Preface - This vignette is about a real southern white family. The standard everyday all-American red-white and blue type. One member of this family was even a United States congressman. This idea illustrates what I call the "Cousin-times two theory;" a concept that postulates "...in most American families of the late 20th Century, first cousins will have first cousins that have first cousins that are of a different racial ancestry. Generally, these genetic or in-law relatives are no more than two-branches distant from each other in their common family tree."

Thanksgiving. The traditional time of each year that American families gather together with relatives that may never see each other except for this once-a-year holiday. Cousins, aunts, uncles, and other distant relations unheard of, unspoken of and often not mentioned; but nevertheless, all related.

This was Thanksgiving.

The father was typical southern boy; he had French-English-Scottish-American heritage. Before he went off to fight in WW II, he married a Yankee girl from Pennsylvania (German-English-Irish lineage). His family lore included a rumor of some Native American (Siouan) great grandparent back in the line. It wasn't enough to worry about but it was enough to be curious about. But still, this family could only be called a "white" southern family. The father's great uncle died as a Confederate soldier in the Civil War and his great grandfather served with an South Carolina artillery unit. Southern-by-God heritage.

This was Thanksgiving.

Look around the table. His wife's sister married a professor from Columbia, South America. There are eleven children in that family. Spanish spoken here. The wife's brother married a 'WASP' from Philadelphia. Philadelphian also spoken.

One of the father's sons has a wife from Guam and they have four children. One child; a daughter now grown and married, lives with her Native American husband on an Indian reservation in upstate New York.

One of the father's daughters married an Italian while another married a man of Jewish ancestry. Kosher spoken here too. Another son married four times, each time bringing more variety of heritage and regional accents to the yearly Thanksgiving table.

Still another son had a wife from Korea. Their children spoke American-English as well as Korean. "Please pass the cranberry sauce" became quite multi-something-or-other. The same son later married a girl of German ancestry and had two more children. Korean brothers and German sisters calling the same southern-northern white man "Daddy."

One daughter married a standard white-Mc-Scottish American. They had one child and later divorced. Her ex-husband married again. The second wife was Philadelphia Black. Add African-American into the mix. One grandson of the southern style white man now had a half-brother who was half white and half black. The dinner table was getting very diverse. Multi-something-or-other: plus more than minus.

One of the father's first cousins was a United States congressman from the state of South Carolina and another cousin's grandson married a girl from the Philippines. They have one child so far. Add another language-culture-race-ethnic group along with another dinner plate to the table.

This was Thanksgiving. The traditional time of each year that American families gather together. Cousins, aunts, uncles, and other distant relations unheard of, unspoken of, and often not mentioned; but nevertheless all related somehow.

This was Thanksgiving. This is my family. This is the American family - "Cousins-times two."

Subject: Please Choose one Race - Please Choose one Culture - Please, just choose one.

Just who owns us anyway?

Who has the right to tell another individual what culture or what race we are obliged to follow and identify with?

One of the biggest lies being pushed on the American people today is the concept of racial, ethnic and cultural identity. Somehow terms like 'my people', 'my heritage', 'your culture', 'our ancestors', have gained some sort of political legitimacy over an individuals rights of free choice, logic and plain common sense.

Things work like this: FIRST - An individual has a 'race' label applied to them at birth. SECOND - Society at large begins to ascribe behavior patterns which are attached to the designated racial label. THIRD - An individual is made to feel obligated to 'honor' their ancestors' race or culture and at least keep their customs and heritage alive. FINALLY - we as individuals are expected to give support to one of the many self-designated modern representatives of a particular racial or ethnic group that has social, political or governmental recognition. All of this without even a hint of personal choice entering the picture.

The American practice of race application to an individual's identity and of the labeling of cultural and ethnic identity is both politically smart while it is intellectually stupid. It is impossible to do. One size does not fit all - but, today there are many people with political or social power who would not have any power if it were not for the misuse of race, ethnicity and/or culture.

While racial or ethnic pride sounds very trendy and politically appealing, this culture-heritage thing is a sham. Most of the current (while not all) racial and heritage dialog being spread around today is pure political, power-group, vested interest mythology.

Even if an individual person wanted to fulfill the cultural or racial obligations to his actual racial origins or ethnic heritage - it would be nearly an impossible task.

The question that is almost never asked is - '...just what culture and heritage and ethnic items is an individual supposed to maintain, and just who decides? The US Government? The NAACP? The local school district? The Nation of Islam? The Klu Klux Klan? The Aryan Brotherhood? The Hispanic Alliance? The American Indian Movement? The parents? Social Scientists? Who decides?

Try an experiment with numbers.

First, look in a mirror and then calculate the number of people it took to make just the one of you - parent to child construction. You have two parents, they each had two parents which gives you four grandparents. In turn they had two parents which gives you eight great-grandparents. You had 16 great-great grandparents and 32 great-great-great grandparents. For most of us, the time period is back to the early to mid-eighteen hundreds. The number of direct ancestors that it took to make you is at this point 64.

These are not aunts and uncles - these are parents. If you go back to about 1700, and only six more generations (not exactly ancient history- the pilgrims were all old or dead by this time), you have 2048 great-great-great-and so on grandparents. At this point it took 4094 people to make you the individual person. Remember, remove anyone of these direct line parents and you disappear - you would have never been born.

Now back to culture and ethnic or racial heritage. Just which one of these 4094 parents' and grandparents' culture and ethnicity is an individual supposed to identify with and preserve? Which language, clothing, music, food, religion, values, sports, marriage rites, customs, folkways, laws, norms, etc. etc. is a person supposed to follow? Line up these ancestors in a row and most couldn't even talk to each other let alone identify with us and our 1990's way of living. But we are just as much the blood of one of our 64 great-great-great-great grandparents as we are of the others, no matter where they are from. We are equally all-of-the-above.

Bottom line - it is impossible for a person to maintain the racial or cultural ways of all their ancestors, even recent ones. Unless a person is descended from one isolated tribe from the rain forests of Brazil or from an island that never made contact with another social group - there are just too many ancestors to fit into a single lifetime for any of us.

For example: 'Person A' is born in New York City. He has an Irish mother with a Polish grandmother and a Russian great-grandfather who immigrated to America in 1900. His father is from Puerto Rico with a Spanish grandfather and a mother of Indian, Spanish and African ancestry. Which language should Person A speak? Russian? Irish? Spanish? Mandinka? New York style English? Polish? Gullah? What traditional clothing should be worn? Which ethnic holidays should be celebrated? Should he identify with pre-1900 Russian culture or 1990 Russian culture? Should he be counted as a Hispanic for the year 2000 census or because he is part Native-American be counted that way? Or is he really black or even white?

Who makes that choice? Who has the right to tell another individual which one of the thousands of cultures and ways we are each made up of which one we have to follow and identify with?

Who really owns us?

Van Jenerette, Univ. of South Carolina
vandoniii@aol.com
vandon@sccoast.net

Also by Van Jenerette:

The New Face of America: Moving Beyond Race

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