Racial Issues

Once upon a time, Paul's aunt Nadine married a black guy from Cleveland and gave birth to Chris and Cathy, both of whom are smart and ambitious high achievers who make their Oregon cousins look like, well, like seldom-seen, nice, slightly backward cousins from Oregon.

I think Cathy is now a psychiatrist. Chris graduated from Princeton and was president of the alumni association, and so sat on the platform with the likes of Steve Forbes at graduations, and then he caught the Internet wave and with a friend or two started a company called Cyveillance that blossomed into something huge, and then he got out of that and is now a consultant or something in Washington DC or somewhere. I've kind of lost track.

We always figured he would be the first mixed-race President and in fact Barack Obama reminds me of Chris in a lot of ways.

There was something that always mystified me about those cousins. A lot of noise was made about them being such high-achieving young black people, and the fine example they set, and so on, based on the newspaper clippings that came around the Smucker aunts' circle letters. And I would think, yoo-hoo, hellooo, they're half black. What about the other half that's getting completely ignored here, this white, red-hair-and-freckles, mashed-potatoes-and-roast-beef, proper Mennonite half of their heritage, sitting anonymously out here in Oregon??

I once asked Chris about this at a family reunion. He sat there with his grandpa Orval's nose, and the ubiquitous Smucker freckles, of all things, and talked about his racial identity. He tended to take on the "black" label, he said, because that's how everyone saw him and treated him accordingly. No one looking at him would ever say, oh, I'll bet he comes from good Mennonite stock and his grandpa raises grass seed in Oregon. Which is not to say that he doesn't appreciate that side of his family, because he does.

We emailed Chris for advice when we adopted Steven. Are we nuts, we said, to bring an African child into this setting. Chris said no. "If anyone can do this successfully, the Smuckers can," he said.

All of which brings me to an interesting article I read today about Barack Obama and race. I was surprised how many parallels there were to Chris.

A perplexing new chapter is unfolding in Barack Obama's racial saga: Many people insist that "the first black president" is actually not black.

Debate over whether to call this son of a white Kansan and a black Kenyan biracial, African-American, mixed-race, half-and-half, multiracial — or, in Obama's own words, a "mutt" — has reached a crescendo since Obama's election shattered assumptions about race.

Obama has said, "I identify as African-American — that's how I'm treated and that's how I'm viewed. I'm proud of it." In other words, the world gave Obama no choice but to be black, and he was happy to oblige.

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and:

A Doonesbury comic strip that ran the day after the election showed several soldiers celebrating.

"He's half-white, you know," says a white soldier.

"You must be so proud," responds another.

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It'll be interesting to see what issues Steven will have to face, being 100% black/African racially, but raised in a white minority-culture community. Already, he finds things confusing at times ;

Quote of the Day:

Steven: [looking at the back of a folding chair] What's 'Samsonite?'

Me: It's a brand name for chairs and suitcases and stuff that are supposed to be really strong.

Steven: Oh, I thought it would be like 'Mennonite'. . . .'Samsonite'. . .