Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 16:19:16 EDT
From: NTuneProd1@aol.com
Subject: Please help have this site removed thanks
AOL SHOULD HAD CAUGHT THIS BY NOW. I came across this website by accident when I was working and so can your children. It can promote violence! You can't spam but they allow this. Racist Violent Website Please pass this on to other AOL users to have removed.
Date: Wed, 04 Oct 2000 00:22:29 -0700
From: Kenji Hughes
Subject: To Multiracial Activist Editor - "Least Desirable"
I applaud the Multiracial Activist for providing a forum for this
important set of issues that have been (and continue to be by most
people) overlooked for so long.
I would like to add my two cents to the issue of black/multiracial identity that was touched upon in the postings from "Cheyenne Yarber" and "jaquio" sent on August 31st and September 13th, 2000 respectively.
In the first e-mail "Cheyenne Yarber" claims his/her biracial identity and simultaneously denies having the appearance of a black person:
I came out copper brown with green eyes. Now for all the one drop rule supporters, DOES THAT SOUND like what a person from Africa would look like??? I didn't think so.
Ignoring, for the moment, the fact that there are many racially mixed people in Africa, I believe that the above statement illustrates an important point. There is a definite tendency among mixed people who are part African to try and disassociate themselves from blacks in general.
Before I continue I want to make it clear that I understand that race is a social construct which is gradually (albeit slowly) becoming obsolete and which one day will hopefully be largely irrelevant. Having said that I think it's important the we not ignore the desire
of many part African people to deny their blackness, or to play up their other lineages. From my observation this tendency is definitely stronger among people who are mixed with African than those who are mixed with different combinations. The reasons for this are obvious. Black people have been and continue to be the most vilified group on the planet; almost universally considered to be the stupidest, ugliest and laziest of races among the majority who believe (consciously or subconsciously) in distinct racial categories and
characteristics.
So I see two reasons for mixed/black people to assert their mixed identity:
1. To acknowledge the reality of racial mixture and attempt to get others to acknowledge it as well.
2. To escape membership in the least desirable "racial" group.
So how do we know which train of thought someone is coming from when they make the multiracial claim? It's hard to say sometimes, most often it's probably a mixture of the two. In any case I think reason number 2 is very important to acknowledge, otherwise you're really in denial of reality, at least as much as the so called "one droppers".
If you reject distinct racial categories, without confronting the white-supremacy, and thus black inferiority, within yourself then you're essentially trading the American model of racism for the Brazilian one. In the Brazilian scheme of racism (at least in it's classical form) there aren't distinct racial groups (or there are many), but rather a continuous spectrum of colors and features encompassing white, black and Amerindian. White however is still the most desirable color and black the least.
The enlightened era where people have the freedom to define themselves and not be pigeon holed by others will never become a reality unless people deal with white-supremacy (and all of it's
legacies) in addition to acknowledging the mixture of peoples. Denying racial classification without acknowledging white-supremacy is effectively claiming superiority to black people and black people pick up on this. I believe that this is a legitimate source of hostility that mixed people sometimes get from so called "one droppers".
I'd like to hear any feedback that anyone has on the position that
I've expressed.
Sincerely,
Kenji Hughes
Date: Sun, 8 Oct 2000 19:40:24 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ron
Subject: Letter to the Editor
I'm writing in response the letter that "jaquio" wrote. Most of the people on here hate the black side of themseves. there are always saying I'm not black. I'm multiracial. People are only fooling themselves. Society always treated light skin blacks (the mixed one better than other black. Miss Mariah Carey has been offered the role of Wonder Woman, do u think that if she was a brown-skin black women that they would have offered her that role, NOT !!!!! She got it cause she looks white. Rather she dyes her hair too look more white and straightens it. I dont have an issue with interracial realtionships, i have a problem with people who are ashamed of their black side. I look at all these people that go through this drama of being mixed, it's kinda sad. I'm a biracial black male who identity has such. I realize what my black ancestors have gone through. I wouldnt dare spit in their face so that I grin up in a white person face. Some of these people dont realize what some blacks have gone through so that they are allowed to even marry a white person. It sad, real sad
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 07:24:39 -0500
From: A.D. Powell
Subject: Nat Hentoff on Hate Crimes
I came across this at The Washington Times and thought you might find it of interest.
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2000 09:08:57 -0700 (PDT)
From: George D. Allen
Subject: Letter to the Editor
Mr Hughes in "least desirable" makes some good observations and expands my personal understanding. These preceptions help me understand why civil rights organizations justify
being very exclusive to one category.
