More mixed athletes in Sports Illustrated
LL (returning MMW contributor!)
In the latest issue of Sports Illustrated, Cleveland Cavalier forward Drew Gooden makes an appearance in the “SI Players: First Person” Q&A.
On Finnish saunas: I’m half Finnish [his mother, Ulla, is from there], and the sauna originated in Finland.
(##irrelevant, goes on to elaborate about how he doesn’t like saunas)
On having parents from two different worlds: My mother is from a rural town, and they met when my dad was in Finland playing professional basketball. It was tough because my parents split when I was a kid. I grew up in the inner city [in Oakland and Richmond, Calif.] with my father, and because my mom was white my hair was different and my skin was lighter. kids would get on me with name-calling. But you deal with it; it got me in a lot of fights defending myself, but it made me a stronger person.”
Funny how any sort of quick interview always has to include questions about the person’s racial heritage. Maybe at the interviewer’s own doing or Drew’s comments? Or maybe sports journalists in general are becoming more aware/curious about their “ambiguous” athletes ever since the Hines Ward publicity gravy train. Who knows?
Then, the famous Joakim Noah of the NCAA champion Florida Gators team makes another appearance:
Cecilia Rodhe, Noah’s Swedish-born mother, likes to call her son an “African Viking,” owing to his exotic bloodlines.
What’s worse: his mom referring to him as that or SI using the Underworld inspired “bloodlines”?
Unlisted wrote:
I understand why you call get a little irratated when you all see things like this, but you have to realize that most people are going to see a person like Joakim Noah or Drew Gooden and see that they look different from Lebron James et al. People may not say it, but they are wondering “What is he mixed with?”
This is not neccesarily bad. And I don’t see anything wrong with these people making their background public and dispelling myths and most importantly more of them embracing their entire culture. So much negative has been said in the past about bi/multi-racial children and it is good to see them succeeding in all walks of life.
Posted 14 Apr 2006 at 10:50 am ¶
eric wrote:
whoa, scandinavian and african-american, I thought my sister and I were the only people like that on the planet
Posted 14 Apr 2006 at 11:10 am ¶
Darncase wrote:
Actually Joakim’s father, Yannick Noah, is from France. Yannick is half Cameroonian and French. Therefore, Joakim is not African-american.
Posted 14 Apr 2006 at 7:15 pm ¶
M. Wheatley wrote:
actually he was born in New York. He is American. And despite your pro-identity attempts the laws of this land indicate that a drop of black blood makes your black, and that is a good thing. I love being black.
Posted 14 Apr 2006 at 7:50 pm ¶
mr guy wrote:
Huh?Which land law are you talking about?
Posted 14 Apr 2006 at 8:31 pm ¶
Unlisted wrote:
Funny how the “one drop” rule started out as a racist rule to degrade African blood, and now the blacks are the ones who hold to it the most firmly. Even come to calling it a law
Posted 15 Apr 2006 at 3:06 am ¶
Ben wrote:
Darncase: Joakim is of African descent, and was born in America. If that doesn’t make him African-American, what makes anybody else African-American, by your definition?
Wheatley: What law? I love being black too, but all federally-collected race data is self-reported. If you want the government to think you’re black, all you have to do is fill in the appropriate bubble. The only objective standard (Directive 15) applies to people who consider themselves monoracial.
I really like the notion of increasing the profile of multiracial people, even if it’s done clumsily.
Posted 15 Apr 2006 at 9:22 am ¶
mr guy wrote:
Unlisted:
This guy does not speak for “the blacks”.
Posted 15 Apr 2006 at 2:33 pm ¶
Unlisted wrote:
Mr Guy,
I know that he obviously does not speak for all blacks, but a significant number of them feel that way. It is very prevelent in the African American community to accuse those of embrace all of their heritage of somehow denying it. I can remember listening to black talk radio shows discussing why “Tiger Woods, Mariah Carey, et al ‘deny’ their heritage” and callers attributing it do “hating self” etc.
Congressman Harold Ford, Jr (as posted on this forum) caused a similar stir in the black community when he simply said that his grandmother was white. “Why is he denying his heritage???”
Good news is that I think that M. Wheatley’s thinking, though still prevelant is beginning to wane. That is why I think that it is important that more mixed race athletes, actors and others stars embrace their entire heritage and not pull a Halle Berry.
Posted 15 Apr 2006 at 5:29 pm ¶
eric wrote:
unlisted, are you for real?
Posted 16 Apr 2006 at 9:38 pm ¶
Merq wrote:
Unlisted:
I find it odd that while you rightly laud self-definition, you come down on an actress who does indeed self-identify. You seem to support self-definition only when it involves shirking a monoracial identity… but please, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
And once again, the issue with Ford wasn’t his recollection of a white grandmother, but rather, the fact that the woman in question may have indeed been black.
Mr. Guy:
Yeah, it looks like “the blacks” are at it again.
