Against what, you ask? The obnoxious persistence of many in the black
community who think they can claim an ownership of our children based
on the archaic and inaccurate "one drop rule," for the "preservation" of
their own "race," because "whitey" won't accept our children, and for
other self-serving reasons without any regard for the accuracy of a
multiracial identification. When a child is born of one white parent and
one black parent, such factions of society rush to claim this child as one
of their own while denouncing their dual identity–or the contributions of
the other parent to the child's "racial" identity–which is clearly more
accurate.
This constant tug-of-war between ourselves and "one drop rule"
advocates over our own children is what is at the core of the opposition
to the messages of "The Boondocks" strip. What is also at the core of the
entire issue is while many blacks contend that multiracials are more
accepted within the black community than the white community, it is from
the black community that our children often meet much more hostility.
The glaring looks and blatant attitudes from complete strangers,
comments made in an 8th grade yearbook next to a multiracial's picture
which reads "honky nigga," are examples that render such a blanket claim
null and void.
And when are blacks most hostile toward multiracials? When those
multiracials who don't identify solely as black reveal such a position. Even
when they identify as black, they are still resented for their white heritage
and especially–God forbid–if they happen to also act and talk "too
white." As one put it so eloquently when speaking of multiracials with
black heritage desiring acceptance from the black community, ". . . how
can we, in good conscience, demand that biracials dump half of their
heritage at the door in order to receive that acceptance?"
Yeah, how can you?
Paternal and maternal instinct drives me to want to throttle the next
person who dictates to my child who or what she is–and then beats her
over the head with rhetoric when she doesn't comply. The gall. Her
mother is white, her father black. The influences of both parents and
families shaped her identity, not the political agendas of strangers who
don't give a damn about her as an individual.
What some blacks have expressed as a suspicious onset of a movement
of sorts by multiracials to start their "own club," is clearly (if anyone is
truly paying attention) a collective position by many multiracials to stand
up against the mandates for racial identity that others have been placing
upon them. It isn't about being "uppity mixies"or "denying one's black
heritage." At the very core, it's about being accurate, racially speaking,
and acknowledging all elements of their heritage.
Why is THIS so difficult to grasp?
What I find ridiculous in all of this, and one of the legacies of racism of
the past, is that many blacks adopt and perpetuate the myth that was
once imposed upon them by racist whites in order for whites to uphold a
perceived "racial" superiority, and to eliminate any responsibility for or
claim by a white father to his multiracial child born to a black woman,
rendering that child black and therefore not allowed the same access to
freedom, power, and wealth afforded to "pure" whites.
Is there something wrong with this logic?
So, while there is much division between who supports "The Boondocks"
and who doesn't, it's really not a comic strip that is the issue here, it is
what it illustrates. Is it satire? Many parents of multiracials and
multiracials themselves might wonder if its creator is advocating and
further promoting the assertion by many within the black community that
regardless of how a multiracial individual identifies, they are no more than
black. How many people are actually going to take such assertions at face
value because it's in print (must be gospel?), adopt it for their own
mindset, and never explore the issues any further? Too many.
Just more fools for us to contend with.
Many of us within the interracial/intercultural community are in the
position where we have to further counter these assertions, so while
many take offense or object to our public objections to how we're
portrayed in such media, that is the risk one takes when they create such
a public form of expression. Such generalizations that black men who
marry white women are "Uncle Toms," that white women married to black
men are clueless when it comes to issues in the black community, and that
multiracials are merely a confused lot, will not go undisputed. You can't
make such public statements about groups of people and not have them
counter it.
Or don't we all know this already?
Something that most of us forget is that multiracials are not just from
black and white relationships. Too many people attempt to make this
merely a black and white issue. It isn't. One of the responses I get to this
assertion is that many in the black community do not care about other
multiracials of non-black parentage. While many of these advocates may
insist that a child from a black parent and a non-black parent is black, you
can't get a straight answer for how they would classify a child from, say, a
white parent and an Asian parent, a white parent and a Hispanic parent,
and any other combination of the color spectrum you can conjure up for
example. Many say they simply don't care. Further proof that the
motivations behind advocating the "one drop rule" are purely
self-serving.
How do most whites respond to all of this multiracial stuff? Gee, I
personally haven't a clue as they appear to be the most silent group, per
usual. The ones who are vocal have a vested interest in this issue: their
children.
Collectively, whites likely don't give a damn. "Let the blacks, interracial
couplings, and multiracials duke it out over these issues." White status is
not threatened.
What white status? A position of power, wealth, majority status; the
upheld opinion that their "race" is superior and they bear no
responsibility for rectifying any part of these issues. The typical,
apathetic approach to most issues involving race. Many whites claim to
simply not know what to do while others simply don't care. It doesn't
affect them. Or does it?
I despise this whole concept of race and the barriers that it represents and
perpetuates. There are so many ills in this society as a result of the
abuses of this social construct. We all know this. Race-based issues need
to be discussed, acknowledged and addressed, yes, but I assert that
multiracials aren't the ones who are confused ("confused cutie-pies," as
indicated in "The Boondocks" comic strip). Much of society is
confused–-have not a clue as to what to do with race-based issues--and
multiracials are burdened with the result. Helluva burden, I say.
(Deb Brown is the Founder of the INTERracial website, and this article is reprinted with her permission.)
Amidst all of the recent hoopla over "The
Boondocks" comic strip, many are failing to realize
that there is more to the issue here than the comic
strip itself. The opposition to the comic strip's
portrayals of interracial couples and multiracials has
already been fueled for too long by what many
parents of multiracial children have considered the
"dragging of our children into someone else's racial
political agendas." We have grown tired of it. We and our children are
finally speaking out against it. It's about time.Also...
By Lucia Vilankulu
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