I believe there is another reason people assert their identity as being something other than black who are mixed racially.
If they have a cultural identity, as the Dominican Republic, which is a legitimate nation/culture, and that identity is denighed to exist for reasons of white supremacist doctrine, the rejection of being classified on a hate basis which rejects the existance of that nation/culture is pretty reasonable. What right do racist have to force people to discount their own cultural identity.
Another reason may just be reactionary. The attacks and dirty tricks of racism in schools is based on black. My son is half Domincan. We have had a great deal of hate based alteration of grades and multiple detrimental things done because of this 1/32 rule of black ancestry. His grandfather on his mother's side was Chinese. We have never been attacked or cheated because of this Chinese ancestry. It seems to be like a game of paper and scissors, one thing beats another thing. Perhaps if being mixed race of only Chinese and "Anglo" were the case we would be reacting to whatever is thrown at that catagory as the white supremacist kicked in a different rule.
Another might be what your ox is that is being gored. If you are Hispanic in Texas, you would be hard pressed to get excited about blacks being categorized as the lowest rung on the whitesupremacist ladder because they have plenty of hate stored up to cover Hispanics completely. Having your child shot into the disposal chute in school automatically and irrevocably simply because he is Hispanic has the exact same result as having your child shot into the disposal chute because your child is Black or part Black.
Remember pitting race against race and covering children with hate to destroy their opportunites has nothing to do with melanin pigmentation. It is to give the children of those doing the hating all the opportunities by excluding all others. As often stated to us, it is "us against them", where all others are them. You have heard of mothers who have enough love to go around, well the essence here is that to assure no one gets anything but us these folks have enough hate to go around
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2000 20:00:44 -0700
From: A.D. Powell
Subject: Bagels, no lox
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2000 11:25:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike Jane
Subject: Letter to the Editor
I am a gay man and I like to shag men of all races but I prefer Black men. Does this make me racist? If it does, then maybe racism is a natural occurrance. This worries me a lot.
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2000 07:27:31 -0500
From: A.D. Powell
Subject: HATE CRIME LAWS JUST RACIAL POLITICS BY ANOTHER NAME
Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass makes a good argument against "hate
crime" laws. I might also add the issue of racial classification. The
government would have to determine the "racial" identity of both the
alleged victim and alleged perpetrator in order to judge whether or not a
legally defined "hate crime" had been committed.
An excellent book on this subject is HATE CRIMES: CRIMINAL LAW & IDENTITY POLITICS by James B. Jacobs and Kimberly Potter (Oxford University Press, 1998). One of the most fascinating chapters in the book contrasts the modern "hate crime" laws, which focus on individual motivation and identity, with the post-Civil War or Reconstruction laws that (18 United
States Code 241 and 242) focused on federal, state or local officials who deprive private citizens of federally guaranteed rights on the basis of certain characteristics or private groups such as the Ku Klux Klan that engaged in conspiracies to violate federally guaranteed rights: statute 241 "[i] if two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or
intimidate any person ...in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the Untied States... or if two or more persons go in disguise on the highway [i.e., the Ku Klux Klan], or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder [the] free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so
secured...They shall be fined not more than $10,000, or imprisoned not more than 10 years or both..."
statute 242: "Whoever, under color of law,...willfully subjects any person to the
deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunitieis secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined...or imprisoned..."
"Neither of these statutes was meant to single out the prejudices of common criminals for special condemnation and more severe punishment, rather, their purpose was to ensure that laws were enforced equally on behalf of all victims, no matter what race, and against all offenders, whatever their race, prejudice, or criminal motivation. Unlike modern-day hate crime statutes, which cover only those victims who fall within the groups listed in the hate crime statute, the post-Civil War statutes apply to everyone." (page 37)
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2000 12:37:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: ryu
Subject: Letter to the Editor
what happened to the JA community? It used to be that the Japanese were the model minority. Now all these Japanese women - who apparently think they are white, but are obviously not- are intermarrying, PATHETIC. I believe that the
rate of this problem is increasing, and the last time I checked it was around 60%.
You know people talk about the African-American community being in danger of becoming extinct because of the high rate of stds in the black community. Or the Latinos and their gang problem. Well, the Japanese American Community (along with the asian american community) also have a major problem...intermarriage, selling out, etc.
Editor: Ummm. Okay.
