America's Changing Color Lines

America's Changing Color Lines: Immigration, Race/Ethnicity, and Multiracial Identification 
J. Lee and F. Bean

Retell

Even though there have been many races and ethnic groups, America has been predominately a biracial society. We know that has been changing and will continue to change over the next several decades. Jennifer Lee and Frank Bean talk about how the intermarriages between these groups and races are growing the multiracial population of America.  "By the year 2050, as many as 1 in 5 Americans could claim a multiracial background." (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p.95)    What than, will happen to the black and white color line that divided this country for so long?  "Although the birth of a new divide is certainly one possible scenario, another prospect is a shift toward unconditional boundary crossing and the fading of racial boundaries altogether.  The raising rates of intermarriage combined with a growing multiracial population may indicate with a growing multiracial population my indicate that boundaries are weakening overall, providing evidence of a declining significance of race for all groups." (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p.95) 

In their review, Lee and Bean discuss reasons for the growth of intermarriages and how the resulting children will make a difference in our population, trends in interracial marriage, as well as patterns of multiracial identification.  Something I found very interesting was listed in a paragraph reviewing trends.  "Third, compared with Asians, Latinos, and American Indians, intermarriage is still relatively uncommon among blacks." (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p.98)    Lee and Bean respond "By contrast, the lower rates of intermarriage among blacks suggest that racial boundaries are more prominent, and the black/white divide more salient that the Asian/white or Latino/white divides." (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p.98) 

From Friendly Foreigner to Enemy Race
John Tehranian

John Tehranian reviews what Middle East means and where the term came from.  It seems that the term was traced back to the mid- eighteen hundreds but wasn't used as it is used today until the early nineteen hundreds.  "In an article first published in September 1902, Mahan used the term Middle East to refer to a region of growing strategic importance in the emerging conflict pitting Britain and the United States against Germany and Russia." (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p.104)    Mahan was a naval strategist. who also defined where the Middle East was.  "Mahan appeared to define that region as ranging, on a north-south axis, from Turkey to the Arabian Peninsula and , on an east/west axis from Iran to Egypt." (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p.104)    Tehranian tells us that the term wasn't used again until around 1957.  Now it is a house hold name.  Why?  Tehranian tells us.  Oil.

At one point in history, Middle Easterners were considered white.  They had many of the same beliefs, they came from friendly lands, they were mostly Christian.  Now they are not.  Even though they have a strong desire to assimilate,  and want to be considered white once again, most Americans feel they are all  linked with Islam and they are all terrorists.

Recall/React

This makes me think about my cousins on my father's side.  There are six of us altogether.  Five girls and one boy.  My sister and I both married white men from the Northeast Kingdom where we grew up.  My father's sister had one daughter.  This cousin also married a white man from a town in Pennsylvania where she grew up.  My father's bother, a Border Patrol Agent who moved all over the country as well as Puerto Rico had two daughters and one son.  His oldest daughter married a man from India.  The second daughter married a man from San Salvador.  The son married a girl from Mongolia.  Of the sixteen children resulting from these six marriages, six are interracial.  I think about two things in regards to our marriages.  One, that statistically, half of us have interracial marriages and interracial children.  Second, I think about why.  Three of us grew up in very strict and sheltered homes.  We lived in predominately white communities.  We married men who grew up in the same way with very similar values.  Three of us were exposed to many different communities and values with different races and ethnic backgrounds.  Was it exposure to different peoples that allowed them to feel comfortable around different groups of people?  I do not have any answers to these questions.  Just more questions for me to ponder.


Rethink

I have learned that our society is changing rapidly in ways people could not have expected fifty or one hundred years ago.  As participants in this change we must make an effort to understand it.  Our classroom, if not currently, will soon be filled with interracial children.  We will need to change how we do things in schools. One Black history month activity is not going to be sufficient.  What will be?  That will be for diverse groups of community member to decide.

Who is Black? One Nation's Definition and 200 Years of U.S. Census Taking

The Evolution of Identity
The Washington Post

Retell

In Reading Three, The Washington Post shows the United States Census records from 1860-2000, regarding the different racial and ethnic classifications.  Looking at the black population specifically, changes in the name describing this group go through many changes.  Black, Mulatto, Negro and African American are used at different times in these 140 years.  The different names are a result of many things, mostly politics. The Census counted what our society wanted counted.
 
Who Is Black?  One Nation's Definition
F. James Davis

"Now you must understand that this is just a name we have.  I am not black and you are not black either, if you go by the evidence of your eyes….  Anyway, black people are all colors.  White people don't look all the same way, but there are more different kinds of us that there are of them.  Then too, there is a certain stage [at] which you cannot tell who is white and who is black.  Many of the people I see who are thought of as black could just as well be white in their appearance.  Many of the white people I see are black as far as I can tell by the way they look.  Now, that's it for looks. Looks don't mean much.  The things that makes us different is how we think.  What we believe is important, the ways we look at life." (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p.56) 

This is the way F. James Davis begins his piece entitled Who Is Black? One Nation's Definition.  It is part of a recorded interview with a ninety year old blind and black anthropologist.  It is, in my opinion, a very appropriate introduction.