Posted 17 Apr 2006 at 2:14 am ¶
mr guy wrote:
Unlisted:
I get your main point, I just tire of hearing stuff like “the blacks”
or “the whites” or whatever.I don’t like grouping diverse people so easily.If someone identifies with all, of their heratige or mainly with one fine with me.I’m not going to judge them.And they should not be judged by monoraicals OR biracials.However that is not the case most of the time.
Posted 17 Apr 2006 at 5:57 am ¶
Unlisted wrote:
Eric:
Yep, I am very real
Merq:
Let’s put it this way. I don’t like the “one drop” rule. I think that the more bi/multi-racial stars that embrace their ENTIRE heritage the better. Anyone that choses not to, then obviously that is their choice, but I feel like those that promote the “one drop” rule are unknowingly still disparaging African blood. Not as many “Euro-Asians” claim to be 100% Asian as black/white biracials claim to be 100% black. Not sure it is even close. May seem like a contradiction, but that is just how I feel about things
Mr Guy:
I see your point, and I will try to be more careful with my wording. I don’t like to generalize either. I believe that people should have the right to self-identify, even if it is “mono-racial”. But I still feel that one should embrace their entire heritage.
The ultimate thing to me is that all human beings are valuable and for me, the “one drop” rule cheapens that.
Posted 17 Apr 2006 at 9:33 am ¶
Unlisted wrote:
Clarification:
“I believe that people should have the right to self-identify, even if it is “mono-racial”. But I still feel that one should embrace their entire heritage. ”
That may seem convoluted, so let me clarify: I also believe in one’s right to free speech, but I don’t have to agree with what they say.
Posted 17 Apr 2006 at 9:38 am ¶
Damie_Troy wrote:
I believe in the “one ethnicity rule”.
Regardless of a person’s racial background, I will ignore it, and insists in only recognizing you as an American.
I’m just so oppressive.
Posted 18 Apr 2006 at 12:57 am ¶
merq wrote:
“but you have to realize that most people are going to see a person like Joakim Noah or Drew Gooden and see that they look different from Lebron James et al. People may not say it, but they are wondering ‘What is he mixed with?’”
Dude, where do you live? The problem with spending too much time on a forum like MMW (or, more importantly, in a “mixed” paradigm) is that your definitions of monoracials become increasingly narrow. Thus, someone with a certain skin tone, or certain features must obviously be mixed.
I’m from Nigeria, dude, and even there, where we supposedly have a much less “mixed” heritage, there are tons of people who look just like Drew Gooden… and they’re “monoracial!”
Thus, I’m a little confused by your line of reasoning.
Posted 20 Apr 2006 at 12:47 am ¶
K-Pow wrote:
Oh don’t be confused merq, dude lives in the world of “all black people look like buckwheat. Anything lighter, and you must be mixed.” Its this kind of thought that has some people classifying Jada Pickett and Will Smith as “mulattos.” As well as Allen Iverson, the late Aaliyah, Russell Simmons and just about everyone in East Africa. People who think this way are horribly ignorant. Need to take a genetics class.
Posted 21 Apr 2006 at 5:21 pm ¶
merq wrote:
Be careful, K-Pow. Don’t wanna start up the “supervillain duo” accusations again! hahaha.
Posted 21 Apr 2006 at 6:33 pm ¶
K-Pow wrote:
Oh yeah, lets not go there again!
Posted 22 Apr 2006 at 4:08 pm ¶
Dave wrote:
Unlisted,
Good to see your voice on this board.
I agree with folks on here that when it comes to promoting self-identity, one should be consistent. If Halle Berry wants to identify only as black, I’m cool with that. If Halle wanted to identify only as white, I’d be cool with that too. And if she wants to identify as white/black biracial, then she’s making the same choice as I am, of course I’m cool with that. It’s great from my perspective that these days, a lot more folks are choosing to identify as white/black biracial that share her background, like the subjects of this article. But I do think it’s best to leave it up to the individual.
I don’t agree with M. Wheatley’s approach, that there’s some “one drop law of the land”. Let’s let folks make the choices that are meaningful for themselves personally.
Posted 23 Apr 2006 at 10:32 pm ¶
Anonymous wrote:
What if Halle Berry wanted to identify as only asian?
Posted 28 Apr 2006 at 8:56 am ¶
Erin wrote:
Personally I am genetically half European and half African. However I would never identify as biracial. Sorry. Biracial means “of two races”. Both of my parents are already mulattoes. My father’s parents were mulattoes and my mohers parents were black and white. I consider myself to be of only one race, that race being mulatto. We are what we are. Once it’s blended you can’t undo it anymore. Why should you even try?
Posted 28 Apr 2006 at 9:14 am ¶
Anonymous wrote:
If you are mixed race you are mixed race not wholy black. too many people are forgetting their entire heritage-the white part. People should be proud of who they truly are, not sweep one race under the carpet like it never existed in their blood line! thats just silly! i do not see the whole big fuss you guys in the us make of being mixed of both races! in the uk we view it alot differently and are proud of it.
Posted 02 May 2006 at 3:27 pm ¶