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 10:34:35 -0700
From: Beth Gray
Subject: Response to a Letter to the Editor
Someone recently sent in a letter asking why mixed people with partial African ancestry are so rejecting of "blacks", and issued a reminder that this whole miserable system was begun by "whites". No one is likely to forget the latter. However, I don't think people are aware ENOUGH of the following. W/B Mixies have suffered every form of menace and verbal and
physical abuse (with the possible exception of lynching) from "blacks" that "blacks" have from "whites". Such irony. As "blacks" know, there is nothing like abuse and violence to instill hatred toward the perpetrators.
This person should read the personal accounts of mixies that have been written in the last 20 years or so since that material is easiest to find (Gaskins, Root, Zack). However, the antipathy comes from a long history of jealousy and hostility on the part of "blacks". While mixies certainly experience racism from "whites" it's rarely as personal and ugly as the kind practiced by "blacks".
Finally, go to the Interracial Voice Editorial Archives and read "Mullato: A Definition" and "What We're Up Against" by Liam Martin. Really read them. Understand what he is saying about experience, identity, and freedom of choice and then multiply THAT by 400 years worth of the lives of individual and community experience. Then you will just BEGIN to get the answer to your question.
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 08:49:58 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mark Billings
Subject: Letter to the Editor
For the last few days I have been reading as much as I can on the interracial subject. I am a white male with a Scottish descent that was rescued from my own personal hell by a woman of African descent. I'm 24 and maddly in love. I have gathered some powerful insight to help me through the the rest of my life by reading whats been provided here.
I'll say this much I'm not very educated in this type of subject, but I'm willing to learn. I'm soon to be a father and I'm happy and scared all at once. I trust in God and with that she and I will make it. Some of the ideas that I read in the letters on this site I gather that a few people feel that white people started this i/m thing for political or to gain "white power." From my heart to yours, thats not true. I fell in love. It's as simple as that.
Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 18:02:16 -0700 (PDT)
From: delois aka vera king
Subject: Letter to the Editor
I'm responding to Beth Gray. Can you tell me what "Blacks" have done to mixed race people? Sometimes you cannot tell a "Black" person from a Mixed person? Did Blacks make Jim Crow laws? Did Blacks burn crosses on lawns? Did Blacks deny mixed race people equal access to the law? I still cannot understand the anger toward Black people. I keep reading about mixed people saying Blacks teased them and made them try to pick one race. Well what about the dark skinned Blacks who are made fun of by Black people for being "too dark", "oh you're nice looking for a dark person". I have heard Black people call dark people "Sambo, darkie, blue, soot". Are mixed people that thin skinned? In stead of focusing on the past, what are you going to do about the present/future? Whine about Black people or do something really constructive with your life? If Blacks are so bad, just stay away from them and stop this
infantile crying. For a race of people who have just started to have political clout and power, Blacks sure have been powerful force over Mixed(white/black) people according to you. Give me a break.
Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 22:14:23 -0500
From: A.D. Powell
Subject: Connerly addresses equality at Syracuse U.
It continually fascinates me how people are unable or unwilling to comprehend what they read. They're too busy taking knee-jerk exception to what they don't like and don't want to hear---like the truth.
Someone asked a question, and I gave part of the answer. It's fact whether anyone likes it or not. Not just in the past, but it continues in the present. Rather than respond, "delois" should have read Liam Martin's editorials. ALL of them. Like it or not, our experiences exist, are true, and are valid. "delois" doesn't seem to know that multimixies have been trying to STAY away for 400 years. And in the present, we AND the post 60's mixies are still trying to GET away so we can be WHO we really are regardless of WHAT others think we should be. It's not about phenotypes it's about a different IDENTITY AND CULTURE. GET IT?
Staying away from "blacks" and re-establishing mixed race America is a large part of the MM and of trying to change the census. If it were that easy then the drive for the multiracial category would have succeeded.
Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2000 16:32:09 -0800 (PST)
From: contact@imageyenation
Subject: Letter to the Editor
Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2000 16:20:25 -0800 (PST)
From: kiva renee
Subject: Letter to the Editor
I am Black. My family members are from many different nations in America, Europe
and Africa. Many of the contributors to this site are still ashamed of their one
drop of African lineage and have an inferiority complex.
Black is liberating. Despite popular views to the contrary. I don't have to
register for a tribal card or prove myself through social connections with
Whites. It is the freedom to be and accept All that I am. No 2 Black families in
America have an identical ethnic heritage! After all, we were BRED for hundreds
of years. You seem to believe that being Black means that you are African and
not simply of African lineage. This is demonstrated when you say I am Black
AND--- We Are a Muliticultural ethnic category.
So stop doing what our white ancesters did by diminishing the diversity within
my great culture. I am African, Scottish, NDN and Black is a defiant and
unifying expression of that. Rather face their brutal past, it is easier for
Whites today to divide and conquer. It is uncomfortable to look into the faces
of slaves who look just like you.
