Race, Family, and Politics: A Letter and Two Links

[browngirl]

Two links about the frontrunning presidential candidates, plus a letter.



From enegim: Concerning Senator Obama's grandparents.

From a coworker: "Some of McCain's Black Relatives Support Obama".

The juxtaposition of these stories is fascinating, so much of the United States' history in two families' histories. We see this huge chasm between Black people and White people that really isn't there; 'multiracial' families go back much further than people often want to discuss or consider.

And, before I lose my nerve, a letter I wrote to the editor of a newspaper today.

It is sadly illuminating that so many Americans can so easily dismiss everything about General Colin Powell but his race. Before concluding that his endorsement of Senator Obama is merely one Black man shilling for another, they would do well to remember that he also clearly stated that there is nothing "wrong with being a Muslim in this country", not because he's Muslim himself, but because of his committment to justice.

Comments

[gosling.livejournal.com]

Excellent letter to the editor. Short, to the point and extremely clear. And an exceedingly important point that needs to be made over and over until people finally listen.

You rock!

[aprilkat.livejournal.com]

Great opinion piece! And very succinctly said.

That's a wonderful letter.

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

He looks so much like his grandparents. His ears and the shape of his head come straight from his grandfather, and he smiles just like his grandmother. I'm immensely grateful to have escaped my own dad's elephant ears, but my hair was once the strawberry blonde and auburn of my crazy part Galician Spanish grandmother on one side and my many red-headed English-German-who-knows-what cousins on the other. My genealogy-crazy second cousin Peg said that she saw my eyes in family photos in Germany. (I think those cousins were just near-sighted and afflicted with strabismus, mysef. It's a Look!)

I really wish that everyone could see that column. I have no doubts, considering that my father's family has lived in the South since after the War of Independence, that I have many Black relatives. Unfortunately, my father hated my grandfather, so I was cut off from the wellhead of family stories. We probably wouldn't have been told about the "other family" anyway. Sigh.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

The article about McCain's response to the extended family troubles me. And it really is amazing how much Barack Obama resembles his grandfather.

[libitina]

Yes, you should send it. You manage to say very clearly, and in few words, what I hope many people are thinking.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

great letter! I say send it!

[ckd]

Short, punchy, and to the point. Great letter.

[cellio]

Good letter. I hope they print it.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Somewhere along the line I know some of my father's family ancestors owned slaves -- there's one, although I'm not sure whether he's in the direct line to me, who acknowledges the children he had by one of his slaves in the census records. (My father used to say that side of the family was "either college professors or preachers, horse thieves or slave catchers", and you could tell that the slave catchers were the least respectable of the lot.) In one generation they went from blue eyes and blonde hair to black eyes and black hair, and there's a legend about a Cherokee princess, but whether she was a Cherokee or not, I'm pretty sure she wasn't a princess.

My mom's side is a lot less convoluted. Norwegians, back to 1600! But it's fun having one sister who digs out the stuff on the side that didn't tell us stories.