What's Your Ethnic Background? The answer might surprise you...

[wabishtar]

OK, so I'm watching an episode of "The Colbert Report" that I recorded while I was away, and he has on this woman, Debra J. Dickerson, who says that Barak Obama isn't really black, because he's not descended from former slaves. Never mind the fact that he's still visibly black, and I'm certain he had to still put up with prejudice, since not even

Comments

[wiktowasichu]

By this logic, almost all slavic people are black, many people in south american countries are black, and many tribes in Africa are not black.

I am not black though, or white. My family comes from Europe true, but mostly from Switzerland. And the first recorded journey in my lineage from Europe to america occurred in the 1890's. They were clockmakers who bought land in Tennessee so they could take up the noble trade of farming in this new land. They werent even very put out by the fact their new land was rocky, had poor soil quality, and was quite a bit too vertical to be planting crops on. So they moved to Elgin and worked in the clock factory, hey, it was better than farming hills okay.

My family never owned slaves and were duped by the Americans. By the logic used previously, I am an Indian, or a mexican, or something else that is neither black nor white.

[wabishtar]

Dude, by this logic, the only people in Africa who are black are Liberians, since Liberia was founded by freed American slaves. Everyone else is, I don't know, purple.

[wabishtar]

Also, you were tricked by a bad legal agreement into living on crappy, useless land. You're totally a native of this land.

[herr_schnied]

Oh, I'll take you up on that one.
While it's true that historically the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei wasn't exactly accepting of people of color, I did have a great uncle who was awarded a post-humous iron cross at Leningrad. What's the significance of that? Did you know that during WWII there was also a British man who was such a good double agent that he was awarded an iron cross for service to the Reich? Now, that man was British, meaning of the British Isles, which includes Ireland. To paraphrase The Commitments, we all know the Irish are the niggers of Europe (sorry Sean). Ask anyone south of the Mason-Dixon and a nigger is a black person. Therefore the prestigious award of the iron cross did not exclude black people. Following that logic this uncle whom I've never met and know nothing about save the awarding of the iron cross very well could have been black, and since according to Alabama state legislature circa 1960, if you're 1/16 black, you're black.
boo-ya

[wabishtar]

OK, that log is crazy, but it's not the SAME type of crazy logic. Her logic basically goes that shared cultural history equals race, and biology has nothing to do with it. Your explanation gave an insane hypothetical about how you might have a black ancestor, but it didn't say anything about your cultural past. For an example, look elsewhere in this Livejournal's comments for Rob's history, and the explanation of why he's a Native American. For another example, we've already established that I'm not white, so what am I? Well, I'm Irish, and the Irish are a people who've been persecuted by every major power of Europe for the past 2,000 years, they've been driven across the world in a dispora when a foreign power conquered their land, they are a deeply religious and intellectual people, and they have only recently regained the ability to govern their own land, and since then it has been rife with terrorism. Looking at those facts, I'm obviously Jewish. That's how the game is played. Shared cultural experience. You can take

[wabishtar]

Oh, and The British Isles DO NOT include Ireland.

[herr_schnied]

I'd expect you to say that, Sean Patrick Murphy, but according to the always-truthful wikipedia, the British Isles do include Ireland.

Anyway yeah, I think I just might take another crack.