Who's your daddy?
Currently there's a movement dedicated to the idea that if you are white, you are automatically a racist, right from the fertilized egg. Or maybe the egg and sperm, each. Well, somebody obviously hasn't thought of something.
If you go back 350-400 years in this country, up until the Civil War there have been slave owners. Admittedly, they were all white -- except for some American Indian tribes, such as the Cherokee, who in some cases had black slaves. And I believe there were some free black men who got rich and bought slaves of their own. As for the slaves, most were black, but some, in the earliest days, were American Indian, who were rapidly replaced by black slaves because the American Indians couldn't bear up under the burden of work and, in many cases, the heat (plantations tended to be located where there was a lot of sunshine).
But right from the beginning, either by rape or romantic involvement, there were babies born to black mothers by white men, and white mothers by black men. Not anything like as many as babies of "pure" descent, but more than anyone wanted to admit. This means that a lot of non-white people living today in this country are descendants of at least one white individual.
Let us assume, conservatively, that slavery began among whites in this part of the world about 350 years ago. If a generation is 20 years long, that works out to 17.5 generations. Most people have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents . . . 2(x-2) (great)x-grandparents. And there are no guarantees for anyone that none of those ancestors were white.
Thus potentially every native-born American at least one of whose parents was likewise native-born could well have at least one white ancestor. That means that just about anyone could be racist, including those who believe in this addlepated theory.
Now, whoever you are: prove you aren't racist.
Note: Go back 17 generations, and the number of your ancestors, assuming incest has not occurred, is 131,072. This doesn't sound like much -- today. But there were far fewer people on this continent and in South and Central America back then, and for some time, increase in numbers was mostly due to European immigrants. Numbers of black men and women were significantly lower. So the chances of having at least one white ancestor that far back is high, no matter what the color of your skin now. And so it goes down the generations, from around 1550 on, or 562 years since then -- considerably more than 17 20-year generations. Especially if you count one generation as equivalent to 15 years (women started having babies young back then). That works out to 2 to the power of 562/15 ~ 237 = 1.3743895 x 1011 ancestors (not counting incest, which would reduce the number) that far back, which is impossibly high. Just say that nearly everyone alive on this continent back then was an ancestor. Up until 1865 and for a good while afterwards, most Americans were Caucasian or Indian, and the ones who figure in here were the former. And see Jordan's note on the situation, below.
If you go back 350-400 years in this country, up until the Civil War there have been slave owners. Admittedly, they were all white -- except for some American Indian tribes, such as the Cherokee, who in some cases had black slaves. And I believe there were some free black men who got rich and bought slaves of their own. As for the slaves, most were black, but some, in the earliest days, were American Indian, who were rapidly replaced by black slaves because the American Indians couldn't bear up under the burden of work and, in many cases, the heat (plantations tended to be located where there was a lot of sunshine).
But right from the beginning, either by rape or romantic involvement, there were babies born to black mothers by white men, and white mothers by black men. Not anything like as many as babies of "pure" descent, but more than anyone wanted to admit. This means that a lot of non-white people living today in this country are descendants of at least one white individual.
Let us assume, conservatively, that slavery began among whites in this part of the world about 350 years ago. If a generation is 20 years long, that works out to 17.5 generations. Most people have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents . . . 2(x-2) (great)x-grandparents. And there are no guarantees for anyone that none of those ancestors were white.
Thus potentially every native-born American at least one of whose parents was likewise native-born could well have at least one white ancestor. That means that just about anyone could be racist, including those who believe in this addlepated theory.
Now, whoever you are: prove you aren't racist.
Note: Go back 17 generations, and the number of your ancestors, assuming incest has not occurred, is 131,072. This doesn't sound like much -- today. But there were far fewer people on this continent and in South and Central America back then, and for some time, increase in numbers was mostly due to European immigrants. Numbers of black men and women were significantly lower. So the chances of having at least one white ancestor that far back is high, no matter what the color of your skin now. And so it goes down the generations, from around 1550 on, or 562 years since then -- considerably more than 17 20-year generations. Especially if you count one generation as equivalent to 15 years (women started having babies young back then). That works out to 2 to the power of 562/15 ~ 237 = 1.3743895 x 1011 ancestors (not counting incest, which would reduce the number) that far back, which is impossibly high. Just say that nearly everyone alive on this continent back then was an ancestor. Up until 1865 and for a good while afterwards, most Americans were Caucasian or Indian, and the ones who figure in here were the former. And see Jordan's note on the situation, below.