This piece examines how a person is determined to be black.  As, the man in the interview states, looks have very little to do with whether or not someone is considered black.  Very "white" looking people are, in some instances, black.  Why?

F. James Davis says it starts with the One-Drop Rule.  This rule started in the South.  It said that any person having even a drop of black blood, was black. It was sometimes called the one black ancestor rule.  This rule was accepted by whites and blacks alike.  An interesting fact Davis bring up is that "individual race designations are purely social and cultural perceptions…" (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p.61)   

Interestingly, the one-drop rule does not apply to any other group in American or the world, for that matter.  "It should now be apparent that the definition of a black person as one with any trace at all of black African ancestry is inextricably woven into the history of the United States.  It incorporates beliefs once used to justify slavery and later used to buttress the cast like Jim Crow system of segregation."

Recall/React

This reminds me of the 1984 Miss American Pageant mentioned in reading number two.  I remember that specific pageant.  Growing up in a house of girls with a young mother, pageants were exciting events.  I remember hoping that Vanessa Williams would win.  I also remember arguing with my father about her chances.  He didn't believe she had a chance. Me, being 16, felt she should.  One because my father said she wouldn't, and two because of the unfairness of it.  Why shouldn't she?  She was the prettiest and isn't that what pageant are about?  I also remember people being truly outraged when she did win. I couldn't understand why. Didn't my friends and I lay out in the sun for hours so we could look just like her?  Didn't we get complemented on our beautiful brown tans?  It didn't make any sense to me. It really still does not.  I also remember how thrilled people were when the nude photos of her came out. They had won.  It still makes me sad.

Rethink

I have learned that it isn't the color of a person's skin that makes them black or white for that matter.  It is what people think and accept as truth.  I have learned that the whole idea of black and white was decided on by groups of people and then taught to be truth. This truth is still being taught today.  Not only in words we use to describe people, but how we treat different people, how we interact and react to them. I have made a conscious decision to live my life trying to treat all people, regardless of their skin color, with respect.  I will judge people by their actions instead of outward appearances.  I will try to be aware of what I have been taught and change my thinking.  Hopefully, this change will be modeled in such a way that my children and my students will not just accept what society says is true, but to think deeply about what is actually true.

Race and the Construction of Human Identity

"Race" and the Construction of Human Identity
Audrey Smedley

Retell

The main idea of Audrey Smedleys's piece, "Race" and the Construction of Human Identity, is that the idea of race is a relatively new concept.  It is a social invention. Historians have looked at ancient texts to try to find evidence of writers mentioning skin color. When shades of skin was mentioned, it did not take on the same meaning as today.
"What seems strange to us today is that the biological variations among human groups were not given significant social meaning.  Only occasionally do ancient writers ever even remark on the physical characteristics of a given person or people." (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p.49) 
"No structuring of inequality, whether social, moral, intellectual, cultural or otherwise, was associated with people because of their skin color… (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p.49) 
Another idea Smedley speaks of is that a person's ethnic identity was not always thought of as permanent.  It was fluid.  As people interacted and even intermarried, they learned new languages and customs.  They were able to coexist quite well. Changes occurred in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as American colonists developed attitudes about different groups.  They thought of themselves as civilized and superior, while others were different therefore less worthy.


Recall/React

I was reminded of my mother as I read this piece.  She was a French Canadian, Catholic child of seven when she moved to the United States with her family of eleven.  From the stories I have heard, it was not an easy move.  The community looked down on them and were not afraid to show their disgust.  School was hard.  My mother did not speak the language and therefore could not pass to the next grade. By the time she did move on, she was two years behind her peers.  There was no help for her to learn the language.  She was made to feel like her native tongue was bad and several of her siblings even stopped speaking French.
It is interesting to think how a little girl who was the same color as everyone else in her town, who wore the same clothes as the other town folk, and who lived within a couple of miles of everyone else could feel so less than worthy.  It was a scandal when my father married my mother. How could a nice, upper-middle class Protestant boy marry someone like her.
As I was growing up, my grandparents would always come and bring me to church.  I always thought it was so nice to spend Sundays with them.  Looking back, I think it was a way to get me into the Protestant Church and not have me go to the Catholic Church.  A way to show I was one of them.


Rethink

I have learned that people will do many things to feel as though they are better an others.  They will make up myths about groups of people, they will even make laws to support their beliefs.  Race is a powerful social invention that has structured our society.  We need to realize that these beliefs we have grown up with are just that- inventions.