Who Are We? New Dialogue on Mixed Race
Monday, March 31st, 2008
The New York Times: Who Are We? New Dialogue on Mixed Race
James McBride, 50, who described growing up in a Brooklyn housing project with his white mother in a memoir, “The Color of Water,” said that, like Mr. Obama, he identified himself primarily as a black man of mixed race. As a child whose father was black, he said: “I really wanted to be like all the other black kids. It was the larger group around me.” And through life, because of his brown skin, society has imposed its own label. “If cops see me, they see a black man sitting in a car,” he said.
But being proud to call himself African-American, Mr. McBride said, does not negate his connection to his “Jewish part,” his mother’s heritage. Asked which part of him was dominant, he said, “It’s like grabbing Jell-O.”
“But what difference does it make?” he added. “When you’re mixed, you see how absurd this business of race is.”
Great article, watch the video, it’s fantastic.