You should spend your time serfing the links which help to EXPLAIN the complex
legal and social history. For example, African women were valued as breeders.
They were rarely permitted to earn their freedom and their children were born
into slavery. The vast majority of mulattos had white mothers. Their children
married other free Blacks without a preference, until DOCUMENTED changes in
laws. Your family albums tell this story.
Why not truly examine the seed of self hatred before passing it on to your
children. Not attitutes, preference or selective researh. (I'd be happy to
forward links).
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2000 16:12:27 -0800 (PST)
From: delois aka vera king
Subject: Letter to the Editor
In response to Ms. Gray, I don't think you can talk for all multiracial people. I only replied to your post. I stated my opinion, I'm proud of it, if you didn't like it you shouldn't have responded. You really shouldn't let words get to you. Some don't want to associate with "monoracial" and some do. The point is no one can talk for such a large group of people. You might want to be apart in your own utopia but some won't. Just as some "monoracial" people do not want to associate with other "monoracial" people. I cannot speak for all multi-racial people and I'm sure they do not have a "Spokesperson". So what exactly are you trying to establish? How do you determine who goes into your "multiracial haven"? half black, quarter black,3/8ths black, 1/16th black? I just think the whole idea is stupid. Why can't the labels just cease? Will the multiracial community only include people who are fair or will it include people with dark skin who look "monoracial".
I don't associate with people I don't like, I don't constantly talk about them because they are not important to me. So obviously black people must be important to you. If you don't decide my mortgage payments, employ me, take care of me, why should I care what you think. The same should apply to you, if blacks don't do anything for you, why even bother. Such pettiness, there are more important things occurring in this world than what label you want placed upon yourself. All people want to be respected no matter what color, you can label yourself anything you want, but if you do not have love, happiness and respect in your life what different does that silly label do for you? PS "mixes" have not tried to stay away for 400 years, what planet are you on? MOST BLACKS ARE MIXED. You can reply if you want, but I'm through with this message board, you bore me.
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 07:31:49 -0800 (PST)
From: K. Jackson
Subject: Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor:
I am interested to know what TMA thinks about the candidates for President, in terms of how they would be positive or negative for the Multiracial/Interracial community. I have been a community and political activist for about 15 years, and I have seen positive IR/Multiracial issues play out very well during the years of Sr. Bush's reign (late 80's-early 90's). I have also seen moves toward the negative under the current administration (no challenges to the status quo on the census). I am not a partisan person, I actually am a third party member, but I realize that one candidate will emerge from the Uni-party (Republicrats) and I wish to know what their stances are on Multi-racial/Interracial community.
Editor: Politically I identify as a libertarian and only support candidates who respect individual rights. In recent years the Democrats have moved to quash the "multiracial" self-identification movement and Republicans have been indifferent or in favor of it. This reversal of tolerance on the Democrat's part was very interesting to observe. Many in our community are still in denial as to it even happening.
It is my belief that Bush may be indifferent to our issues, as he has not had a lot of reason to care otherwise. Gore however, would not hesitate to defer to the NAACP's judgement on any issue concerning our community.
I believe that neither Gore or Bush would be especially bad for our community, due to the fact that the 107th Congress will not be dominated by either party. Republicans will control it, but they will have to work with Democrats in order to get things done. At the very worst, things could stay exactly as they are. I see no loss of ground with regard to our community with either man in the White House. There may, however, be no progress on the executive level with regard to ending our national obsession with boxing people into categories. Depending on who Gore or Bush nominates for the Supreme Court would also be something to consider in this area. Gore cannot go far to the left and Bush cannot go far to the right if their nominees have any hope of making it past the Senate. Either man would most likely nominate individuals with more moderate views. I know Bush has said he would nominate "strict constructionists." He still has to get these nominees past a Senate that may very well end up 50-50 after the Senate races in Missouri and Washington are decided. Personally, I would prefer candidates who have read the Constitution and respect the Bill of Rights.
On a separate note, I believe that government should get out of the racial classification business altogether and support Representative Ron Paul's efforts to end government involvement in racial classification, to include the Census.
Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 14:50:35 -0800 (PST)
From: James Diamond
Subject: Letter to the Editor
This is great to have a disscussion like this.Im a Native and Jewish young
'Canadian'.It is from my personal sadness in not having any access to either of
my heritages that i search for supportive communication about culture and race.I
dont see how anybody could ignore the blatant racism that this continent is
built and continues to be built on. The year,the holydays,the main language it
all whispers white power.We need more venues to express ourselves.I feel pain
for all colonized people.yes whites too.They (we) have been away from a humane
exsistance(connected to nature) for even longer. Youd have to feel pretty
powerless to colonize your women and kill the ones you cant. And once your done
with the witches why are you so unsatisfied that you have to wipe out entire
populations and move in.NOT VERY CHRISTIAN or is it?
