Posted: Fri 15 Aug 2008 04:26 Post subject: O'Brien as Irish American
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.
O'Brien's anchored at helm of CNN's "American Morning"
By Niall Stanage
The Soledad O'Brien File Born: 1966 Childhood: Smithtown, L.I.
Education: Harvard University (degree in English and American
literature); Smithtown High School East Family: Married to Brad Raymond.
Four children - Sofia ("almost 5"), Cecelia (3), and twins Charlie and
Jackson (14 months) Job: Anchor of CNN's "American Morning"
CNN may pride itself on its international reach but here in the U.S. its
main breakfast-time show has a uniquely Irish - or at least
Irish-American - flavor. Turn on "American Morning" during any weekday
and it's odds-on that one anchor's chair will be occupied by Soledad
O'Brien and the other by Miles O'Brien.
The two O'Briens are unrelated, but their mere presence fronting such a
major show serves to highlight the prominence of Irish-Americans in the
mainstream news media.
Indeed, "American Morning" for a brief recent period had the distinction
of having three major contributors all of whom were Irish-American --
the amusingly grouchy Jack Caffrey was also a regular part of the mix.
Caffrey now plows his faux-misanthropic furrow on CNN's new afternoon
mainstay, "The Situation Room."
Miles O'Brien is a relatively recent arrival at "American Morning." He
replaced Bill Hemmer in June - and an irked Hemmer departed for CNN's
bitter rival, Fox News, soon afterwards. O'Brien was formerly a daytime
anchor for the network, and continues to serve as its space correspondent.
The real 'face' of "American Morning," however, is Soledad O'Brien. She
has been presenting the show for more than two years. Though based in
New York, O'Brien is hardly tethered to the anchor desk. During her time
at the helm she has covered everything from the Asian tsunami to the
burial of Yasser Arafat. She was also on the scene in Ohio when the
voters of the Buckeye State in effect decided the outcome of last year's
presidential election.
Though still relatively young at 39, O'Brien seems well established in
the viciously competitive world of broadcast journalism. She first came
to prominence as a local anchor on an NBC affiliate in San Francisco,
KRON. She later moved back to her native New York to work at NBC News,
and in the mid-1990s she boosted her national profile as presenter of
"The Site," a technology show on the fledgling MSNBC network. Prior to
moving to CNN, she had become a regular anchor on the weekend version of
NBC's massively successful "Today Show".
Despite being in the spotlight for around a decade, however, O'Brien has
avoided becoming either gossip column fodder or the subject of
controversy. She largely abjures the attitude-laden style of
presentation favored by some anchors, while her personal life seems
positively wholesome -- she is married to Brad Raymond, whom she met
when they were both students at Harvard, and the couple have four children.
If O'Brien has either tumult-stirring opinions or a private life
fizzling with shocking misbehavior, she isn't about to let the Echo in
on the secret. That is not to say that O'Brien is hostile or without a
sense of humor. Talking last Friday, she was, in fact, the epitome of
professional friendliness. And a dry wit sometimes peeked through, as
when she was asked about her early days in the news business.
"I did an internship, so I took staples out of walls, answered phones
and fetched coffee," O'Brien said. "And then I got hired as assistant to
the medical reporter, which meant I took staples out of her walls,
answered her phone and fetched her coffee."
Most of the time, though, O'Brien was brisk and businesslike. Any
inquiries that could lead into even slightly contentious territory were
batted away - one question about whether Fox News' more polemic style
poses challenges to journalistic quality, especially at an outlet like
CNN, was answered with a generalizing response that focused primarily on
the new George Clooney movie about Ed Murrow, "Goodnight And Good Luck."
O'Brien, like many people, was most interesting talking about the
earliest phase of her life. Her parents met in an America riven with
racial discord. Her father is Australian-Irish (his Irish roots are in
County Cork) and white. Her mother is Cuban and black.
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."
Asked about her parents' experiences, however, she swiftly - and
understandably - became more serious.
It isn't possible, she contended, "to over-dramatize" what they went
through. Her parents met as students at Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore. At the time, racism was so rabid that interracial marriage
was banned outright in the city. When O'Brien's parents were dating,
restaurants would not serve them together.
"They were doing stuff that for the time was very risky - socially risky
and risky to their own physical safety. And they decided they were going
to go ahead and get married and have six kids," their daughter recalled.
"When I was an adult, I would ask them what that was like," she
continued. "'Oblivious' isn't the right word... but they felt people's
opinions were irrelevant to what they wanted to do."
Despite O'Brien's obvious admiration for her parents, she backed away
from ascribing overly grandiose descriptions to their attitudes. Asked
whether she found their moral courage inspiring, she balked.
"Moral courage can [seem] very high falutin'," she said. "I think they
just thought: 'We want to get married, so we'll go to DC and get
married.' It wasn't like [she adopts a booming mock-heroic voice], 'Hey,
we're going to have great moral courage and just plow ahead.'"
