Black Like I Thought I Was

October 16, 2003 11:06 PM

Wayne Josephof Creole stock and therefore on the lighter end of the black color spectrum, decided on a whim to take a new ethnic DNA test he saw described on a 60 Minutes segment last year, to indulge a casual curiosity about his exact percentage of black blood. The results were staggering.
posted by lola (36 comments total)

Yet this knowledge has not deterred the racism many Europeans continue to harbor toward Africans, nor the wariness Africans harbor toward Europeans.

So it's racism in one direction and wariness in the other?
posted by effugas at 11:32 PM on October 16, 2003

Yet this knowledge has not deterred the speciesism many Tigers continue to harbor toward Roy Horns, nor the wariness Roy Horns harbor toward Tigers.

so...
posted by quonsar at 12:04 AM on October 17, 2003

Heh. Good catch, effugas.

Fascinating piece. In the end, "race" truly, really, honestly doesn't matter. I hope this Wayne Joseph guy can come to terms with it.
posted by davidmsc at 12:04 AM on October 17, 2003

Wonderful article... well written.

effugas: Yes.
posted by cadastral at 12:05 AM on October 17, 2003

"Europeans"? What a broad stroke, conveniently remote from "white Americans", and as if Europeans were some single culture with one view on the subject.

White Americans aren't Europeans, as any American knows who has lived in Europe. Different countries over here have differing attitudes about "Africans".

One learns a certain wariness towards racism, regardless of the skin tone of the speaker. Racism is stupid but it can be unlearned.
posted by Goofyy at 12:05 AM on October 17, 2003

Just another sign that race is a social construct used to justify discrimination.

I'd like to see some of the members of the Council of Conservative Citizens, or Pat Robertson, or any of those types, take one of these tests. I hope they'd get results that would blow their minds.
posted by nath at 12:26 AM on October 17, 2003

I once knew a really dark-skinned Italian guy whose dad was in the Klan.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 12:46 AM on October 17, 2003

nath,
Agreed, race is a social construct used to justify discrimination.

Yes, it is a learned behaviour.

Yes, it can be unlearned.

Damn fine read and what an unexpected result, indeed. Guess he never did ask his mother about his family tree, till now.

Just how many Europeans have Indian/Native blood would probably also be a surprise to many there.

Does this explain The Commitments, Dublin's saviours of soul?
posted by alicesshoe at 1:31 AM on October 17, 2003

Regarding racism (the act) vs. wariness (the response)...fundamentally it's the fear of the different, and the fear of the fear of the different. The two end up blending into one another, and it becomes political differences regarding which is referred to as which.

The differences can be wholly justified, of course. But empirically this is what occurs.

--Dan
posted by effugas at 1:36 AM on October 17, 2003

Just how many Europeans have Indian/Native blood would probably also be a surprise to many there.

I'm just not convinced it would be such a big deal. The problem is tying your identity to your skin colour in the first place (or to your country of origin, or ancestors orgin). Frankly, someone could tell me I've got Martian blood in me and it would mean practically nothing to my life (though I might have some questions for my father).
posted by biffa at 2:39 AM on October 17, 2003

On the naming of white people issue, is it a common American misunderstanding that "Caucasian" means "of white skin" as opposed to "relating to the Caucasus region"?
posted by vvv at 3:02 AM on October 17, 2003

That blood test would sure settle the issue of whether the Lumbee are Native Americans or not.

Actually, even tho I am white, I would love to take that test. (But then again, when asked what race I am on a form, when I can I write in "human.")
posted by konolia at 3:43 AM on October 17, 2003

vvv--

No, it pretty much means "of white skin".

Words mean what speakers mean when they say it, and listeners understand when they hear it. Remember, there's no magic committee somewhere that says "These are the new words of the hour" -- at least for English.

Was I the only one bothered by Pirates of the Carribean's "Pirate Blood" theme?
posted by effugas at 4:29 AM on October 17, 2003

Races don't matter.

