"Mr. Gelobter, a 38-year-old professor of environmental policy at Rutgers University, said that claiming a multiracial identity would link him to a bitter, freighted history of privilege for blacks who could cite some white lineage."

This is a quote from a New York Times article describing why the aforementioned Mr. Gelobter, who is of mixed race and said so in the article, will identify himself as "black" only on the upcoming Census. Well, there are several questions burning in my head here, but I'll narrow them down. Foremost is: WHAT privilege? Can anyone define or document this "privilege" for "blacks" with "white" lineage? I don't mean anecdotal evidence; I mean HARD statistical evidence. Nope. Can't document it. Why not? Because, in polite American society, up until recently, mixed race people did not exist. Non existence. What a privilege.

Maybe he sees this "privilege" as an insidious one coming from the unavoidable even unconscious, perception of mixed people having "lighter" skin or "keener" features, or "good" hair. I remember reading an academic paper that mentioned how wives of slaveowners would shear off all the hair of mixed race slave women, so these women would not be attractive to their husbands. What a privilege.

Perhaps he means that mixed folks enjoy some special status in the African American community. In the experience of many, that status consists of being alternately admired or despised by the small but vocal contingent of people of African descent who are self-loathing. Try being approached by many a black man, telling them you are flattered, but spoken for, and having them ask "Well, do you have any sisters?"

Answering "No. I don't" and getting back: "Well, do you have any cousins?"

"Everybody has cousins."

"But do they look like you? I like 'em yellow with 'good' hair."

Oh, I'll just run to my family members with these guys for potential spouses. So advantaged.

Admittedly, even in the antebellum South, there have been "privileges" for folks of mixed lineage. It is frequently documented that white men often showed favoritism to their own slave offspring, freeing them and even leaving them money and property on occasion. If one looks up old census documents one can often see a pattern of literate "mulattoes" married to illiterate "blacks." What is not recognized, however, is the suffering and indignity that often went into the acquisition of those superficially blended characteristics. Rape, either statutory or outright, is conventionally regarded as one of the ways this happened in the past. Yes, relationships existed that were interracial and mutually loving, but they were forced to be clandestine and fraught with danger and fear. In modern times, if one has a parent with both high social and economic status, that will advantage the offspring. Color, though, is not the only advantage a person can enjoy. Ask poor whites.

Presently, mixed race people are told they are warmly welcomed into the "black" community, but this is an oversimplification of the feelings of an entire group of people towards them. Because keeping as many people "black" as possible was financially/socially/politically profitable for whites, mixed race individuals were foisted upon the people of African descent as much as "welcomed" by them. The black community is certainly greatly populated by people who are accepting of all kinds, but it also has a small cadre of individuals who are extremely resentful towards and unaccepting of mixed people. People like this make a mission of pointing out a multiethnic person's differences and making them uncomfortable. Being a "sore thumb" is painful, having salt rubbed into you is excruciating.

To quote a popular musical: "Ain't no party baby."

Enforcement of civil rights laws is not dependent on the numbers on the Census. We enforce civil rights laws when they apply to groups smaller then the "black identified" one. Currently, every other "racial/ethnic" minority is smaller than "black" in this country. They all have the same rights to avail themselves of legal remedies to discrimination as people of African descent have. African American politicos cling to one drop theory as a source of security, a signal they not stepping out of their politically expedient grouping. Every person of color is in danger in white racist society. Some people who are not of appreciable color are as well. Like the Jewish pre-schoolers shot at the community center in Los Angeles. Only the African lineage group wraps itself in the thinking of racists as a means of "protection" from it. The belief seems to be "Stay in the place 'they' want you to and 'they' won't hurt you anymore". But "they" will. There is no long-term advantage in denying aspects of who you are. Personal reconciliation is a source of spiritual strength that cannot be replaced -- not by political clout, not by social acceptance, not by anything.

If the "privileges" of having "white" lineage are substantial and real (we may never know, not if mixed people claim they are exclusively "black" on the very devices used to gather data about people), then they are advantages individuals like Mr. Gelobter receive every day of their lives and cannot be "atoned" for by contributing to the creation of a statistically inaccurate Census.

It does keep less significantly, or unmixed, people of African ancestry from finding out if the advantages truly exist, though. Hmmmmm.

Also by Eleanora Hill:

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