Wentworth Miller on being a racial spy
mtevc (guest contributor!)
Wentworth Miller, star of Fox’s Prison Break, answers questions in the April 10 issue of TV Guide. Inevitably, the issue of race comes up, and he responds on what it feels like to be a racial spy, since many do not know he is biracial. His answer is an honest and straightforward one, and seems to indicate that he is a regular, though very hot, guy!
When asked about your race, what do you tell people?
I say I’m of mixed race, and if they ask for specifics, I rattle off the details: My mother is Russian, French, Syrian, Lebanese and Dutch; my father is African-American, Jamaican, English, German and part Cherokee.How difficult was it dealing with racism growing up and now trying to find roles in Hollywood?
I’ll find myself standing in the company of someone who will make an offhand coment about someone else who is clearly “this” or “that,” knowing that they haven’t realized that I may also be “this” or “that.”
They feel free to make that sort of comment in front of me, and then I’m faced with the choice of “Do I stop the party and start lecturing, or do I keep quiet and internalize this insult to someoen who looks like they could be my family?” It’s a difficult choice, and I”d like to say that I always do the right thing, but the fact is it can be exhausting trying to educate someone. Confronting people can be difficult. As for how race has played into my experience in teh business, it’s really difficult to say. Obviously I’m not in the room when they’re talking about my audition tape, so I don’t know what goes into that process. I will say I’ve been fairly pleased by the reaction to my castin in Prison Break, which is basically no reaction at all. I’m playing a white character. There are those who would argue that actors of a certain background should not play certain parts, and those who would argue that those limitations should be challenged. I’m not interested in weighing in on that. I just want to work.
hmmm... wrote:
when did Jamaican become a race…how is it different from being an African American besides the obvious cultural difference?
For that matter what is the difference between being French, Russian, English, and Dutch besides the cultural and language differences?
Posted 09 Apr 2006 at 5:01 pm ¶
the joy princess wrote:
Vin Diesel should take some tips from Mr. Wentworth!
Posted 09 Apr 2006 at 7:17 pm ¶
Sugarcane wrote:
Hi JC & CVK,
Wow, he’s mentioned more than 8 (nationalities/races). I think he’s won 1st place in the Mixed Olympics!
Posted 09 Apr 2006 at 7:18 pm ¶
Francis wrote:
In Czechoslovakia, a country smaller than the average US state, the Czechs and the Slovakians no longer got along so they peacefully agreed to split the into two nations.
Yugoslavs were all, er… Yugoslavs, until the Slovenian nation split and Serbs and Croats both started ethnic cleansing on the Bosnians.
World media refer to the Tutsi tribe mass murder by Hutu tribesmen in minuscule Rwanda as an “African Sho’ah”. Hotel Rwanda, a movie based on the true story of a Hutu hotel manager married to a Tutsi woman.
Technically, Miller is not completely wrong when he refers to cultures instead of “races”.
Posted 09 Apr 2006 at 7:33 pm ¶
Merq wrote:
But he really should indicate the difference. I also read that as another instance of the oh-so-annoying “culture = race” fallacy.
Posted 10 Apr 2006 at 12:55 am ¶
Lyonside wrote:
Merq: so you really think there are races rather than ethnicities (which include culture)?
See, I love to think in Venn diagrams: ethnicity is part of culture. Culture is part of ethnicity (is there a way to show a subset that is still partially outside of the set?). “Race” as the US defines it is supposed to be larger than both ethnicity and culture, but often can’t be defined and turns into an amorphous blob.
Since historical (and prehistorical) geographical seperations led to a general isolation of some human phenotypes/genotypes by region (also affecting ethnicity and culture), then sure, there are “races,” but the US version is way too limited to approximate. Therefore - it’s easier to use ethnicities.
But since the average person in the US doesn’t give a rats-a** about it, they just want to know what COLOR you are, I applaud Miller for not letting them limit him to a black-and-white role.
The “ethnicities” list is camoflage - I started doing it in kindergarden - it acknowledges all of your heritage, and it gets the questioner off your back until they figure out where all those countries are.
It also can get the questioner out of any stereotypes they may bring to the question, becuase they are forced to see the different backgrounds, rather than whatever their stereotypes of “white” and “black” tell them.
