Re: Amerind an offensive term (was: Early Amerind assimilation
Stephen Barnard (steve@megafauna.com)
Fri, 02 Aug 1996 06:03:15 -0800
Mary Beth Williams wrote:
>
> For some reason in the US we don't see it as an issue
> when people of African-American/white parentage view themselves as
> *black*.
>
I, for one, find this practice to be extremely odd. It used to be the
case in many states that anyone with at least 1/8 Negro ancestry was
considered Negro, and was subject to all the injustices that implied.
Now it seems to be common practice, among both "blacks" and "whites", to
assume that anyone with the slightest indentifiable trace of black
ancestry is black. It appears that either:
1. Negro ancestry is treated as a "polutant", corrupting anything it
touches, or
2. Negro ancestry is treated as a "redemption", washing away the sins of
one's white ancestors.
Either stance is, ipso facto, racist.
Steve Barnard
|