The misconception that you must only be of one race reached almost ludicrous proportions last week when bloggers said that accused Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman was Black, because his great-grandfather had African blood. Does one drop of African blood make you Black in the United States? It would seem so. But this is simplistic and indicates deep unease about race, if not racism.
More.
Truth is, anyone whose family has been here more than four generations is likely to have a “drop” of black blood. I do going back five generations to my great-great-grandmother, and though enrolled as a quarter-blood I am as blonde haired and blue eyed as it gets. Folks don’t know, unless I tell them, I’m not an Aryan, not a white dog.Â
What really pisses me off is the way they are going after Elizabeth Warren and her (as yet unsubstantiated*) claim to a thirty-second of Cherokee (cool, we’re “related”). That’s five generations removed, her great-great-grandparent, an older “claim” to a drop of blood than Zimmerman’s “black”. First and foremost, five generations is a stronger claim to “American” than many, if not most, of those Tea Baggers who claim Jew, German, British, Irish, Italian or any other “ancestry”. Secondly, and probably more importantly, it doesn’t matter one damned bit. Anyone whose family has been here more than four generations is highly likely to have a “drop” of black, or red, or jew, or oriental, or latino, or mori blood. We are and always have been a nation of immigrants, Heinz 57 Varieties.Â
Personally I’d like to see these white dog’s green cards. No, that’s not quite right. I want to send them all back to hell.*Both her claim, and the claim she made the claim.
Well, my looks are as Anglo as it gets but I do have seriously kinky hair…