I dont know who to believe about world histories. There is some good personal
stories here on this computer.Please dont compete for most oppresed categorie.If
you have a political goal. dont spend your time dealing with individual
squabbles. Trust what you feel is right and go for it. My step sister is black and
Jew she is dying at 18. There are no donors for what she needs. There are barely
any candidates with her mix in canada.theres a few issues.Why cant they get a
donor from isreal? because borders are what makes a country.
In this day and age we are defined by what we are not.Please dont forget about
Native people i know its hard when we are just barely on the map.Dont say Blacks
are at the bottom because its not so black and white.
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 17:34:04 -0800 (PST)
From: KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN WHEN DEEP TANNED
Subject: Letter to the Editor
Just a few comments:
If you are multigenetic, it is your responsibility to make that know to all
those ignoramuses that pretend or are just so stupid not to look at you to see
that your are multigenetic. If some makes a comment and clearly state that you
are black or insinuates it, make sure you make a comment that makes it clear to
them that you are multigenetic......it's easier. It is our responsibility and
important for you to tell people, so they can stop insulting us with their
comments.
The most overt racism I have experienced has been from African people themselves
people that other people typically refer to as "black". For those who give us
looks of disgust and despise,they are simply jealous of us and actually detest
us it's clearly written on their faces multigenetic people are typically very
good looking why? You just have to go back to basic science when you create a
hybrid, it has superior genetics. Why are plants cross bred? to produce superior
genetics.
Since the medical profession wants to clasify people according to their color
and race, they should do so accurately and start recording our ancestry as we
know it eg african, irish, german instead of "black". Multigenetic people hold
a lot of keys to the answers the medical profession is doing research on, but
they refuse to recognise us, and we let them. Make a point of asking them to
record the details of your genetic makeup.....so it is on record....
What color is a Kudu? It is brown. For those people that call us black instead
of brown, why are they able to describe a brown animal as brown eg a Kudu
instead of black, but yet when it comes to a human they describe us as being
black in color??What a lie...
I am multigenetic. Why is it that I see my appearance as being any possible
combination eg spanish, egyptian,european and african or other,but others don't?
they refuse to, because they don't want to recognize that we are unique or be
associated genetically with us!
People have deliberately ignored our existence,and that's why they describe us
as being black, because they want to pressure us into believing that we are
black they don't want us to mention our white ancestry they don't want us to
identify with white people they want us to make racist comments about white
people and to accept their racist comments about whites. It is your
responsibility to display outright abhorrence to any racist comments they make
about whites.
It is an insult to describe people as black, white and brown. I refer to them as
so called blacks, so called whites and so called browns.
The majority of black people I have met continuously make reference to their
being black, and continuously make racist, and nasty comments about whites...Why
do they do this? It's simple. They have an inferiority complex. I find this so
annoying I detest it when they make negative comments about white people,
because they are insulting me when they do this I am part white, so naturally
I'll be insulted.
In summary, we are equally responsible for these comments that black and white
people make about us, because we don't react to those comments.......I have been
"reacting" for the past few years, because I'm no longer a coward. I urge you
to comment and correct them accordingly.
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 07:13:06 -0600
From: A.D. Powell
Subject: Check out Interracialism : Black-White Intermarriage in American History, Literature, and Law at Amazon.com
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 07:14:16 -0600
From: A.D. Powell
Subject: Check out Sex, Love, Race : Crossing Boundaries in North American History at Amazon.com
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000 08:54:52 -0800 (PST)
From: K. Jackson
Subject: Letter to the Editor
Thanks so much for the most intelligent answer to my question. I too see both
as being no major difference on the issue, however, don't see Gore as much of a
friend to our cause. Bush has at least personal experience with Interracial
families(his brother is married to a Mexican American woman). Also on the
Supreme Court, a strict constructionist doesn't mean an opponent to
IR/Multiracial issues. Clarence Thomas is in an IR marriage and one of the two
most conservative of justices.
The NAACP, like the NABSW, are counterprogressive to our movement. Their agenda
is racial seperation and anti-integration. We must become allies with those
closest to our cause, indifference is better than being totally ignored.
