Who’s White? Who’s Black? Who Knows?
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Wolran Kim
September 2012
A lot of people raise dogs as pets and no one contends for superiority with their hair color. There are just favorite colors. However, we are living in a world which is classified with skin color before considering who. Theoretically, humanity seeking equality and racial discrimination is prohibited by law, but our society still cannot be colorblind. One of my friends, who is yellow like me, proudly says that she wishes her son would bring a white girl rather than a black girl home as his wife, if he cannot bring a Korean girl. Physical factors and complexion are advanced important elements above an individual’s personality, skills, background, or potential. Most people have a stereotyped idea that white is light, angelic, pure, rich, and represents rulers, and black is darkness, the devil, impurity, poverty, and represents dependent characters. Then, how can we define all complicated mixed blood under customs of divisions into racial classes?
Jeffrey Kluger questioned the definition of mixed race in this article of Times. Part-black generally means all-black in Americans’ minds. Just as part-Asian or part-Hispanic or part-anything-else usually puts individuals in those minority-groups’ camps. Halle Berry was not the first black woman to win an Academy Award for Best Actress. But she was actually the 74th white one. Barack Obama is actually the 44th white man to hold the job, not the first black President.
The colony of Virginia first tried to codify the legal definition, “one-drop” rule to make things simple for keeping slaves. The “blood-fraction” laws of 1705 stated that a person who was at least 1/8 black—which meant one black great grandparent—could not be labeled white. A 1911 Arkansas law declared that citizens would be considered black if they had “any Negro blood whatsoever.” Also a 1970 Louisiana law defined black as anyone who had at least 1/32 African-American blood, and in 1985, a state court upheld the legislation. Jeffrey Kluger said that it’s hard to minimize their importance in a nation that’s becoming more multi-cultural and multi-racial by the day.
The history of racial distinction looks to me as being how large the white’s effort was to not be mixed with colored skin. A heritance of the white racist looks at mixed blood as blood that is turbid or fake. The reason for calling President Obama black is caused by the One Drop Rule. At the beginning of the 20th century, women who got married to colored race lost their nationalities. Racial purity and unity were emphasized since 1910, and this was caused by separation policies from the white ruling classes. Those laws were abolished under unconstitutional laws, but still mixed non-white blood was classified as non-whites in white American society.
Some people interpret Tiger Woods, who had the sex scandal, as dating only white women because of his inferiority complex. Woods grew up in a white neighborhood with discrimination, and did not acknowledge his black lineage. He called himself Cablinasian, and this is a compound word of Caucasian, Black, American Indian, and Asian. Like this, a non-racial era is coming without the distinction of race due to an increase in an unknown pedigree in this multiracial country. According to USA Today, the minority ethnic ratio has increased from 37% in 1990 to 48% in 2008 among newborns. Minorities will be over whites in 2050 in this increasing trend. The census results have changed with a surge in inter-racial marriage. The numbers of racial combinations include 63 items except ‘Other’ race in the United States Census Bureau in 2000.
The whites, mainstream of American society, may have mixed feelings watching the increase of many ethnic minorities. But ultimately, this will be a positive effect because diversity is the strength of American society as suggests the term ‘melting pot.’ The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream—a child of parents who were slaves and a child of parents who were owners sitting and eating together around the table—came true already, but different types of segregation and discrimination which cannot be controlled by law still exist in every society. It will require much more time and effort of our consciousness to fully establish impartial equality. However, President Obama is certainly a good signal for racism because over 60% of Americans support him with only his personal qualities without skin color. There is no doubt to say that a new chapter of racism started in American society due to Obama.
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Wolran Kim
September 2012
A lot of people raise dogs as pets and no one contends for superiority with their hair color. There are just favorite colors. However, we are living in a world which is classified with skin color before considering who. Theoretically, humanity seeking equality and racial discrimination is prohibited by law, but our society still cannot be colorblind. One of my friends, who is yellow like me, proudly says that she wishes her son would bring a white girl rather than a black girl home as his wife, if he cannot bring a Korean girl. Physical factors and complexion are advanced important elements above an individual’s personality, skills, background, or potential. Most people have a stereotyped idea that white is light, angelic, pure, rich, and represents rulers, and black is darkness, the devil, impurity, poverty, and represents dependent characters. Then, how can we define all complicated mixed blood under customs of divisions into racial classes?
Jeffrey Kluger questioned the definition of mixed race in this article of Times. Part-black generally means all-black in Americans’ minds. Just as part-Asian or part-Hispanic or part-anything-else usually puts individuals in those minority-groups’ camps. Halle Berry was not the first black woman to win an Academy Award for Best Actress. But she was actually the 74th white one. Barack Obama is actually the 44th white man to hold the job, not the first black President.
The colony of Virginia first tried to codify the legal definition, “one-drop” rule to make things simple for keeping slaves. The “blood-fraction” laws of 1705 stated that a person who was at least 1/8 black—which meant one black great grandparent—could not be labeled white. A 1911 Arkansas law declared that citizens would be considered black if they had “any Negro blood whatsoever.” Also a 1970 Louisiana law defined black as anyone who had at least 1/32 African-American blood, and in 1985, a state court upheld the legislation. Jeffrey Kluger said that it’s hard to minimize their importance in a nation that’s becoming more multi-cultural and multi-racial by the day.
The history of racial distinction looks to me as being how large the white’s effort was to not be mixed with colored skin. A heritance of the white racist looks at mixed blood as blood that is turbid or fake. The reason for calling President Obama black is caused by the One Drop Rule. At the beginning of the 20th century, women who got married to colored race lost their nationalities. Racial purity and unity were emphasized since 1910, and this was caused by separation policies from the white ruling classes. Those laws were abolished under unconstitutional laws, but still mixed non-white blood was classified as non-whites in white American society.
Some people interpret Tiger Woods, who had the sex scandal, as dating only white women because of his inferiority complex. Woods grew up in a white neighborhood with discrimination, and did not acknowledge his black lineage. He called himself Cablinasian, and this is a compound word of Caucasian, Black, American Indian, and Asian. Like this, a non-racial era is coming without the distinction of race due to an increase in an unknown pedigree in this multiracial country. According to USA Today, the minority ethnic ratio has increased from 37% in 1990 to 48% in 2008 among newborns. Minorities will be over whites in 2050 in this increasing trend. The census results have changed with a surge in inter-racial marriage. The numbers of racial combinations include 63 items except ‘Other’ race in the United States Census Bureau in 2000.
The whites, mainstream of American society, may have mixed feelings watching the increase of many ethnic minorities. But ultimately, this will be a positive effect because diversity is the strength of American society as suggests the term ‘melting pot.’ The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream—a child of parents who were slaves and a child of parents who were owners sitting and eating together around the table—came true already, but different types of segregation and discrimination which cannot be controlled by law still exist in every society. It will require much more time and effort of our consciousness to fully establish impartial equality. However, President Obama is certainly a good signal for racism because over 60% of Americans support him with only his personal qualities without skin color. There is no doubt to say that a new chapter of racism started in American society due to Obama.