‘To be considered black in the United States not even half of one’s ancestry must be African black. But will one-fourth do, or one-eighth, or less? The nation’s answer to the question ‘Who is black?” has long been that a black is any person with any known African black ancestry. This definition reflects the long experience with slavery and later with Jim Crow segregation. In the South it became known as the “one-drop rule,” meaning that a single drop of “black blood” makes a person a black.’¦’¦’¦..this American cultural definition of blacks is taken for granted as readily by judges, affirmative action officers, and black protesters as it is by Ku Klux Klansmen.’
By F. James Davis, ‘˜Who is Black? One Nation s Definition
There it is; a seed sown. Let s just leave it for awhile, to humidify, germinate and with a little luck, sprout while we digress to my personal history growing up in a Midwestern city.
Chicago, like many other major American cities, was an industrial center and destination for people from everywhere who wanted to achieve their own American dream. Because of birth, I was fortunate enough to have been saved the trip. As an amalgam from that first breath I was already well equipped for a soft slip into the great ‘˜melting pot of both family and community. From earliest recollections, I m certain that there was no other group identity beyond mom, dad, sister, grandparents cousins and uncles. Other people were still merely ‘˜extras filling in the background.
The dawn of ethnic awareness crept up as from nowhere. At first, it came to my limited understanding that we were Irish; having no idea what it meant or that anyone else wasn t. Soon, thanks to my maternal, Irish/French grandfather another identity was discovered when he complained that my grandmother wouldn t cut loose with some dough so he could walk over the Knotty Pine to warm a bar stool. For that recalcitrance on her part I discovered that she was a ‘cheap Bohemian.’ Sadly, for many years hence, the two terms remained synonymous. It seemed to me right off, that being a Bohemian wasn t at all a good thing. When at a less tender age I learned that it was because of her that I was also part Bohemian, it was not welcome knowledge and until early adulthood, was excluded from recitations of my ethnic heritage. Ethnic identity of my youth was Irish and French.
Germination time: Maternal Grandma was, Czech (Bohemian in Chicago lingo) her mother-in-law, my great grandmother, was French; representing my smallest differentiated ethnic heritage. A mere 1/8 would hardly have merited mentioning but for shunning the ¼ Czech.
So, a reader might be asking by now: Why all the genealogy?
It is to illustrate an, institutionalized, malignant, functional racism at work in our society that we can no longer afford as a nation. We ve grown beyond it but have yet to recognize the urgent necessity to change.
Had my French great grandmother hailed from Ukraine, Helsinki or Palermo, my ethnic identity would have been no different. If she d been born in Nairobi, what you are reading would be considered a piece of African-American literature. This, because the archaic roots of ‘˜Jump Jim Crow are still alive and well; largely unrecognized even by the very people who today suffer the most destructive effects. Indeed, many of our fellow citizens with African ancestry cling to this endemic oppression almost as tenaciously as they do to life itself.
Whether Great Grandma Malinda had been born a slave or had emigrated from Kenya, if I identified myself as ‘˜mostly Irish, loud, strident condemnation and accusations of being ashamed of ‘˜being black would shortly ensue.
Here is the secondary point. Whether it was due to a sense of misguided shame or merely innocent expedience for light conversation, it would change neither who I am nor the way people perceive me but for extant racist notions shared by all about special supremacy or inferiority of ‘˜Homo Africanus. .
If we Americans are to overcome the devastating effects of this socially ingrained way of looking at people with African ancestry, the advancement of sharing our far more important American identity will remain arrested.
The United States was and still is known and admired internationally for phenomenal social advancement and unparalleled liberty. Along the way we overcame the hypocritical nightmare of slavery, recognized civil injustices and have amended the Constitution as needed to expand protection of civil rights throughout our history. Yet, we remain blighted by a cruel, archaic custom that exists in nowhere else.
Whether or not we possess a ‘˜drop of African blood, cooperation with and complicity in, this de-facto oppression must stop and soon. The weakening fabric of our society can no longer afford the strain of this ignorant, racist practice of categorizing citizens with known African heritage as a group separate unto themselves.
It is also long past time to take whatever steps are necessary to end perpetuation of this mindless custom in our own families and by government, educational and corporate institutions.
If dedication to the traditions of equality and freedom that have characterized our strong national identity are not enough reason to put an end to this, then we should at least do it to serve the cause of our common humanity.
Is a seedling sprouting?
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Wait a minute, scratch that last comment. I’m arrogant, so I can’t admit that I have any faults…
D and S,
Yeah, my fingers do seem to have a mind of their own too when it comes to typos. You think you just wrote something intelligent and -d’oh- looks like a fifth grader wrote it…
“Isn t it aggravating when our €˜fingers do the walking? It s absolutely indescent!
It s a writer s itch beyond scratch. Show of hands?”
SilverWun
I liked Brilliant observation
dfunzy,
“Race is and has been the number 1 issue in the United States, before there was a union and we were just colonies.”