Tribes do. Whether we like that or not is another story.
posted by effugas at 4:30 AM on October 17, 2003

it can be unlearned.

This article should be on the front page of all media outlets for the next two years. Or decades.
posted by magullo at 4:38 AM on October 17, 2003

"I got that name because somewhere in my past there was a wop in the woodpile."

— CDR Frank Camparelli (Danny Glover); Flight of the Intruder
posted by bwg at 5:10 AM on October 17, 2003

Want to take the test yourself? Send your $158 here.
posted by grabbingsand at 5:15 AM on October 17, 2003

Race may or may not be a social construct. Whether it is or it isn't doesn't matter, though.
posted by Space Coyote at 5:16 AM on October 17, 2003

He discovered that, unbeknownst to him, his grandparents had made a conscious decision back in Louisiana to not be white, claiming they didn't want to side with a people who were known oppressors...
seems not to fit with...
I know that the laws also pointedly separated mothers from sons, uncles from nephews, simply because one happened to be lighter than the other or have straighter hair. Determinations of race were entirely subjective and imposed from without...
If race was (and still is sometimes) determined by outward appearance, and Louisiana had a more complex multiracial ranking system than other places (with quadroons and octoroons etc) to my limited knowledge, the self-identification of the grandparents doesn't seem to match with the fact that race was determined from without, although it might have helped them cope with discrimination and racism based on appearance.

Would this guy's family have been able to live as white even if they wanted to? Even if they were?
posted by amberglow at 5:19 AM on October 17, 2003

[racism] gives the lightest-skinned among us the assurance of identity that everybody needs in order to feel grounded and psychologically whole – even whites, whose public non-ethnicity is really ethnicity writ so large and influential it needs no name.

Joseph is compelled to try to judge individually what he knows has always been judged broadly, to reconcile two famously opposed viewpoints of race not for the sake of political argument – he has made those – but for his own peace of mind.

Perhaps a better title for the article would be "Portrait of a Hypocrite?"
posted by rushmc at 5:25 AM on October 17, 2003

I was under the impression that we were ALL African, ancestor-wise.
posted by planetkyoto at 5:37 AM on October 17, 2003

And it gives the lightest-skinned among us the assurance of identity that everybody needs in order to feel grounded and psychologically whole – even whites, whose public non-ethnicity is really ethnicity writ so large and influential it needs no name.

Can someone explain to me what this 'sense of identity' is that is supposed to be so important? Maybe it's just my white Protestant maleness, but I don't get it. Despite my ethnicity being 'writ so large and influential it needs no name,' I really don't feel any sort of bond with my German ancestry; if I'm a part or product of anything it's a decidedly transcultural civilization that includes early Chinese astronomers, Arabic mathematicians, Indian librarians, Russian writers, etc.

Which is why I find it hard to have much sympathy this guy's situation.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 6:07 AM on October 17, 2003

Ishmael, you have a sense of identity as a white american that's reinforced continually in all sorts of ways, along with any other identifying markers we use to label ourselves. (If you or your family were in early China, and weren't allowed to be astronomers because of the way they looked, that might be another way to look at it. You wouldn't have been allowed or able to identify yourself with the astronomers) We all belong to tribes, whether based on appearance or interests or other factors, that contribute to how we see ourselves.
posted by amberglow at 6:15 AM on October 17, 2003

oop...because of the way you looked...
posted by amberglow at 6:16 AM on October 17, 2003

Remember, there's no magic committee somewhere that says "These are the new words of the hour" -- at least for English.

This was a new word for me this hour: miscegenation

1. The interbreeding of different races or of persons of different racial backgrounds.
2. Cohabitation, sexual relations, or marriage involving persons of different races.
3. A mixture or hybridization: “There was musical miscegenation at a time when segregation was the common rule” (Don McLeese).

posted by piskycritter at 6:18 AM on October 17, 2003

you have a sense of identity as a white american that's reinforced continually in all sorts of ways, along with any other identifying markers we use to label ourselves.