O'Brien grew up in the Long Island town of Smithtown. Despite her
reluctance to make her upbringing appear anything but happy, she noted
that she and her five siblings were physically conspicuous in the
overwhelmingly white neighborhood.
"You're definitely different; your family sticks out and that's just
kind of the way it is," she said.
Though putting no gloss on the evils of racism itself, O'Brien
acknowledged that her feelings of being in some way "apart" from the
mainstream may help in her current job.
"I think being an outsider helps you in observing things and being
sensitive to differences. But it also makes you open to a lot of
perspectives, and that in a way is more important. I have always felt
very comfortable in a lot of different situations," she said.
O'Brien's upbringing, she contended, had also solidified her commitment
to diversity in the workplace.
"I think a lot of people think diversity's a code word for black people
or it's a code word for Hispanic people. To me it's not. It means real
diversity, opening up a discussion to a lot of different voices," she said.
O'Brien herself -- as surely the only Irish-Australian-Cuban-American
anchor around -- is living proof of the importance and the benefits
of that diversity.
Though she gave the impression of taking pride in her professional
success, there does not seem to be much danger of her becoming
enthralled by her own growing fame, or the world of celebrity in
general. Asked whether any one interview she had conducted stood out as
her favorite, she declined to highlight any big names:
"A lot of the ones that people would count as important are not the ones
that really move you the most. The ones that move you are the ones with
regular people, because they don't have an agenda and they're not there
to pitch a book," she said. "There was one young woman I interviewed,
who was 16 years old and had shrapnel in her body from Columbine. She
was a remarkable, brave little kid who took your breath away. That sort
of thing is the most moving for me. That's more important that me
listing a lot of elected officials for you."
Posted: Fri 15 Aug 2008 12:38 Post subject: Re: Identity
Powell wrote:
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.
Again I ask the question, How is a biracial/multiracial/mixed person supposed to identify?
From what I'm seeing is Soledad may be developing a fluid identity.
From a few things we are readying she is still on her journey discovering what that means she didn't have that 'opening' early in life. I"m not going to be too critical of her journey right now.
And she is also raising her kids multiracial.
Kimora Lee Simons will do an interview with A(Asian) Mag and talk like a full blooded Asian woman and then in parts talk like she is 100%Black then deal with Multiracial issues like she went to the school of the Mutt.
Last edited by gemini072 on Fri 15 Aug 2008 16:17; edited 1 time in total
Joined: 26 May 2007 {Posts: 425 } Location: San Antonio, Texas
Posted: Fri 15 Aug 2008 12:54 Post subject: Re: Identity
gemini072 wrote:
Again I ask the question, How is a biracial/multiracial/mixed person supposed to identify?
What's Charlie Brown's name?
Unfortunately, like it or not, these celebrities are in such high profile positions within our society, that how they identify is going to affect the way that the rest of us are perceived.
That said... how they identify does indeed concern the rest of us.
Posted: Fri 15 Aug 2008 13:19 Post subject: Re: Identity
Richard Miller wrote:
gemini072 wrote:
Again I ask the question, How is a biracial/multiracial/mixed person supposed to identify?
What's Charlie Brown's name?
Unfortunately, like it or not, these celebrities are in such high profile positions within our society, that how they identify is going to affect the way that the rest of us are perceived.
That said... how they identify does indeed concern the rest of us.
Are you speaking for yourself or for all of Multiracials? I don't think you can.
How she identifies doesn't concern me, I'm interested in how she identifies/why etc etc the same way I am with non celebs.
Joined: 26 May 2007 {Posts: 425 } Location: San Antonio, Texas
Posted: Fri 15 Aug 2008 13:22 Post subject: Re: Identity
gemini072 wrote:
Are you speaking for yourself or for all of Multiracials? I don't think you can.
I think I can. Do you want your "biraciality" to be recognized? As "white" as Mariah Carey is, if everyone thinks she's black, what are they going to think about you? This is to say nothing of the biracial celebrities who actually look like you, that have everyone thinking that they're black.
I was doing a search on meetup.com the other day regarding stay at home moms/interracial families and I came across this young woman's picture.
She's a married stay at home mom and these are her children.
I think her kids - and those like them - will be the ones that lay to rest this ridiculous notion that white people (the term to me includes people who are predominately white, completely white appearanced, and are treated and accepted as white by members of society) with an African/European ancestried parent or ancestor are merely "passing" and "really" black.
The future is going to be VERY interesting indeed. Because you're going to have a whole new generation of biracial ancestried completely white apperanced and accepted people, like Donna Summer's grandchildren
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EElnJvL6JUE&feature=related and Eartha Kitt's http://www.earthakitt.com/pdf/press-rosie.pdf who are going to normalize the concept of being white with known African-Ancestry.
