An interesting commentary on Race in the race

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

The Way We Live Now
Mixed Messenger
By PEGGY ORENSTEIN
...Hawaii, Obama’s childhood home, is the most diverse state in the Union: 21 percent of residents identified as “Hapa,” a Hawaiian word meaning “half” that has gone from being a slur against mixed-race Asians to a point of pride — and has increasingly been adopted by multiracials of all kinds on the Mainland...

Am I the only person who thinks this is a horrible word? If there was a child in my life of mixed race or dual heritage or whatever I would be damned if I wanted them to think they were any kind of "half". Whatever they are, they are "whole". But maybe it's a more complex word than this brief article allows.

...Will Hapa Nation eventually make tracking “race” impossible? Will it unite us? Or will it, as some suggest, further segregate African-Americans from everyone else? The answer to all these questions may be yes.

This part I don't get. Why would African-Americans feel alienated by mixed race people creating their own culture from the ground up. Isn't that what the descendants of slaves, separated from land and family and sense of community had to do?

Just an added note - the three African men I work with on Saturdays have a strong belief in family, charity (ie giving) and community. I know if I asked them how to "solve" the problem of the balck underclass in the US their answer would be, "Make them stay in school and get a good job, otherwise forget them!" I can't help thinking that Europe fucked a whole continent with slavery and colonialism, and America has mostly had to deal with the fallout.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

This part I don't get. Why would African-Americans feel alienated by mixed race people creating their own culture from the ground up. Isn't that what the descendants of slaves, separated from land and family and sense of community had to do?

My personal experience is that it is a threat because the more dilute the races become, the less handouts and ability to live off the "race card" will become more difficult. I already see it among economic differences between blacks/mixed race couples in my neighborhood and those who remain in the lower social-economic ladder. The average home in our neighborhood is between $250k and $350k (this equates to a home in NJ between $500k and $700k). We have 49 homes. 9 homes are owned by Black/mixed-race/mixed marriage families. Everyone of them stand-up neighbors who I would do anything to help. We are a pretty close and fairly isolated neighborhood. Now when they talk about blacks who are on the dole nice things are not said. I think they just figured out how to make good on the American dream as so many other non-black immigrant families have whom also started with nothing when they got here. Differences between and amongst blacks who have become financially stable is contributing to the stress among those at the lower end of the economic continuum among like races. The more successful that people of color become, the more difficult it will become for their like races to use the basket terms of excuses that help them stay trapped in poverty. The sense of family is based on one of a strong maternal figure. Many of them are minus the father figure. I see it everyday at work. Just my opinion.