The point, I think, is that while there are certainly some unconscious aspects to this self-identification, it remains merely a part of the matrix of connections and associations which comprise our "identity." For some, these particular affiliations may receive more active reinforcement or otherwise take on exceptional importance, but for others they may carry significantly less weight and meaning. It is perfectly reasonable to debate what level of identification is useful or rewarding and at what point it may become self-limiting.
posted by rushmc at 6:56 AM on October 17, 2003

Re: Racism v. wariness...

I think quonsar got it backward, and I can't tell if it was because he was trying to be topsy-turvy sarcastic, but it seems obvious that it's speciesism for one animal to institutionalize the capture and enslavement of another kind of animal, and a perfectly logical wariness on the part of the other kind of animal borne out of this practice. Yeah, when people go into the jungle we have to be "wary" of tigers, but it's not as if they're sending packs of tigers into our cities to carry us off, enslave us and kill us. See the imbalance? Follow the analogy.
posted by soyjoy at 7:52 AM on October 17, 2003

I find it interesting that no one, neither in the article nor here, has questioned the accuracy of the test. I mean, I dunno, it might be 100% perfect, but I am surprised there has been no mention of margin of error at all.
posted by beth at 8:40 AM on October 17, 2003

I was born a poor black child.
posted by NortonDC at 9:07 AM on October 17, 2003

Whitey will pay.
posted by keswick at 9:43 AM on October 17, 2003

i live and work in england, supplying customer services within a firm that has a small, but careful band of racist employees. passing comments and subtle meanings in phrases to indicate that they, the racist employee, is unlikely to help the customer in question. but never enough unfortunately, to make a firm case with which i could pass to management.

so i find myself guilty of positive discrimination when dealing with customers of non-white origin, trying harder than i usually would to help out and to make a distinct effort to supply better service, because i know there are many that don't for reasons solely due to race.

it's a terrible thing, but for lack of evidence, seems like the only thing that i could do to address the balance.

my point being - england may have a slightly more liberal impression due to it's multicultered society and immigration laws, but racism will never go away.

undiscussed seems closer to the truth than unlearning.
posted by triv at 10:54 AM on October 17, 2003

All in all, especially when one consicers that guy is abbit of a goof, I think this article is great. Pretty much all of us know deep down that race shouldn't be important (i.e. it is not tied to any kind of personal merit/deficiency), but anything that points out just how stupid our racial categories are is fine by me.

Not that this guy is a racist, but it reminds of how happy I feel when an obviously stupid redneck says some racist shit around children that may not be old enough to know how harmful racism is, but are old enough to a stupid adult when they see one. Changing perceptions is hard work, and sometimes the racists themselves do the real heavy lifting.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 11:18 AM on October 17, 2003

$158 seems a little steep for a piece of paper with relatively meaningless numbers on it. I'd do it if it were more like $20, though.
posted by crunchland at 11:18 AM on October 17, 2003

when one considers that the guy is a bit of a goof.

White men can't type.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 11:19 AM on October 17, 2003

Can someone explain to me what this 'sense of identity' is that is supposed to be so important? Maybe it's just my white Protestant maleness, but I don't get it.

Outside of your Protestant maleness I know nothing about you or where you live. So this may or may not apply. However, I can tell you that I've known a number of people who, having lived their whole lives in places where most people were of similar ethnicity, felt exactly this way until they spent time (even 15 minutes) in a place where the vast majority of people were of some other ethnicity (not a bunch of different ethnicities, but some single other ethnicity). There is a certain comfort in not having to stand out (or feel like you stand out) in this way. It can be difficult to perceive until it's gone.

Eventually, It's pretty easy to get used to and the uneasiness usually goes away, but exploration of this uneasiness can often lead to the discovery of self-identification one was previously not aware of but was always present.
posted by originalname37 at 2:05 PM on October 17, 2003

There are dozens of different kinds of "whites" and dozens of different kinds of "blacks". New Guinea tribesmen. Scots. Somalis. Finns. These are four different races, but conventional race ideology sees only two.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 6:51 PM on October 17, 2003