As a Greens member, I know Bush is far away on alot of issues for progressive
movements, however, liberals and hypocritical democrats will seek to crush the
voices of progressive movements--like IR/Multiracial community.
Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2000 08:22:47 -0600
From: A.D. Powell
Subject: "Angel" television program repeats racist "passing for white" accusation
"Multiracial Activist" readers might want to monitor the WB network's program, "Angel" on Tuesday, December 5 (9 p.m. Eastern and 8 p.m. Central). It repeats the racist "passing for white" myth so dear to Hollywood liberals (who are nearly all "passing" for something themselves). Comments to the WB network can be made at the following sites:
This is a fairly common condition in humid, tropical West Africa where malaria
is endemic. Many Americans are of West African descent and may have the gene for
sickle cell. Malaria is one of the main causes of infant mortality and those
with the sickle cell gene seem to have a certain degree of immunity or
resistance to malaria and grow up to the age when they can have children. They
do however suffer terribly from the disease. Because it is a hereditary disease,
medical and government authorities in West Africa urge people who have the gene
on both sides of their families not to marry. Surely this is a job for the
genetic engineers to get busy on!
A very good friend, Dr. Charles Adeyinka, died of it in his forties some years
ago. He could not get admission to a medical school in the USA because of his
condition but was admitted to Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland,
where he qualified and practiced medicine in Nigeria for fifteen years. People
were amazed that he could cope so well but there are many such cases where good
medical treatment can help one to live a better life.
There are several organizations in this country and the United Kingdom concerned
with this disease. The Sickle Cell Disease Association of America has a Sickle
Cell Information Center (web site sicklecelldisease.org.) It is located in
Culver City, CA and has branches in Connecticut and San Diego, CA.
The Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia includes medical schools at Emory
University and Morehouse College. In Boston, Harvard University medical school
is involved in the Joint Center for Sickle Cell and Thalassemia Disorders.
(Thalassemia is a similar inherited condition affecting Mediterranean peoples
in malarious areas.)
There is an organization in New York called S.C.A.R.E. of people who call
themselves "sickle defiers." All these organizations have web sites of great
interest.
Again many thanks to you and Ms. Douglas for bringing this matter to public
attention. Because comparatively few people are affected, not as much attention
has been paid to finding better treatments and a cure as should be.
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 08:20:24 -0800 (PST)
From: George D. Allen
Subject: Letter to the Editor
Inspector General Office of the Department of Education-
functions only to protect racial targeting of gifted minority students.
The Inspector General's Office of the Department of Education provides no
oversight to the Department of Education abuses of "verification" to withhold
financial aid and harass my son and alter my own student loans based on the race
of my son. They are actively participating in the cover-up of racial hate
crimes in Texas Academy of Math and Science/University of North Texas and the
"targeting of my son" for scoring first in Science and Math Competitions, and
the harassment and exclusion of my son from Duke University.
The fundamental principal of the first amendment to the Constitution of being
able to seek redress through elected officials without retaliations is reversed
through the use of the Department of Education protection of retaliations in the
Department of Education itself and school districts and TAMS/UNT and Duke
University.
The use of the Department of Education to retaliate against parents through
their children on behalf of a special interest lobby, the Texas Board of Medical
Examiners and the ECFMG, is more than a reversal of the first amendment. The
protection and cover-up of this activity is the exact reversal of the function
of the Inspector General Office of the Department of Education.
The Department of Education is unwilling and unable to provide oversight to
itself and the abuses of its branches.
George D Allen, MD
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 08:42:14 -0800 (PST)
From: K. Jackson
Subject: Letter to the Editor
It is over, the election and it's following fiasco, is over. And thank the
Lord, Gore didn't win. This is the opportunity for progressives, liberals and
activists to gear up to make real issues of equality, unions, globalization,
multiracial/Interracial relations, environment, hate and racism. The arrogance
and liberal hogwash defeated, we can push for building a voice for the real
progressive issues and perhaps make the democrats accountable for what they say.
I am happy and awake and hit the ground running on my activism for multiracial
dialogue, racial reconciliation and an fighting the liberal democratic bigots
over transracial adoption.
Thank you Multiracial Activist for all that you do and are to me, my family and
my community.
