different 'race' when they are off on their own in life, apart from mom and dad. A White parent and nowadays a Black parent 
but I think 
