Daddy's House (or Knowing Who
Your True Friends Really Are)

by James A. Landrith, Jr.
September 1997

Those of us involved in the movement towards adding a multiracial category with racial sub-identifiers to the census and other forms that collect racial data are parents of multiracial children, multiracials ourselves or just dedicated to ending the oppression levied by the government and civil rights organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Council of LaRaza (NCLR).

These civil rights organizations have taken a hard line approach against multiracials and don't want to see a multiracial category. Their attitude is rooted in the one-drop rule, an old standby of racial separatists like the Ku Klux Klan, that states that if you have any black ancestors, then you are black and only black, so get over it. These organizations use the one-drop rule to "stack the deck" or artificially inflate their numbers. But they are not alone. Another participant in the racial Jihad on multiracials are white Members of Congress with apologetic attitudes for actions committed by their ancestors. This attitude is fine as a personal choice, but to force multiracials into one-drop compliance based on self-guilt for things their ancestors may or may not have done is disgusting and revolting. Yet another combatant in the war on multiracials are certain black Members of Congress who wish to keep in the good graces of the NAACP by telling multiracials to grow up and just be black. Jim Crow is alive and well in America and he has an NAACP membership.

On May 22, 1997, Harold McDougall, the Washington Director of the NAACP testified at a Congressional hearing on this topic and went on record about feeling uncomfortable about a 12-year old multiracial child (who also testified at the hearing) having the right to self-identify, because his own son could be mistaken for multiracial. Ah, we get to the heart of the matter, or let the black cat out of the bag, so to speak. An overwhelming portion of this campaign of resistance has been fueled by black elitists and their discomfort with accepting their own multiracial heritage and by Latinos who don't admit their African roots. The basic underlying reason for this opposition stems from the fact that most black Americans have white ancestors and that is an uncomfortable thing to think about. Acknowledging multiracials means coming to grips with a heritage they may want to leave buried. If multiracials get the category, then a basic belief of many in the black community will be shattered. Better to leave that white ancestors thing alone, than admit the truth. So the Office on Management and Budget (OMB) and the Interagency Committee for the Review of the Racial and Ethnic Standards (tasked with providing a recommendation for the collection of racial data for the next census) decided to ease their discomfort and instead stick it to the multiracial community. Who's gonna know? After all, only black people are qualified to discuss matters of race in this country, so no one else cares. Right?

It's time brothers and sisters. It's time to go all out against this racial onslaught against our families and ourselves. The longer we roll over and take it, the longer it will continue. The NAACP and NCLR are rejoicing in the knowledge that they got their way with the Interagency Committee and the OMB. This can be remedied, but you have to start getting vocal and stop treating the civil rights community like strict parents who are going to punish you for stepping over the racial line. They already have.

You are of age. Declare your racial independence and move out of Daddy's house. He's only keeping you around for the tax deduction anyway. Sure, he might get angry, he'll certainly call you names, he already has, but in the end you'll be able to call yourself by your own name - multiracial.

James Landrith is the notorious editor and publisher of The Multiracial Activist and The Abolitionist Examiner, two cyber-rags dedicated to freedom from oppressive racial categorization. Landrith can be reached by email at: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or at his personal website/blog.

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7/97 Letter to the Editor

July 1997

Dear Editor:

I am writing regarding the current movement to add the term multiracial or multiethnic to all government forms that collect racial data. On February 25, 1997, Representative Thomas E. Petri (R-WI-6) introduced H.R. 830, legislation that would accomplish this task.

