What's Your Ethnic Background? The answer might surprise you...

[wabishtar]

OK, so I'm watching an episode of "The Colbert Report" that I recorded while I was away, and he has on this woman, Debra J. Dickerson, who says that Barak Obama isn't really black, because he's not descended from former slaves. Never mind the fact that he's still visibly black, and I'm certain he had to still put up with prejudice, since not even

Comments

[wabishtar]

OK, that log is crazy, but it's not the SAME type of crazy logic. Her logic basically goes that shared cultural history equals race, and biology has nothing to do with it. Your explanation gave an insane hypothetical about how you might have a black ancestor, but it didn't say anything about your cultural past. For an example, look elsewhere in this Livejournal's comments for Rob's history, and the explanation of why he's a Native American. For another example, we've already established that I'm not white, so what am I? Well, I'm Irish, and the Irish are a people who've been persecuted by every major power of Europe for the past 2,000 years, they've been driven across the world in a dispora when a foreign power conquered their land, they are a deeply religious and intellectual people, and they have only recently regained the ability to govern their own land, and since then it has been rife with terrorism. Looking at those facts, I'm obviously Jewish. That's how the game is played. Shared cultural experience. You can take another crack at it, if you want.