Posted 10 Apr 2006 at 8:11 am ¶
missy wrote:
I guess I can understand you’re point Lyonside. But when someone tells me they are French, I sort of expect them to speak French or know something about French culture other than crossiants. I just think it can be a little ridiculous when someone reaches back over the generations and claim ethnicities/nationalities when they have no real appreciation of those ethnicities/nationalities. Many African-Amercians claim to have Native American ancestry but can they name the tribe they supposedly descended from, can they speak the langauge do they know anything about the culture…in most cases not…but many claim it to show that they are something other than/something more/something better than black. That’s sort of the beef I have with Tiger Woods. I can understand him considering himself a blasian but a Calabinasian or however he spells its…oh please. Does the “Indian” he references in that term mean East Indian or Native American. Does he know the tribe (if he’s speking of NA), the language, the culture. And how is his havin caucasian blood in him any different from many other African-Amercians whose ancestors were slaves. For that matter a lot of “white” Americans can claim French, Dutch, Russian ancestry but unless they are recent immigrants or the children of recent immigrants would it make sense for them to list all of their ethnicities when asked (of course I’m thinking in regards to persons who have culturally and linguistically assimilated into American society). People certainly have a right to define themselves as they choose but when strangers who I know I will never meet again ask me the “what are you question” I simply reply human.
Posted 10 Apr 2006 at 12:20 pm ¶
Lyonside wrote:
Missy:
You’re mixing a ton of things together.
You’re right in that if someone says they’re French, others tend to expect at least some cultural affiliation (culture is not limited to language alone, so speaking a native tongue shouldn’t be a litmus test). For that reason, I’ve personally dropped the French from my personal identification (the only thing that carried over from my great-grandmother is Catholicism, which was also common to the Irish and German families in my tree). But I’m keeping the Irish and German-American, since I can identify cultural traits that have persisted in my immediate family.
That brings up the idea that when most US born people say “I’m Irish” they mean “Irish-American.” If they or their parents are recent immigrants, they’ll likely tell you.
As for the “many” AA claims of Native American ancestry, 1) it seems you’ll find that in older generations, when it was taught to be a safer thing to say and believe, rather than claiming white ancestry, 2) many of the claims are TRUE, depending on geography, 3) it doesn’t matter unless someone is trying to get on the tribal rolls.
And as for Mr. Woods: He IS multiethnic/multiracial. According to http://www.asianweek.com/101196/tigerwoods.html, he is Asian and European on his mother’s side and Asian, African-American, and Native American on his father’s side. He is strongly culturally identified with his mother’s ethnicity (predominantly Thai); this is actually v. common - most children lean toward the ethnicity of the primary childcare giver, usually the mother, in cases where the parents are of 2 distinct backgrounds.
The cablinasian reference was a JOKE. He said that he made up the term as a CHILD to combine everything he was. He never sais that he still used the term or thought it should be taken seriously. This is NOT something he put on his SATs.
If someone is culturally identified with an ethnicity, and/or it’s in recent (i.e. living ) memory, then they have the right to claim it, IMO. Noone else gets to decide for them how they should or shouldn’t identify.
Posted 10 Apr 2006 at 2:14 pm ¶
missy wrote:
I agree with you Lyonside. people certainly have the right to identify as they choose. If someone is “culturally identified with an ethnicity and its in recent memeory” then yes they should claim it. I have no problem with that. I have no real problem with Tiger even in calling himself whatever, I just think he is reaching. His father is supposeldy part African-American part Native American. His father is apart of the “older” generation that you made mention of in your last post. His father could be telling the truth and then his father could have claimed Native American ancestry to shore up his own self-esteem. Many old school African-Americans did this and some new school African Americans do this as well. Tiger Woods is a good example in my opinion b/c unless I missed it I have never heard him indicate what Native American tribe he supposedly descends from. I have no problem with him identifying himself as Thai because his mother is obvioulsy Thai. My real point was to critize those who reach back generations and claim allegiance with ethnic/”racial” groups that are mere phantoms in the person’s imagination. Why claim people you don’t know, cultures you have no real knowledge of…but we can agree to disagree.
Posted 10 Apr 2006 at 2:40 pm ¶
site admin wrote:
“As for the ‘many’ AA claims of Native American ancestry, 1) it seems you’ll find that in older generations, when it was taught to be a safer thing to say and believe, rather than claiming white ancestry…”
Lyonside, this is an interesting point. Do you think that the whole “there’s Indian in my family” thing is sort of a euphemism for “I have some white ancestors along the way?”
