Posted on 03/10/2010 5:46:48 PM PST by kathsua
Kevin Myles the president of the Kansas chapter of the NAACP recently claimed that a government retreat on enforcement of civil rights threatened the rights of blacks. Actually the threat comes from the perpetuation of the racist belief that skin color separates us into different "races".
The best way to eliminate discrimination is to recognize that skin color is only skin deep. Skin color does not automatically make us different in any other way.
Black leaders are just as guilty of perpetuating the belief color is important as whites. The media actively support this belief by using the racist term "African-American" to describe those Americans with dark complexions. The term perpetuates the old American racist belief of "part black, all black."
The media often refer to Tiger Woods as "African American" even though his ancestry is more Asian that African. His mother was Asian (Thai and Chinese with some Dutch). Although his father had some African ancestry, he also had Chinese and American Indian ancestry.
Even President Barack Obama received less than half of his DNA from his African father. The "X" chromosome he received from his mother contains more DNA than the "Y" chromosome he received from his father. Obama also received mitochondrial DNA from his mother.
The fact that a person has dark skin doesn't mean that a majority of his ancestors came from Africa or that he received a majority of his DNA from African ancestors.
Skin color involves a relative handful of genes with the most important being SLC24A5 which produces melanin a molecule that absorbs solar radiation, particularly potentially harmful UV radiation.. There are two variations with the variation that produces the amino acid alanine being associated with a dark complexion and the variation that produces the amino acid threonine being associated with light skin. In general a pigment is black if it absorbs the entire visual light spectrum. It is white if it reflects the entire visual light spectrum.
Some of the other genes that affect the function of the melanin pigment include ASIP, MC1R, TYR, KITL, HERC2 and OCA. The most important protein responsible for variation in skin color is MC1R.
It would be possible to have a light complexion even though a majority of ancestors came from Africa. A person can have a dark complexion even though more than 75% of his ancestors came from Europe. Even a dark complexioned person with some African ancestors might have inherited most of his dark skin genes from a non-African including various North American peoples.
The version of SLC24A5 associated with dark skin is common among East Asian and North American peoples as well as Africans. The version associated with light skin is primarily associated with those of European ancestry.
The media refer to Barack Obama as the first African ancestry president, but as many as six other presidents may have had African ancestors. Like many other white Americans, they may or may not have known about African ancestors. My previous post looks at this issue and the general issue of why geneological records may not reflect one's biological ancestors.
After the broadcast of the "Roots" miniseries, many Americans decided to research their ancestry. Many whites were surprised to find ancestors who had served in the military in the 19th Century who had the letter "C" after their names meaning "colored".
The Spanish were the first to bring Africans to North American with the establishment of their Georgia settlement in 1526.
For the English settlements, the first African "servants" arrived in Jamestown in 1619 only 14 years after the founding of the settlement. African and poor white indentured servants initially worked together in the fields. This practice would have led to sex across the color line.
Some Africans became free and had their own farms. Antonio the Negr0 arrived in Virginia in 1621. He later became free, changed his name to Anthony Johnson and eventually had his own farm with indentured servants. The idea of servants being slaves developed gradually with the cost of replacing servants being a factor in the decision to make the Africans permanent slaves.
White servitude was abandoned in part because it was too easy for escaped white indentured servants to blend in on the frontier. Lighter skinned descendent's of Africans would have been able to do the same thing long before the American Revolution. Those on the frontier spent much of their time outside and would have had sun darkened skin. The small frontier populations would have led to marrying whomever was available without much concern about color.
Laws eventually prohibited marriage across the color line, but owners and overseers had sex with slaves throughout the period of slavery. During slavery a baby's status as slave or free usually depended upon the status of the mother because at the time they had no way to reliably determine who the father was. Some plantation owners might have claimed light skinned children born to them by slaves as the children of their wives.
Southern states allowed white men to rape black women without fear of punishment until the mid-20th Century.
Children of dark skinned parents who decided to leave home an pass for white would have eventually married those who considered themselves white.
We will never eliminate racism in the United States as long as politicians and media continue to claim that skin color defines a person's "race". The term "African-American" perpetuates the old American racist belief of "part black, all black."
The ancestors of some black Americans arrived in Virginia nearly 400 years ago and in Georgia nearly 500 years ago If white Americans whose families have lived here for only a century or so can be considered "regular Americans" ( to borrow Archie Bunker's term) then why must dark skinned Americans whose families may have lived here for four or five centuries bear a label implying they belong somewhere else.
Only about 500,000 Africans were imported into North America during the three centuries of the slave trade. Thus, the vast majority of the 4.5 million blacks living in the U.S. in 1860 were born here. Those Americans whose ancestors were slaves are regular Americans, not Africans.
The Census Bureau wants us to check our "race" on census forms. Even if Europeans and Africans are separate "races", we Americans are all mixed together and are not biologically divided into separate races according to the color of our skins.
We need to recognize the wisdom of the Lakota phrase Aho Mitakuye Oyasin (We Are All Related) regardless of the color of our skin.
That's the way the game is played.
You’re either an African or an American, choose.
You’re either an African or an American, choose.
:-)
Isn’t Mrs. JF’nKerry an African American? Or is she an American African like Zer0?
Good grief! What are we supposed to call them, now?
I know! How about Africana?
My daughter has an Ebay business, selling black Americana items that are very popular. Its mostly black people who buy this stuff so it can’t be racist. Anyway she sells the mammy cookie jars, etc. It started out they could describe the items however they wanted to. Then as political correctness started taking over, Ebay began to tell them what they couldn’t say. Now the cookie jars that have been known as mammys since the early 1900’s can no longer be called mammys. They have to call them black ladys. People who do Ebay searches looking for these items have always searched for mammys. It just takes away from the history and appeal that black Americana items had.
Is Obama a half cracker or black as he portrays himself? Just asking.
We should let them decide.
Hope we find out soon. I’m tired of saying A-A.
Thank you for posting. Good piece.
Yo! Hypenated ping....
How about just “American?”
I’ve had a belly full of all this PC crap...
Yep and its never going to end. No matter what word they come up with that they want to be called, eventually they will call it racist. I’m like you. I give up.
Black. Nope.
Negro. Nope.
Colored. Nope.
N****r. Obviously, nope.
Now African-American is a nope.
Okay, I’ll just start sayin, “Hey, boy.”
“Southern states allowed white men to rape black women without fear of punishment until the mid-20th Century.”
WTF? Is this correct? surely not! I can’t believe that rape would be sanctioned anywhere in the USA ever, under any circumstances.
How about a truce -
dark browns for blacks
tans for whites
light browns for Latinos
pale tans for Asians
reddish tans for American Indians
medium browns for Indian
.
.
.
Question for Caucasians that have to be closet racist because you are Caucasian -
Would you rather have literally white colored skin or the darkest tone that is of the black race? I think most Caucasians would not want to be literally white!!
“Isn’t “African American” the term liberals prefer?”
I’ve also increasingly found myself labeled as a “Caucasian.” It turns out that majority of my physician colleagues refer to whites as “Caucasians,” as well.
I refuse to. There’s no historical accuracy in the term. I’m not at all sorry to say by ancestors didn’t come from the Caucases.
:’) Thanks BIGLOOK.
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