So, i'm struggling today, on this the day of President Barack Obama's coronation... er... inauguration as the 44th president of the United States of America. First of all, why does 1/2 + 1/2 = 1/2 suddenly? No one is half a person. Is a person who is half black only/all black if it makes them historically relevant and more electable? i could just imagine how difficult it would have been if his father's last name had been Guzenberg or Raphael or Wong to claim (or for his campaigners) to label him only as black.
This brings me to the problem i have with all the fuzzy math. How can we ever have racial harmony, let alone equality, if we still conform to labels? These are labels that don't only mean nothing in light of (now) very old genetic research, but which don't mean anything on the surface with a "white" and "black" parent.
i just finished watching Huckleberry Finn (1974) this weekend. At one point, Jim, Huck's escaping slave friend, begins to bleed and Huck says, "Jim, your blood is red just like mine!" Jim answers, "Huck, you didn't know that?" i think Morgan Freeman said it best when asked how to get rid of racism in an interview on 60 Minutes...
"Stop talking about it. I'm going to stop calling you a white man. And I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man."
i don't think that necessarily ignoring race is the best way to truly bring about unity or equality, but i think a start would be to all start making a concerted and clear effort to recognize it as a human construction that has been just as damaging as any man-made barrier or written law. Until people start saying, "i'm a person, i'm a citizen, i'm a human being with the same blood running through my veins, standing on the same earth created by someone who loves me because i am made in the very image of the divine," this country will move toward divisiveness every day, and away from the unity we so desperately need.
i think there's a good chance Barack Obama understands this far better than most of those who support or campaigned for him. i hope that in his position as influential leader, he can bring some change to the way we think and uphold racial barriers through labels and rhetoric.
This brings me to the problem i have with all the fuzzy math. How can we ever have racial harmony, let alone equality, if we still conform to labels? These are labels that don't only mean nothing in light of (now) very old genetic research, but which don't mean anything on the surface with a "white" and "black" parent.
i just finished watching Huckleberry Finn (1974) this weekend. At one point, Jim, Huck's escaping slave friend, begins to bleed and Huck says, "Jim, your blood is red just like mine!" Jim answers, "Huck, you didn't know that?" i think Morgan Freeman said it best when asked how to get rid of racism in an interview on 60 Minutes...
"Stop talking about it. I'm going to stop calling you a white man. And I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man."
i don't think that necessarily ignoring race is the best way to truly bring about unity or equality, but i think a start would be to all start making a concerted and clear effort to recognize it as a human construction that has been just as damaging as any man-made barrier or written law. Until people start saying, "i'm a person, i'm a citizen, i'm a human being with the same blood running through my veins, standing on the same earth created by someone who loves me because i am made in the very image of the divine," this country will move toward divisiveness every day, and away from the unity we so desperately need.
i think there's a good chance Barack Obama understands this far better than most of those who support or campaigned for him. i hope that in his position as influential leader, he can bring some change to the way we think and uphold racial barriers through labels and rhetoric.
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