Posted 10 Apr 2006 at 3:09 pm ¶
Ben F. wrote:
I’ve never before heard of the point Lyonside made about AA claiming Native American ancestry as a euphemism for “I have white ancestors,” but like site admin I find the point very interesting. Its funny, that this subject should come up. There was a pbs program that aired in February that attempted to trace through DNA testing, the ancestral heritage of famous African-Americans such as Oprah, Chris Turcker, Mae Jameson and Qunicy Jones. The host of the program, Professor Henry Louis Gates remarked that AA’s have less Native American ancestry than is commonly claimed. This doesn’t mean that no African-Americans have Native American ancestry just that such “mixture” if you will is not as prevelant as many African-Americans might think, accoridng to Gates. The DNA/genetic test taken of Oprah determined that she had absolutely no white ancestry but I think 9% Native American ancestry. Her DNA test further revealed that she had a genetic marker similar to an ethnic group in Liberia, indicating that her African ancestors came from that part of Africa. Mae Jameson (i hope I am spelling her name right) was found, to her surprise, to have some Chinese ancestry. Qunicey Jones test revealed that he has a substantial amount of “white,” Native American and African ancestry. (Unfortunately, the DNA test could not determine what part of Africa Mae’s or Qunicey’s African ancestors originated from). I wonder what would be the public reaction if Oprah, Mae, and Quincy said they were multiracial? Can’t everyone technically identify as multiracial? Or is it only more appropriate to identify as multiracial if to paraphrase Lyonside, you have some cultural connection to the ethnic group?
Posted 10 Apr 2006 at 5:07 pm ¶
Lyonside wrote:
The problem is that there is no real scientific “race.” So the term multiracial is yet another euphemism used for saying mutliethnic - it’s a shortcut that we use for convenience to reflect the cultural and historical realities of “race.” I dont’ think anyone is going to claim a different “Race” or claim “multiracial” if their ethnicity is already tied to one ethnicity or culture, and both parents are also identified with the same ethnicity or culture. It’s just not how most people work.
As for the “NA” claims instead of white, it’s not my idea, but I can’t say where I picked it up. I have heard anecdotal tales of such. And there’s a mirror in my own family: my father’s grandfather immigrated from Bermuda, and the family has kept a lot of cultural and personal ties to the island (regretfully, no property, or I’d be vacationing someplace warm).
My father’s aunt did some family “research” in the 1970s (collecting old tales, checking into a half-entered family Bible), and proclaimed that the family was descended from a freed African-Bermudan slave (totally possible, ended in the 1840s) and a Spanish prince (RIIIIGHT). Which doesn’t explain why the family name is (wait for it) an old English name that was very common among English shipbuilders on the island.
The “Spanish prince” bull continues, despite my efforts, especially to explain the African-American identified members of the family with a lighter skin tone. My dad now acknowledges that his family is likely part-English, but my grandfather wouldn’t have admitted it (who was himself pretty pale).
Posted 11 Apr 2006 at 8:51 am ¶
K-Pow wrote:
This is all pretty interesting commentary from the previous posters.
I too think that people have the right to identify as they please. If Tiger doesn’t want to be “pigeonholed” into claiming an African-American identity then that’s cool. African-Americans don’t need him, we (yes I include myself even though my father is hispanic) have done fine on our own.
As for Wentworth Milller, I never heard of him or his show until I started logging onto various internet sites geared towards multiracials. I see nothing wrong with him listing his various “racial”/cultural backgrounds but I have to say that I would get a little tired saying all those names.
Posted 11 Apr 2006 at 12:17 pm ¶
Lyonside wrote:
My guess is that Miller might use biracial or multiethnic or whatever with friends and family, but trots out the ethnicities list to get it out of the way for the media.
I ditched my list in high school after “biracial” was finally something my peers had at least HEARD of (early 90s). In grade school, I needed the list to shortcut race discussions.
Now I just use the list to surprise/remind others: “You’re Irish/German/Bermudan/African-American? Me too!” etc.
Posted 11 Apr 2006 at 12:41 pm ¶
ilana wrote:
the problem is that you want speciffic details on how a person is mixed-race, let’s see i have french, dutch, indian, belgium and arabic blood in me but in the end i’m just an south african.
and not one of the countries are the same, they all differ. or else they’ll be one nationality.