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 13:46:25 -0800 (PST)
From: yar drofwarc
Subject: Letter to the Editor
The concept of race is a construct of the devil that is used to divide people from living in harmony with each other. It is very clear from the words of God that all men are created from one blood (one drop rule) from the begining of time there was no such thing as pure race we are all desined the same we all need love and affection we all need food we all need sex we are all subjects of death. there is no such thing as BLACK OR WHITE BLOOD ALL BLOOD IS RED" IF GOD had wanted a pure race he would have made one there is nothing in nature that is pure the entire WORLD is a complex make up of various elements. Water is a combination of hydrogen and oxygen . Atoms are made up of electrons protons neutrons. DIVERSITY IS THE NORM OF LIFE THERE IS NO ROOM FOR THE MYTHOLOGICAL PURE RACE CONCOCTION A WORLD THAT Is PURE WOULD BE STAGNANT AND DULL.THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE IS OF COULOUR WHICH MAKES US ONE PEOPLE UNDER GOD WE ARE LIKE ONE TREE WITH MANY BRANCHES OF SKIN SHADES THAT STEMS FROM OUR GENOTYPE. GOD BLESS' YAR
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 10:59:11 -0800 (PST)
From: bgt cax
Subject: Letter to the Editor
why didint you post mine letter
Editor: What letter? I didn't get it, so please submit it again WITH A VALID EMAIL ADDRESS. As a rule, I usually don't post letters submitted without email addresses. I've made an exception with this letter. Thank you.
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 20:09:21 -0800)
From: George Winkel
Subject: Letter to the Editor - Chasing the Rainbow
I wish to smash the breeding kennels entrapping our humanity in mental "race"-boxes. To this end I have argued "race" is hypnotic mental categorizing, if not obsessive-compulsive hysteria; that it basically is a pseudo-science fraud perpetrated to induce arbitrary, basically psychological, divisions among us. Stretched like crime-scene police-tape, "race" partitions our affections for one another by mislabeling genetic biological inheritance. In other words, "race" divides us through rumors ("one-drop," "miscegenation," "evolution," "I.Q." …, etc.) -- inculcating some indefinable dread -- capable of making our blood run cold as those labeled, purple hemoglobin-bags hanging in medical refrigerators.
Although the "race" labels usually are physically descriptive, inasmuch as the well-learned "race" names reliably conjure stereotypes in the eyes of beholders, only rarely are such one-word descriptions honestly needed. Even then, the false paradox of arbitrary "race" -- "difference" (i.e., "inequality") being its root meaning -- renders it impossible to describe
anyone by "race" meaningfully. So, I argue "race" doesn’t exist.
But my purpose is not destruction of identities, necessarily. ("Colorblind" does not have a particularly appealing ring for me.) Rather, freedom from restraint by the implicitly mutually-exclusive "race-lines" is what I urge. What might such liberation be like? If we are accustomed to seeing "people our race" somehow looking "like us," the world’s peoples included together, undivided by "race," might seem a different world. What would we see if the screen of "race" were to drop from our eyes as if prison walls falling down into historical dust?
The 1950’s Disney movie, "The Secret Garden," a 19th century childrens’ tale, depicted a lonely wheelchair-bound child heir in a somber mansion, on an estate. The first half of the movie was shot in black-and-white. Another child, brought in for a companion for the moody heir, discovered a key. The moment the key enabled the children to swing open a gate and
enter a locked garden, the movie screen burst into Technicolor. This discovering a Technicolor world of flowers is one analogy envisioning, for me, the world free of "race." That is, I think that paradoxically everyone’s racial "coloring" is more radiant without the eugenic shadows cast by "race." (My experience, anyway.)
Marilyn Halter, researcher for the San Francisco Post, has invoked a rainbow with nicely pragmatic focus, I think, in her December 10, 2000, article: "Chasing the Rainbow," "Now that marketers realize people come in other shades besides white, ethnic background is a
sizzling commodity"
Notably, Halter observes America’s melting-pot, which traditionally pushed immigrants to "whiten" into European-Americans, now is seen chromatically widening the concept of "mainstream." Halter’s article focuses on commerce’s discovery of this diversity. "Ethnic marketing is everywhere, and not just during the holidays -- wheel your grocery cart along the
supermarket aisles, and you'll see that the international foods section has doubled in size. In America today, ethnicity is for sale year-round."
Cautiously, Halter interrogates this trend, asking whether such bearding the "race" lion is a good idea? "Will shifting the focus from the melting pot to the individual ingredients that go into it help to correct historical imbalances or only serve to widen the chasms that separate us?" Or "Should we worry that all this attention to celebrating and targeting ethnic
differences only creates greater divisiveness? Are we headed for a multicultural backlash," she asks? "I don't think so," Halter confidently answers herself. "In fact, my research has made me less wary and quite optimistic about the future." She finds "this is a much more complex story than "big business duping the consumer." "Shoppers are not just being sold
a bill of ethnic goods; they are shaping and demanding the marketplace to provide custom-made merchandise that speaks to their ethnic sensibilities. Crayola may be making more profits by manufacturing Multicultural Fleshtone Crayons, but parents of multiracial children are thrilled that their sons and daughters can draw human figures that look just like them."
