Posted: Wed 03 Oct 2007 23:39 Post subject: Caribj and LSGH on Passing
[This thread was split to here from An Article on Passing in the "History of the One-Drop Rule" forum because it drifted fronm neutral narration to advocacy. -- FWS]
LSGH wrote:
Thanks for the passing article.
I'm 32 and have been passing for 2 years.
I don't do it in a way to denigrate The Black vs. White Experience.
I respect BOTH cultures enough to commit myself FULLY to them.
*peace*
Question for you. How does one pass and yet respect BOTH cultures? I would think that passing would suggest an attempt to disguise one part of ones ancestry in an attempt to fully assimilate into another.
Joined: 02 Oct 2007 {Posts: 226 } Location: Seattle
Posted: Thu 04 Oct 2007 04:20 Post subject: Alison Saar
Quote:
ALISON SAAR
23 April 2007
Alison Saar, guest speaker at this year's Paul R. Jones Lecture, explored black identity and pride, black history, inter-race relations and contemporary social challenges in a talk she accompanied with slides of her artwork on Thursday evening, April 19, in UD's Trabant University Center Theatre.
An award-winning, internationally known artist, Saar, through words and images, took her audience of approximately 100 UD students, faculty and staff on an eye-popping journey that touched on lost identities, madness, strained relations between blacks and whites, conflicted issues of self-image, and outward masks versus inward emotions.
“When I speak at universities, I like to include really early work,” Saar said, beginning her lecture with a slide of a crudely carved 13-inch-tall African-American puppet/effigy made from a 4-by-4 plank of found wood.
“I have always been drawn to sculptural forms, and this piece marks the beginning of that path,” Saar said. She went on to explain how working in three dimensions better enabled her to show inner and outer worlds, and pointed out that the puppet, which had a trap door in its chest, represented this duality. “This puppet holds resentment,” Saar said. “I have always been very much interested in representing the inner spirit, and several of my early sculptures have doors that can be opened and closed to show an interior and exterior world.”
Moving through slides that included more figures and busts carved mostly from wood, Saar explained how the different images addressed issues of homelessness, living with being HIV-positive and simmering emotions of hatred and distrust.
After showing many of her earlier works, Saar brought the audience up to date with several contemporary pieces, many of which dealt with hair as symbol for entrapment, madness and African Americans' pursuit--or rejection--of aesthetic standards considered the epitome of Caucasian beauty.
“I became obsessed with hair and with things embedded in the hair,” Saar said, showing a slide titled “Blonde Dream,” that depicted a sculpted head of an African-American woman with heavily processed hair.
“I got fascinated with my own hair trapping things and of using hair as a symbol of history and of dreams and aspirations, and also of madness,” Saar said.
“I did a series of pieces that were about the body, and about the spirit, too,” Saar continued, moving on to works that she said were contemporary takes on classic sculptures and themes, such as the “foxy” slaves sculpted by Michelangelo and the lovely odalisques painted by the Dutch masters and post-Impressionists.
Spiraling back to darker, more personal themes, Saar concluded her lecture by showing a series of portraits she had painted on the bottoms of cast-iron skillets and well-used shovel blades depicting “lost” domestic servants and handymen.
“I wanted to depict invisible populations--men who worked in yards and women who abandoned their own families to work as domestic servants,” Saar said.
Recently commissioned to do a sculpture of Harriet Tubman for the corner of 122nd Street and Frederick Douglass Place in New York City, Saar brought her slideshow and lecture to a close with an image of the maquette for the sculpture, which will be, upon completion, a 13-foot-tall-by-8-foot-wide permanent installation.
A native of Los Angeles, Saar earned her bachelor's degree in art history from Scripps College in 1978 and her master's degree in fine art from Otis/Parsons School of Design in 1981. She is a scholar on self-taught African-American artists and on the art and religions of several African, Latin-American and Caribbean cultures.
The lecture, which marked the fifth year of the annual event, was attended by UD art benefactor Paul R. Jones.
Article by Becca Hutchinson
Photos by Duane Perry
Last edited by lsgh on Fri 07 Dec 2007 16:27; edited 5 times in total
Posted: Thu 04 Oct 2007 15:42 Post subject: Re: AMEN.
LSGH wrote:
caribj wrote:
Question for you. How does one pass and yet respect BOTH cultures? I would think that passing would suggest an attempt to disguise one part of ones ancestry in an attempt to fully assimilate into another. Please enlighten.
Dear Caribj:
Thanks for the respectful enquiry
There exist TWO styles of Passing [please reference article]:
Personally, growing up as a Black Aristocrat,
being White was never TRULY an option/desire
as I was "well taken care of".
Problem is, like Charles Byrd,
I eventually had to find answers
to the questions in the mirror:
"Why is my skin French Vanilla?"
"Why is my hair thin & curly?"
"Why are Dad & Grandad's eyes so light?"
Etc?
Etc?
Etc?...
Like Byrd;
simple enquiry
became re-examination
became alternate reality
became Backintyme:
So, in order to "Keep It Real" [& HEALTHY!!!],
I've chosen to counterbalance 30 years of "Blackness"
with 30 years of "Whiteness"
THE BRIDGE:
I strongly question this:
1] Upward Mobility [i.e., to acquire jobs, resources, etc.]
2] Self-Hate/Self-Denial [self-explanatory]
Number 1 may be true for those people who claim a white identity in specific circumstances but never make it a permanent identity.
