An open letter to:
Most Reverend Alfred C. Hughes
Archbishop of New Orleans

…….in response to his recent response to the 10-1-02 letter from Mrs. Marion I. Ferreira as posted at the Interracial Voice website (at www.interracialvoice.com) on 1-5-03.

From: John O. Sarpy
Date: January 6, 2003

Dear Archbishop Hughes;

In this day and age where the leaders of the United States are trying to do more and more to recognize the commonality among varied races and cultures, I find the ideas expressed in your letter to Mrs. Ferreira to be DIVISIONAL, SEPARATIST, and ARCHAIC.

In your letter you said that "Henriette Delille will not be raised to the alter because she was supposedly two-thirds white and was nice to people darker than she." You go on to say: "Henriette Delille was a black woman who loved and served the poor..." You also refer to her as an "illegitimate child."

On one hand your words strongly suggest the validity of the age-old Rule of Hypodescent wherein the admixture of White and Black ancestry cannot be acknowledged -- wherein people have to be either white or black, but cannot possibly be acknowledged as a mixture of the two. On the other hand, in your reference to"illegitimate child," you seem to be suggesting that the offspring of any White and Black persons are illegitimate and contrary to the nature of things as seen through the eyes of your God. Your thoughts are nothing new; such notions have been around for thousands of years. Yet marriage between Whites and Blacks and the production of multi-racial children has been legal under the laws of man in the U.S. for over 30 years now. There are literally thousands of children born of a White and Black parent each day now in America. Your message compounds the contradictions faced daily by these children when they are forced by a separate and racially divided society to choose just one racial identity -- either Black or White and let go of significant ties to the other.

Your message, Archbishop Hughes, does not seem to be one of a God who loves equally all of his or her children -- for you as a leader of the Catholic Church are solidifying the concept that admixture of White and Black blood cannot be permitted nor publically recognized. Would you not think, Archbishop, that Whites would be more loving towards Blacks if they thought they had cousins, blood relatives among the Black or part Black population? Would you not think, Archbishop Hughes, that Blacks would be more loving of Whites if they felt that they had blood relatives (who loved them back!) among the White population? The non-acceptance and non-recognition of blood kinship is one of the major barriers to White and Black accord in this country and on this planet.

The fact is, Archbishop, that there are thousands of people on this planet who for hundreds of years have taken a multi-racial view towards their identity without choosing one aspect of their ancestry (ie., just White or Black) over the other. Of course these people are in the minority and their expression of their racial identity is squished and stifled by the major conflict and division which exists between the White and Black races. Yet these people have and continue to exist! Many Creoles fall within this category, yet there are countless other multi-racial people whose existence is denied and marginalized by the blind-sighted adherence by leaders such as yourself to the Rule of Hypodescent.

Regarding your notion of the "illegitimacy" of children. I would like to remind you, Archbishop, that children have been born out of wedlock since the beginning of and prior to the beginning of recorded history. Neither you or any person living on the face of this earth can say with any certainty that they do not have ancestors who were born out of wedlock. Additionally, the idea of "Bastards" and the negative social treatment of such children has supposedly been washed from the minds of intelligent people years ago; why would you as a leader of the Catholic Church show partial sentiment to such an issue?

With regards to the racial/cultural labeling of Mother Henriette Delille, that she was indeed a mixture of varied races is something which should be publicized and celebrated by the Catholic Church, rather than hidden and swept under the rug as something dirty and illegitimate. Mother Delille and the multi-racial people of her Creole culture -- as are the multi-racial people of other cultures -- should serve as a vivid reminder to the divided Black vs. White forces of this world that human beings need not be merely White or merely Black. Indeed, they can be a composite of the two without shame, without guilt, and without denial of one or the other aspects of their ancestry.

Respectfully,
JOHN O. SARPY

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