Posted 29 Apr 2006 at 6:41 pm ¶
victoria wrote:
hiyaa mate dont listen 2 any rumors tht go around i love the film you starr in
Posted 30 Apr 2006 at 2:36 pm ¶
Anonymous wrote:
HMMM:
“For that matter what is the difference between being French, Russian, English, and Dutch besides the cultural and language differences?”
For your information, there are definitely more than just cultural and lingual differences between these nationalities. The average Dutch person happens to look quite different (mostly blonde with blue eyes) from a French person (a lot darker and mostly brown eyes). And Russian people tend to have a very different facial bone structure from most Western Europeans.
It is very difficult, however, to draw a line when it comes to determinig when someone is of a different ‘race’
Posted 30 Apr 2006 at 2:37 pm ¶
fran wrote:
wentworth miller is hot, why isn’t anyone talking about that?
Posted 26 May 2006 at 9:54 pm ¶
amalia wrote:
I have to say I am surprised to hear about AAs supposedly using native american or other ancestry to conceal white ancestry. Isn’t it a given that most AA’s will have european ancestry, due to the extent to which white men raped black women for most of their history in this part of the world? Historically there was also substantial (consensual) interracial relationships, primarily between white men and black women; the people who seem to be in denial tend to be in white america.
I have not heard much denial from AAs and never in the “I’m Native American instead” form. There isn’t much point to it. Having European ancestry for the most part doesn’t change their Black identity, or the racist way they are treated in society, so it tends to be an irrelevance in people’s everyday lives.
Anyway in reference to Ben F’s point, AAs and other African-descended people in the Americas ARE generally seen as “mixed”, by Africans with closer roots. In America, there is a tendency to generalize a whole range of of appearances under “African American”, but Africans with closer roots, can usually tell if you are African American, or say, Nigerian. I have heard the phrase “watered down” used on more than one occasion. . .
Posted 28 May 2006 at 6:14 pm ¶
amalia wrote:
Commenting specifically on the article, I think it’s very refreshing to see Wentworth Miller acknowledging all his roots. Why should he leave some out, or try to create some new category for himself, just for the convenience of people who aren’t used to the multiplicity? I *cringe* when I remember Mariah Carey’s “Actually, I’m triracial”. Aren’t there already enough labels on hand?
Posted 28 May 2006 at 6:16 pm ¶
tana wrote:
i love you wentwoth miller from tanequa
Posted 05 Jun 2006 at 8:16 pm ¶
martika wrote:
Some people can crtisise wentworth for doing this interview or thank him for being so open. I will do the last. What some people don’t get is that if you are from mixed race (especially if you look completely one race) that it is very difficult to explain people where you belong you not white your not black your just inbetween. And people should stop puttubg you in a corner of white or black, your mixed so you have something of both. And it is something to be proud of and not to be ashamed.
Posted 28 Jun 2006 at 11:44 am ¶
Nicholas wrote:
I totally agree with Amalia on the issue concerning the issue of many blacks used the Native American ancestry claim to cover up the fact of them having some European blood in them. Not only were many Afriacan-American slaves (women, of course!) raped by white men, but during the slave trade, many families were torn apart and in the process of being brought to the Americas were dropped off on the islands in the Caribbean and Atlantic and some remained there after being freed in the later years and during the slave years, were traded to other masters, who were preparing to travel elsewhere. As stated the slavewomen were raped and to this children came and there you had African and European children or mulatto. I am multicultural, but in general, I am black. My heritage consists of Caribbean (Jamaica, St. Lucia, and Martinique), African American, French (because of my ancestry in the Lesser An), English, and Native American (Cherokee). I have traced my ancestry by talking to the older relatives of my family and probably know some things that my mother would not even know, concerning the matters of where we are from. I am proud to be black and also be multi-ethnic.
Posted 03 Aug 2006 at 1:10 am ¶
Nicholas wrote:
Let me correct that. The Lesser Antilles
Posted 03 Aug 2006 at 1:16 am ¶
Leora wrote:
Wentworth Miller is beautiful inside and out. It doesn’t matter what race he is. He is simply MIXED. He is simply TALENTED. He is simply BEAUTIFUL. Keep doing what you do, Wentworth, and don’t worry about what anyone thinks. If they don’t like you because of the fact that you are mixed, let them think what they want. I’m African American too, and part European and I love my skin! And yours! lol.
Posted 13 Sep 2006 at 11:38 am ¶