I would agree with “has been” but not with the IS part of that. I don’t think race is as much of a factor today was it was say 30 some years ago. That’s why the Sharpton’s of the world shout so loudly and stretch for attention. The people who talk about race tend to be the ones wanting to perpetuate the issue as a need to maintain their power base. A power base that is told time and again it’s a victim of “da man”. Plenty of my friends of color tell me the same thing when this issue comes up. I have heard time and again from them that Sharpton/Jackson doesn’t speak for them. Given Sharpton’s anti-Semitic rants I can’t say I blame them.
Isn’t it aggravating when our ‘fingers do the walking?’ It’s absolutely indescent!
It’s a writer’s itch beyond scratch. Show of hands?
“dissent by the courts and by the legal system. Many scholarly legal and judicial studies …”
OOPS I noticed I wrote “dissent” when I should have written “descent”
We can hope and we can dream, that someday race won’t matter. Unfortunately today is not that day. Race is and has been the number 1 issue in the United States, before there was a union and we were just colonies. Do a google search on the differences of how Americans of African and of European ancestry are treated in the schools, the work place, et al, etal, and you will see that much more progress needs to be made. A lot of the push back and anger expressed by people whom Eric calls the ‘Sharpton and Jackson types” are not just because of racism done two hundred years ago, but because of racism that is continuing today. There are so many examples of different and harsher treatment handed out to Americans of African dissent by the courts and by the legal system. Many scholarly legal and judicial studies have been done that confirm this. Again, do a google search.
Racism is not just a fault in American society, it is found in every country that does not have a homogeneous population. America handles the problem much better than most. In The United States legal racism is a thing of the past, however structural and systematic racism continues. What can we as individuals do to fight racism? We can be tolerant of each others heritage. We can refrain from making racial slurs. We can try to judge each other as individuals and not as representatives of a race. That doesn’t sound simple and it isn’t simple. Is there a better way?
Thanks all for the thoughtful comments.
Your comment, Erik, on the portion [ '..we remain blighted by a cruel, archaic custom that exists in nowhere else. € Bigotry exists everywhere. ] appears as though what you thought I meant was bigotry in itself; which, as you point out, isn’t directed solely at people with African heritage.
What I meant was the custom of considering ANY known African ancestry to define a person automatically as ‘black’ or African-American, is a distinctly American peculiarity. It is also a primary cause for what you referred to as a ‘knack of self sabotage’ for people with African ancestry in particular because, as a group, those within it who uphold the custom, do so to their own disadvantage and thereby become complicit in their own oppression. It has always played into the hands of ‘white supremicists’ who want to maintain as many barriers as possible to racial equality and assimilation.
Agreed that as long as there are differences in groups of humans at all, there will be champions of this or that kind of supremacy. What I am trying to get accross is to get rid of archaic practices that get in the way socially and legally. The ‘one drop rule’ or any known ancestry principle is institutionalized racism, whether both groups (as identified today) want it or not.
This article was rolling along fairly nicely until it came to the point where you stated “..we remain blighted by a cruel, archaic custom that exists in nowhere else.” Bigotry exists everywhere. Your ancestral Ireland is a perfect example.
I wrote an article on a different blog site a couple of years ago that several people of color took exception to. It was titled “I Am Not European American”. I don’t need a politcally correct title just to fit in. I was trying to explain to some of these naysayers that, instead of “African American”, how about “American”? The former sub-title only reinforces the stereotypes (and segregational thinking) and the reinforcement is not always from other groups, though I am not so naive to not realize that external prejudice does exist.
Unfortunately, ignorance will always exist and, as a result, so will racism. Does this mean that I think we should throw in the towel? Absolutely not! But it does mean that much more of the problem than many seem to want to admit comes from within the groups who are crying “foul” and “oppression” (enter Sharpon / Jackson types). I have always extended my hand in peace, thanks to a mother who considered bigotry taboo. She gave me color-blind goggles at a young age. But it hasn’t always been returned and I have often been blamed for something that my ancestors may or may not have been responsible for. Do you see the irony?
We as a nation have come a long way. But I cynically view it as a large bandaid aka rules and regulations and exploitations (example: it has been chique to accuse someone of racism in order to silence or intimidate). It is always clear to see how far we haven’t come as soon as something that is clearly racial explodes.
I would love to see true racial harmony. But those deeply involved in the subject (not me) have a knack of self-sabotage, whether by accident or on purpose. Maybe two-way education is the answer. Who knows?
Excellent! Very well done! Huzza!
This is what I usually ask people in polite conversation when this comes up.
What do these three things have in common?
African-American
Scottish American
Asian-American
?
However, for the human mind to compartmentalize and categorize for the sake of speech/communication we use heritage as a means of self identification. There is German in my heritage yet I associate with the Scottish stream of Genes more than the Deutschland in me. Does that make me more German or less Scottish?
I agree with you completely. When we as a country can overcome being anything BUT American then racisms will be a memory. You are born in this country, you were raised here, you are American. Unfortunately since the dawn of man we have used heritage/race as a means of self identity. Probably as far back as separating Cro-Magnons from Homo-sapiens. It will take a lot for the creature known as man to overcome his inherent wiring.
I wish it only stopped with “a drop of black,” but take heart of the fact that you can even write this without a burning cross on your yard. The time is coming, slowly, but it’s coming.