Okay, I am gonna sound like I have a rocket up where the sun don’t shine again and here’s why.
The United States constantly babbles on about tolerance and in some cases how advanced they are to the rest of the world. I am not going to say Britain is perfect but we are at least a good 10 years (maybe more) in thinking terms ahead of the United States.
Today in Britain being mixed race is actually recognized. Back in the US it appears that is not the case. It seems the norm for people to not recognize the other side of ones race or at worst dilute it and put you in the category of “Black” or “African American”. Mixed race people need to fight for recognition. They are a race themselves and should not be placed into a category when they are clearly mixed with another race.
What would be nice is Barack himself changing this from within. He has the power and being mixed race himself out to seek to make life better for mixed race people. You might think what the heck are you raving on about Matt (It is 1:37am! 🙂 ) but I am talking about the right to ones race. The right for ones race to be recognized.
To quote from Wiki:
In their attempt to impose segregation and restore white supremacy in the late 19th century, some southern states created laws defining a person as black if the person had any known African ancestry. This was a stricter interpretation than what had prevailed earlier. It became known as the one-drop rule, meaning that a single drop of “black blood” makes a person “black”.
It seems like things haven’t really changed much. America is deluding its citizens by labelling a race incorrectly and is robbing the mixed race people of their own history.
Another nitbit from Wiki:
In recent decades, the multicultural climate of the United States has continued to expand with waves of new immigration. Although the terms mixed-race, biracial, and multiracial are increasingly used, it remains common for those who possess visible traits of black heritage to identify or be identified as blacks or African Americans. People of mixed ancestry possessing any recent black heritage may self-identify demographically as African American while acknowledging their African-American and other cultural heritages socially.
For example, 55% of European Americans classify President Barack Obama as biracial when they are told that he has a white mother, while 66% of African Americans consider him black. Obama describes himself as black and African American, using both terms interchangeably,and is generally considered to be African American.
Why does Obama only recognize one side of his heritage?
In my opinion the US has a long way to go on racial issues but hey we knew that. Having a Black, African American, Mixed race president is big strides for a nation full of so much prejudice. If a person of mixed heritage can take power there it will almost certainly happen here in the near future 😛
America you have made a great step forward but you still have a very, very long way to go 🙂
My whine is over. It’s really late and I need my sleep now. I would like to wish President Obama all the best in Office and the U.S all the best in sorting out the current mess it’s in.
As for the UK… we need our saviour to rise and save us from our own mess! Gordon!!
Peace to the world.
