Wow. An interesting Snopes link...
Mar. 2nd, 2006 12:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
Well, not really interesting, but I thought some people might be interested in it regardless. It's about fraternal twins who are, to the naked eye, two completely different races (despite having the same parents).
Of course, this also explains (I assume) why in non-mixed black families, you have children of all different colors - African-American people (excepting recent immigrants from Africa, who often don't seem to fall under the same heading, for reasons I don't understand if race is supposed to be a vaguely scientific instead of social concept) are all, to an extent, mixed (due of course to the tragic nature of slavery, do I have to say this?).
Of course, this also explains (I assume) why in non-mixed black families, you have children of all different colors - African-American people (excepting recent immigrants from Africa, who often don't seem to fall under the same heading, for reasons I don't understand if race is supposed to be a vaguely scientific instead of social concept) are all, to an extent, mixed (due of course to the tragic nature of slavery, do I have to say this?).
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no subject
Date: 2006-03-02 05:37 am (UTC)It's really not that shocking except that our culture is screwed up. Coloring, as far as I know (with a big I don't know much and there is much no one knows yet) works a lot like height. And no one is that surprised if one sibling turns out to be short and another tall. It takes longer to find out, but it's not hugely bizarre, and this is pretty much equivalent to that.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-02 12:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-02 08:20 pm (UTC)And I'd say the sentence "African-American people (excepting recent immigrants from Africa, who often don't seem to fall under the same heading, for reasons I don't understand if race is supposed to be a vaguely scientific instead of social concept) are all, to an extent, mixed (due of course to the tragic nature of slavery, do I have to say this?)" is a little overgeneralized. After all, by "recent immigrants" do you mean everyone who's come over since 1865? There's been time for lots of "mixing" to have happened post-slavery era, you know. (Not that I'm saying "mixing" didn't happen pre-1865 either.)
I don't really subscribe to "race" even as a pseudoscientific construct. Humans come in different shapes and shades. Deal with it.
Now, culture is a whole 'nother hue of equine.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-03 04:14 am (UTC)And on the subject of race: I have a friend who on the 2000 US Census, with its 19 or so different categories, still didn't have a category for her. She was Kenyan, black, non-American. There was African-American and Black Hispanic. But no category for plain old "African."
I also know a woman who was born and raised in Zimbabwe. She is white. She now lives in the US. If she becomes a US citizen, will she be African-American?
Yah. This is why I refuse to answer the "race" category.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-03 04:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-02 05:37 am (UTC)It's really not that shocking except that our culture is screwed up. Coloring, as far as I know (with a big I don't know much and there is much no one knows yet) works a lot like height. And no one is that surprised if one sibling turns out to be short and another tall. It takes longer to find out, but it's not hugely bizarre, and this is pretty much equivalent to that.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-02 12:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-02 08:20 pm (UTC)And I'd say the sentence "African-American people (excepting recent immigrants from Africa, who often don't seem to fall under the same heading, for reasons I don't understand if race is supposed to be a vaguely scientific instead of social concept) are all, to an extent, mixed (due of course to the tragic nature of slavery, do I have to say this?)" is a little overgeneralized. After all, by "recent immigrants" do you mean everyone who's come over since 1865? There's been time for lots of "mixing" to have happened post-slavery era, you know. (Not that I'm saying "mixing" didn't happen pre-1865 either.)
I don't really subscribe to "race" even as a pseudoscientific construct. Humans come in different shapes and shades. Deal with it.
Now, culture is a whole 'nother hue of equine.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-03 04:14 am (UTC)And on the subject of race: I have a friend who on the 2000 US Census, with its 19 or so different categories, still didn't have a category for her. She was Kenyan, black, non-American. There was African-American and Black Hispanic. But no category for plain old "African."
I also know a woman who was born and raised in Zimbabwe. She is white. She now lives in the US. If she becomes a US citizen, will she be African-American?
Yah. This is why I refuse to answer the "race" category.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-03 04:27 am (UTC)