Race

Mother and son look so happy in this photo. It's funny (not in a "haha" way) how different people will see different things when looking at this photo. Despite the adorable little boy's ebullient, cherubic face and his mother's obvious pride, some will see only a woman who demeaned herself and betrayed her race by laying with a black man, and the abominable result of that coupling. That is an overtly racist, extreme view. Another equally racist and extreme view is that of another black man seeking a white woman as some sort of status symbol, as if women of African descent aren't good enough. The opposite to both, yet not-so-extreme-at-all observation is that of a lovely and loving young mother holding her innocent, beautiful baby boy. Full stop.

He is not "other" in her eyes. He came from her. He is part of her. They are as connected as mother and child can be. Among other things, this photograph is a symbol of just how arbitrary and ultimately insignificant our antiquated notions of race really are. It is also an embarassing example of one real difference between "whites" and "blacks" in America. The child is obviously the product of this white woman and a black man. But white people see him as black, "other," not "one of us," whereas black people, for the most part, also readily see him as black, but that is, by definition "one of us." I can't help but conclude that black people are generally more tolerant and accepting than white people. I mean, he is right down the middle. One very white parent, one very black parent. Yet he can not pass for a white guy. But, shouldn't he be able to claim either side equally? And shouldn't whites and blacks alike feel free to claim him as "our own"? The more I dissect this the more frustrated and disgusted I get.

The boy in the picture, in case you haven't figured it out, is Barack Obama. His mother looks a lot like my mother. Our fathers look a little different, but so what? 2,000 generations and 50,000 years ago, all of our ancestors were about to walk out of the African continent for the first time in human history. Everyone alive today, no matter where you live, whether in Alabama, Albania, Australia, or Austria, is a descendant of an African. It's not my opinion. It's not an abstruse interpretation of the fossil record. It's a fucking fact. It's in the genetic record, the genetic map that people much smarter than I have deciphered and illustrated.

Race is a sham. Race is a scam. A shell game. Don't buy it! It's for losers.