Number 2 is bogus and based on stereotypes created by the black-identified. There are no legitimate studies to back it up. Mathematically, if John and Sue are both 75% white and 25% black, and John "hates" the 25% black and Sue "hates" the 75% white, then Sue is really the self-hating one.
A number three that you almost never see in books is this: The accused "passer" just wants to be who he really is, and he knows that "black" is definitely not that.
LSGH...I personally applaud your decision to be who you are, no apologies.
I myself don't see a black woman when I look in the mirror and people don't see a black woman when they look at me. Therefore, I "pass" whether I want to or not, based on the judgements of others.
Being yourself is not "passing". It is rejecting the attitudes and beliefs that other people shove down one's throat.
Joined: 02 Oct 2007 {Posts: 226 } Location: Seattle
Posted: Fri 07 Dec 2007 16:34 Post subject: The Glass Ceiling
pianoplayer111 wrote:
LSGH...I personally applaud your decision to be who you are, no apologies.
I myself don't see a black woman when I look in the mirror and people don't see a black woman when they look at me. Therefore, I "pass" whether I want to or not, based on the judgements of others.
Being yourself is not "passing". It is rejecting the attitudes and beliefs that other people shove down one's throat.
True...but the pointe I've been trying to make to ODR [particularly The Black-African-American-leaning people here]
is that PASSING is also A Tool of Empowerment...Blacks/African-Americans won't FULLY prosper until
they embrace the TOTALITY of whom they are....
Unfortunately, it is a tool of empowerment. It was in the past as well (look at people like Walter White, who self-identified as a black man but also concealed that part of his heritage at times to help AA's).
I only differ with you on one point...the people who identify themselves as black have every right to do that. Many people feel more comfortable identifying with only one side of their lineage and often it seems to be the black side...that is, when we're discussing black/white mixies and not other various racial combinations.
I too feel that people should acknowledge and respect all of who they are, but that is a very individual personal decision. I don't judge biracials who see themselves as "black". That is their perspective. Now I consider myself to be mostly white. Some people have been offended by this. Why they would feel that my racial identification is their business, I'll never know. I feel this way about many "heavy" subjects, actually.
In all fairness, those who self-identify as "black" and those who don't are in two different camps. Both should try to understand and respect the viewpoints/feelings of the other. Some people don't consider that their experiences might differ from another person.
Posted: Sat 08 Dec 2007 17:50 Post subject: "passing"
pianoplayer111 wrote:
Unfortunately, it is a tool of empowerment. It was in the past as well (look at people like Walter White, who self-identified as a black man but also concealed that part of his heritage at times to help AA's).
I only differ with you on one point...the people who identify themselves as black have every right to do that. Many people feel more comfortable identifying with only one side of their lineage and often it seems to be the black side...that is, when we're discussing black/white mixies and not other various racial combinations.
I too feel that people should acknowledge and respect all of who they are, but that is a very individual personal decision. I don't judge biracials who see themselves as "black". That is their perspective. Now I consider myself to be mostly white. Some people have been offended by this. Why they would feel that my racial identification is their business, I'll never know. I feel this way about many "heavy" subjects, actually.
In all fairness, those who self-identify as "black" and those who don't are in two different camps. Both should try to understand and respect the viewpoints/feelings of the other. Some people don't consider that their experiences might differ from another person.
By the way, is that you in the photo?
Over the years, I've emphasized these points:
1) Lots of social pressure exists (from blacks, academia and the popular media) to make people call themselves "black" when they don't look it, including threats of how something terrible will happen to you, etc.
2) No such threats exist to make Euro people of partial black ancestry call themselves white, quite the contrary.
3) By logical deduction, can't we say that the person who chooses "white" is DEFINITELY exercising his right of choice while the one who "chooses black" may NOT be making a true choice because the "passing"
mythology is based on the premise that he HAS NO LEGAL OR MORAL RIGHT to choose any identity but "black."
I heard Gregory Howard Williams say on ABC's "Nightline" that he had "no choice" but to be "black." Of course, once people in the Multiracial Movement criticized that lie, he whined that we were trying to deprive him of the "choice" he previously claimed he never had.
*nods in agreement* Yes, Ms. Powell...I hear what you're saying.
I have felt this way myself many times and while it might not be politically correct, it is true. However, the truth offends some people...
I still don't know what to make of Williams. I would like to be able to say that I respect his self-identification and I do. What I've always said, though, is that he isn't being entirely honest with himself. Before anyone misinterprets that comment, I will explain. In this country and indeed in most countries of the world, people tend to classify others based on how they look. He identifies with black people both racially and culturally. That is his call. Who are we to judge that?
Physically, he is not a black man.
His phenotype is identical to any WASP in America. He is deluded to believe that AA's outside of his immediate circle (who are in the know about his family history) will accept him as one of them. If he were to visit my hometown and refer to himself as black, he would be mocked by people of all ethnicities. It happened to me years ago on more than one occasion. I never understood it then until I looked in the mirror. If he identifies as black and only black, that is his business. I found myself shaking my head while reading his book because there were things in there that simply didn't make sense, but I don't like to judge others, esp. if I don't know them.
Joined: 02 Oct 2007 {Posts: 226 } Location: Seattle
Posted: Wed 19 Dec 2007 18:47 Post subject:
Quote:
In all fairness, those who self-identify as "black" and those who don't are in two different camps. Both should try to understand and respect the viewpoints/feelings of the other...By the way, is that you in the photo?
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