I just read a news report which said that ‘White births are in the minority for the first time in America.
Racial and ethnic minorities (sic) now account for 50.4% of births.’
It seems to me that the one thing above all else that
defines America as a nation is that it’s the world’s great melting pot, being composed
of a far greater ethnic and racial mix than surely any other country on the
planet. It’s what provides the staggering diversity that one sees in American
culture. It’s what makes America
such an interesting place. So I have two questions:
1) How is ‘white’ defined in America,
exactly? Leaving the racial element aside and sticking with just ethnicity, is
Irish blood, for example, seen as being more ‘white’ than Italian blood because
Italians generally have darker skins than Irish people? Is mixed
European/Chinese more ‘white’ than mixed European/South Indian for the same
reason. And how many ‘white’ Americans have Native Indian blood running through
their veins, because then we’re going beyond ethnicity and into race?
2) Why does America
feel the need to apply this segregationist attitude to newborn babies? Are the words 'white' and 'non-white,' or some such, recorded on birth certificates? (I sincerely hope not because it would mean that Martin Luther King died in vain.)
I really am curious.
3 comments:
I can't really answer your questions. It seems that anyone who isn't Black, Hispanic, Asian, or Native is considered white. There are classifications for Caucasian... Anglo-Saxon...
And i'm pretty sure Liam's birth certificate says he's white and or Caucasian. Our state issued IDs also state our races.
There are also a lot of people who claim Native American ancestry who shouldn't because they really don't know and it isn't genetically enough to validly say, like some do,'I'm part Indian'. My father's great grandfather was a Native American and his wife may have been half Native American and he, his mother, aunts and grandmother all look full Native American. People often think my dad is Hispanic but if he were to be asked, which he often is, he'll say he's white because he feels its disrespectful to claim Native American ancestry 1) because of all that the Native people have and still do suffer from, 2) because so many people claim it for vain reasons and 3) because there are certain government entitlements that are supposed to be given to Native Americans, like college scholarships, that he doesn't feel that he deserves to claim. It isn't that he is ashamed or racist, because he isn't at all, its out of respect. I don't always understand his reasoning though. His mother didn't go about claiming it either but she was privately proud of it.
My grandfather used to do family trees and genealogy and had traced his family way back and was able to identify the name of the ship his family first came to America on as 'pilgrims.' He was sometimes sort of boastful about it and once when my grandmother grew tired of him talking about it said something like, 'yeah, and when they got off that old ship my people were standin' here waitin' on 'em!' (Interesting note- my grandfather found Oliver Cromwell in our family tree.)
I do know that what qualifies as a certain race also varies by state. My ex worked with a man who was 'mixed' white and black, i'm not sure the percentage, and he told my ex that his son is 1/8 black and 7/8 white but according to the state of TN he is considered black.
Back to my dad, when I first filed for divorce he and i went to see a lawyer and she asked our race, (not sure why that mattered), and we told her white and she said, "No, you aren't white; i need to know your ethnicity." We were taken aback and so my dad told her that he did have a Native American great grandfather and she said we had to put that down as our race. We didn't go back to that lawyer, not for that reason, though. The next lawyer didn't even ask. So really, who knows what determines race in America.
I think Hispanic people should also have the compensatory benefits that Native Americans are supposed to have. And i say supposed to because i know the government doesn't really follow through with such things and if they do they make it hard for anyone to claim them. I'm not really sure what all those benefits are all i know about are the college scholarships and only because I had a friend from high school whose mother was from Hawaii and was he able to get Native American scholarships so that he didn't have to pay tuition. My high school German teacher's husband is a Navaho Indian and had even lived on reservations and she said it was hell to go through when he tried to get his scholarship. He had to provide tribal rolls and so much proof and go through a lot of red tape and was highly offended about it all. And the only reason she told our class about it is because this girl with bright red hair and covered in freckles was claiming she could get the scholarship because she had 'Indian in her.' That's what i mean about so many people claiming it. They seem to think it adds to their cool factor or makes them unique or something.
Sorry if this is so ramble-y... i'm writing and playing with Liam at the same time.
Oh, i also meant to add that i recently applied for a job and on the part where it asks for race and ethnicity there were only two options to choose from: White, Non-Hispanic and Hispanic.
And another thing i find sort of confusing in America. I think most people consider Jewish people white or Caucasian. I'm actually confused by what exactly Caucasian means...
This is wonderful and quite mind-boggling, Andrea. Thanks for taking the time.
It’s a complex and confusing issue, I know, and maybe unsuitable for a blog post which can really only make general points. There’s lots and lots I could say about this, but let me offer another general point.
I’m sure the perception of ‘white’ in America is synonymous with ‘European’ (west of the Caucasus,) and it seems to me that white America needs to make up its mind what it wants to be. Does it want to be ‘European one step removed,’ or does it want to be ‘American’ – a nation that is fully independent, not only politically, but also culturally and in every other way? If it wants the latter, it must surely accept that America is not a white culture, but a mixed one. America is still a very young country that has grown out of many races, ethnic groups, and countless variations thereon. Continuing to categorise people according to race and ethnicity has to be not only genetically nonsensical, but also socially divisive, and I can see no reason for doing it other than to subtly reinforce the notion of white supremacy – hence what I said about Martin Luther King. Surely, there should be no white Americans, African Americans, or Hispanic Americans. If America wants to be truly independent and ‘one nation,’ there should be only ‘Americans.’
‘Native American’ is a different subject, of course, because the historical dynamic is different.
Post a Comment