Related to this point, Halter tells us, "are the increasing number of marriages in this country that cross ethno-racial lines -- not just black and white but Asian, Latino, Native American and others -- which leads to rising numbers of children with multiracial identities. Once you have that level of structural assimilation, it becomes very, very difficult to turn
back the clock." Moreover "Companies are crossing historical social taboos and normalizing the lives of mixed-race couples by depicting their everyday activities in commercials: a Toshiba ad showing an interracial couple relaxing at home, an Asian American woman and a white man discussing which kind of laundry detergent they should use, a black woman and a white man
flirting through a Nokia mobile phone."
Finally, Halter writes, the form that this advertising-driven ethnic identification takes is only symbolic, mostly -- not the sort of rationales or territorial claims that lead to ethnic wars. (Notable exceptions she mentions are Multicultural movements of indigenous peoples, such as Native Hawaiians.) "[I]t's a kind of ‘ethnicity lite.’" Some may be concerned,
Halter continued, that advertisers using ethnic motifs may be perpetuating stereotypes. (Can’t you just hear the Multicultural Left!) But Halter found that ethnic marketers and their promotions have become sophisticated and nuanced. "Among the everyday consumers from a broad range of racial and ethnic groups I interviewed for my research, this was never a complaint. For the most part, minorities who have for so long been left out of advertising
imagery welcomed a glimpse of their own reflection on billboards and magazine covers."
Are we seeing the early days of a demographic sea-change, analogous to the slowly swinging open of a locked gate to a secret world -- as if a garden -- peopled proudly with flowers, in full glory of their rainbow of variety?
George Winkel
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 23:10:22 -0800 (PST)
From: R. Guadarama-Jones
Subject: Letter to the Editor
I received an interesting e-mail today. Not long ago, I posed a question to the readers concerning the census. It was pertaining to how I and My children will be identified due our afro-amerindian culture. You see, My people, (the Garifuna of Belize) are recognized interntionally as Amerindians, But not in the U.S. because we re central american. The author of the e-mail used the old trusty "my great grandparent" argument to try and convince me that I should Identify as a African american. I think if my "Great grannies" were only part Garifuna, the argument would be more persuasive. The thing is, mi madre is full garifuna,and my padre is half Garifuna and half Kriol. When you look at me, it obvious that I have Indian and african blood. Culturally, I don't share the same Culture as African Americans (if there is even really such a thing)and I think its ironic that the one drop theory doesn't seem to apply in reverse. In closing, Thank you, and let's blend the babies.
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 19:30:44 -0800(PST)
From: Fancy M. Ramsey
Subject: Letter to the Editor
I would like to say that you all should listen to your own voices. You state
that you are against being broke off into a "race category" and that biracial children need to stand together and fight for a place in socity where they are not stero-typed by one race or another. Well, it sounds to me like you are building your own racial foundation to justify being biracial in society. You are confronting the issue by building more blocks of racism. You are stero-typing yourselves. By building your own organization your are saying to society that your a special and that we need a place to belong. There is no problem wanting to belong, but you are not mixing the water and oil. You are only finding another bottle to pour it in. Stand up for yourself fine, but remember that society is Black and White. I did not make the rules. I am also biracial, but I don't have to fight for a place in society. I know who I am, and I know how people see me. You are fighting a battle that goes deeper than the color of skin. The next time that you see a black man with a white women on his
arm ask him what he is thinking. Now, you can complain my sisters and brothers. Don't build more walls brake them down.
Love and Light,
Fancy M. Ramsey
Editor: You said, "it sounds to me like you are building your own racial foundation to justify being biracial in society" No one needs to justify being biracial. Anyone demanding justification from a "biracial" person is clearly not to be trusted.
You go on to say, "The next time that you see a black man with a white women on his arm ask him what he is thinking." Why does anyone need to ask this hypothetical man anything? What gives anyone the right to question him? This whole line of thought you've presented is bizarre and frightening. You scare me.
Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2000 20:48:57 -0800 (PST)
From: tamara
Subject: Letter to the Editor
it shouldnt matter about what color the person is you like aslong as that person is happy with them. people need to grow up and face it that there is a such thing as mixing race. they need to just except it. thats how i feel about that.people act so immature about this stuff we all bleed red you know. gosh. thats why i dont let that stuff get to me. i can careless what they
think or say to me.
