Colour Coded

I like to stay away from racial issues, but the current flap over Obama's church brought a bit of this up, and made me think about it. This quote from the comments section in particular,

The fact that we refer to anyone with even 10% of "black" blood as "black" is masking the true meaning - it means they are "not white".

is a significant point. For years I have had an issue with people who are half or more Caucasian identifying themselves as "black", since they are as much white as black, and no matter what your heritage is, you should at least not deny that it's part of you. For example, I'm not sure what Halle Berry's mom thinks about her daughter identifying herself as "black", but I'm sure that I'd be disappointed were I in her position.

This is not to say that I encourage people to hyphenate the hell out of themselves, but being of mixed background should be an opportunity to put certain historical baggage behind us. This doesn't just apply to mixed race, as there are lots of people who are the same colour who don't get along. Someone half English and half Irish, for example, can choose to identify with one side or the other, OR they can identify with both, perhaps.

My own mix isn't too antagonistic, at least not recently, so I have no problem picking the eyes out of the best parts of my heritage. I understand that things are farther apart, more fresh and unpleasant, etc. for many others, so any high-profile personalities that provide a good example in this regard are a big step in the right direction.

So, as far as I'm concerned, Halle Berry is a hottie, no race ID required. By the standards that some people apply to her (as an example), I could just as equally call her a hot "white" woman; she's as much that as black.

Will Pastor Wright sink Obama's run for Pres? I have no idea and I care even less. This will likely push some of his white supporters away, and his repudiation of Wright's comments will ironically push away some of his more militant black supporters too.

As always my fearless predictions are not warrantied, and more of a spleen-venting than anything else.