Holy crap! I’m black!
CVK
The Charlotte Observer has an article by Jim Morrill about the revelation that he had black ancestors, and his quest to find out more about his family history:
When I was about 30, my mother confided a secret: My great-grandmother — the mother of my dad’s father — was black.Growing up with blond hair and blue eyes in a Midwestern family of Germans and Swedes, it was not something I’d suspected. I thought it was interesting, but to mom it was serious business. She thought I should know before I got married, lest some stray gene pop out of the family pool and surprise us.
You think that was gross? It gets much worse:
For years my dad had known Belle [his mother] only through letters. My mom once told me that sometime that year, in 1939, he visited her for the first time in Washington. When he realized the black woman who answered the door was his grandmother, he nearly fainted.
Why is it that when phenotypically white people find out they have ancestors of color, it always leads to one of two things: complete hysteria (as in this case) or a misguided attempt to be “down” and explain aspects of their lives through their newly-found heritage?
I’m sure we all know at least one person who has taken one of those dreadful DNA tests, which claim (though the “science” behind it is highly suspect) to reveal your racial ancestry. And when they find out they supposedly have X% black ancestry, or X% Native American heritage, all of a sudden it leads to these outlandish revelations based in ridiculous stereotypes. “No wonder I’m so at one with nature, I’m actually Native!” or “People have always told me I have soul, now I understand why!”
A. Powell wrote:
This “Holy crap! I’m black!” comment from mixedmediawatch is
offensive. The author of this article from the Charlotte Observer
did not call himself black, nor did he endorse the “one drop” myth,
which the “Holy crap! I’m black!” comment seems to do. He was
relating some irrational remarks made by some members of his family,
but he did not endorse those remarks.
I would ask why this “one drop” myth is promoted as social gospel
when Hispanics and Arabs are nearly all part-black. If the “one
drop” myth was half as unversal as its advocates claim, then the
Hispanic and Arab-American populations would be forced to call
themselves “black.”
Now that we see more whites openly acknowledging what used to be
the most shameful of ancestries, we can only conclude that this
stigma is gradually being lifted. Why is that not a good thing?
Posted 23 Feb 2005 at 6:21 pm ¶
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:
Ms. Powell,
Thanks for your feedback, but you’re preaching to the choir here.
I never criticized the author. I was merely making fun of his family members’ one-droppish reactions to learning about their black heritage. And judging from their horror, clearly they still considered it “the most shameful of ancestries.”
Thanks for reading!
CVK
Posted 24 Feb 2005 at 9:47 am ¶
Tony Magee wrote:
Realize I’m months late for this, but I just found the site.
I had to comment on this…I thought the “Holy Crap! I’m Black” was a referance to the cartoon Family Guy.
And I must comment that not all those revelations lead to some huge attitude shifts.
My mother found out she had black cousins (not technically ancestors) and didn’t go through some huge personality shift.
Then again she had already married my black father and had Multi-racial me…so I guess in terms of scale it was a minor thing.
Posted 05 Jun 2005 at 4:51 am ¶
Charlette wrote:
well he didn’t say that his life now was going to be forced to associate with black people so what he’s black all of the world came from Africa and Asia after millions of years mixing on just those two continents. Get a grip people we are of the same race.
Posted 16 Aug 2005 at 5:03 pm ¶
Jim Morrill wrote:
Thanks for reading the story CVK, but I think your reaction was a little over the top. The sentiments I wrote about were those of some of my family members, and they reflected the era and their heritage. I think it should say something that I, and my generation, don’t share their reaction and in fact embrace a diverse heritage. I think understanding their reactions to race is a big part of understanding who they were, and who I am.
You didn’t quote the part about me finding all this out long after I lived and worked in Africa for three years.
Posted 17 Dec 2005 at 8:15 pm ¶