Some of these girls have expressed interest in the entertainment industry. And if they follow through, I predict that my sons (and certainly my future grandchildren) along with America's, will grow up thinking nothing of the fact that they have distant African-Ancestry.
I don't believe Bliss Broyard, Gregory Howard Williams, Soledad, or anyone else can stop this evolution of thought. And I'm not implying that Bliss, Gregory, or Soledad have any ill intentions.
I do believe that eventually, African-Ancestry is going to be openly thought of in the same way Native-American and Asian ancestry in the white population is thought of.
Time changes all things.
I'm just seeing too many real life examples of this taking place before our eyes.
Offline, up close and personal.
Now when it comes to Anglo Black/white biracial ancestried Americans with physically identifiable African-Ancestry, it's going to be more difficult I think (if not impossible) to successfully create a solid third category.
Because there are too many African-American/black identified people from multi-generationally mixed backgrounds that are physically identical to (and sometimes more stereotypically biracial appearanced then) first generation black/white biracial folks.
In order to not possibly "offend" and be "politically correct", I believe many white people and others will continue to error on the side of blackness over biracialness when there's a case of ambiguity.
Also in some cases, a biracial/mulatto designation wouldn't even be assumed by your average American.
If those children were alone, and not with their mother, the vast majority of people would assume they were simply black. Case closed. And when they're with their mother, I bet many still assume she adopted them, or that she's their teacher, or social worker.
So sometimes when people one-drop it's truly a mistake. And not done for racist reasons.
People mentally categorize people by the way they look to them.
Regardless, I COMMEND biracial people who insist on being recognized for ALL of who they are. And fight to have that recognition respected socially and legally.
Last edited by zsana on Fri 15 Aug 2008 20:16; edited 2 times in total
I was doing a search on meetup.com the other day regarding stay at home moms/interracial families and I came across this young woman's picture.
She's a married stay at home mom and these are her children.
I think her kids - and those like them - will be the ones that lay to rest this ridiculous notion that white people (the term to me includes people who are predominately white, completely white appearanced, and are treated and accepted as white by members of society) with an African/European ancestried parent or ancestor are merely "passing" and "really" black.
The future is going to be VERY interesting indeed. Because you're going to have a whole new generation of biracial ancestried completely white apperanced and accepted people, like Donna Summer's grandchildren
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EElnJvL6JUE&feature=related and Eartha Kitt's http://www.earthakitt.com/pdf/press-rosie.pdf who are going to normalize the concept of being white with known African-Ancestry.
Following along the lines of your hopes(that having black ancestry(known & recent) won't be seen as a negative, my hope is that we do not continue a race based society, and we can get to a place where those terms aren't used in the context that they are now.
Racial hierachies have to be removed from our societal thinking or if not it will just continue racial prejudices in society with an added 'middle' step. One Nation 4 everyone, not just those visibly 'white. "White" people ethnic Whites and "White" Multiracials will have children with blacks mixed & mulatto people.
Some of these girls have expressed interest in the entertainment industry. And if they follow through, I predict that my sons (and certainly my future grandchildren) along with America's, will grow up thinking nothing of the fact that they have distant African-Ancestry.
I don't believe Bliss Broyard, Gregory Howard Williams, Soledad, or anyone else can stop this evolution of thought. And I'm not implying that Bliss, Gregory, or Soledad have any ill intentions.
I do believe that eventually, African-Ancestry is going to be openly thought of in the same way Native-American and Asian ancestry in the white population is thought of.
Time changes all things.
I'm just seeing too many real life examples of this taking place before our eyes.
Offline, up close and personal.
Now when it comes to Anglo Black/white biracial Ancestried Americans with identifiable African-Ancestry, it's going to be more difficult I think (if not impossible) to successfully create a solid third category.
Because there are too many African-American/black identified people from multi-generationally mixed backgrounds that are identical to (and sometimes more stereotypically biracial appearanced then) first generation black/white biracial folks.
In order to not possibly "offend" and be "politically correct", I believe many white people and others will continue to error on the side of blackness over biracialness when there's a case of ambiguity.
Also in some cases, a biracial/mulatto designation wouldn't even be assumed by your average American.
If those children were alone, and not with their mother, the vast majority of people would assume they were simply black. Case closed. And when they're with their mother, I bet many still assume she adopted them, or that she's their teacher, or social worker.
So sometimes when people one-drop it's truly a mistake. And not done for racist reasons.
People mentally categorize people by the way they look to them.
Regardless, I COMMEND biracial people who insist on being recognized for ALL of who they are. And fight to have that recognition respected socially and legally.
Last edited by gemini072 on Wed 20 Aug 2008 15:31; edited 4 times in total
Racial hierachies have to be removed from our societal thinking or if not it will just continue racial prejudices in society with an added 'middle' step
'
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