This is, at best, a very contentious issue for multiracials and civil rights organizations and at worst an extremely divisive and heated tempest that would "deny justice to the very people who are the objects of current and past discrimination". Unfortunately, the best case scenario is not the one in play. "Civil rights" organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and Members of Congress, such as Representative Danny K. Davis (D-IL-7) have taken a hardline against this movement, attacking their logic, motives, and racial/ethnic identity. They argue that adding a new racial category to the census or other forms that collect racial data could/would provide inaccurate racial data and have adverse affects on civil rights enforcement, entitlements, etc. Unfortunately, the data currently collected is inaccurate. People who have multiple races in their heritage are multiracial, not black, not white, not Asian/Pacific Islander, and not Native American/Eskimo. Anytime you use "one drop of blood" to classify an entire human being, you're going to have inaccurate results. These "civil rights" organizations are not interested in collecting accurate data, they are interested in preserving their power and denying multiracials the right to be who they are genetically. The groups fear that adding a multiracial category to government forms would mean that there was a new kid on the block (maybe even a competitor, who may not necessarily toe their party line). Fear and Jim Crow-itis appear to be the real motivation behind the opposition's arguments. The big specter of unchecked and undocumentable racism that would occur as a result of adding a multiracial/multiethnic category has been repeated so many times it has become their mantra. Multiracials and interracial families/couples are not magically immune to racism and discrimination. Unfortunately, we get it from all sides, especially black. Currently, it's the NAACP, NCLR, racist Members of Congress and the like who are the loudest proponents of this kind of racism. Currently, the NAACP, who fought tirelessly to end segregation is promoting the one-drop theory. The NAACP and other black leaders start with objections, supposedly based on data collection, but always regress to charges of denying your blackness, wanting to be white or other bizarre remarks such as Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC-Del) and Danny K. Davis (D-IL-7) did on May 22nd at a recent Congressional hearing on this topic. The NAACP and other civil rights leaders need to get a grip, not everything race related is about black vs. white. This movement is for all multiracial people, not just those who are black and white.

It's time to end the lunacy and racial schizophrenia engulfing our country. Contact your Member of Congress and tell them to support H.R. 830 and put a stop to government denial of multiracial/multiethnic people. Just refuse to let the NAACP and the NCLR tell you who you are or make you pick your race based on Jim Crow ideology.

Sincerely,

James A. Landrith, Jr. - Alexandria, VA

Personal contact information (not to be published):

P.O. Box 8208, Alexandria, VA 22306-8208, Home: XXX-XXX-XXXX unlisted, Work: XXX-XXX-XXXX, email: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

James Landrith is the notorious editor and publisher of The Multiracial Activist and The Abolitionist Examiner, two cyber-rags dedicated to freedom from oppressive racial categorization. Landrith can be reached by email at: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or at his personal website/blog.

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7/97 Open Letter to Congress

July 1997

Dear (Senator or Representative):

A time of racial healing and reconciliation is upon us. Race has become a big issue again and has captured the country's attention. With that in mind, I would like to discuss a group often overlooked, the children of multi/inter-racial unions. I am writing you as the father of two multiracial children.

Currently, government and state forms which ask for race, with the exception of Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio, require multiracial children and adults to either pick one parent's race (demeaning and incorrect) or mark "other" (also demeaning) on forms that collect information on racial classifications, rather than being allowed to pick multiracial or multiethnic..

Representative Thomas E. Petri WI-6 has introduced legislation, H.R. 830, to rectify this problem. I am asking for your support in introducing or co-sponsoring legislation in the Senate which will achieve this goal. The full text of H.R. 830 is attached below. Your support in this effort will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Sincerly,

James A. Landrith, Jr.

105th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 830

To amend chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, popularly known as the Paperwork Reduction Act, to require that collections of information that ask a respondent to specify a racial classification or ethnic classification from among a list of classifications shall provide an opportunity for the respondent to specify, respectively, `multiracial' or `multiethnic'.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 25, 1997

Mr. PETRI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight

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A BILL

To amend chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, popularly known as the Paperwork Reduction Act, to require that collections of information that ask a respondent to specify a racial classification or ethnic classification from among a list of classifications shall provide an opportunity for the respondent to specify, respectively, `multiracial' or `multiethnic'.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE OPPORTUNITY TO SPECIFY `MULTIRACIAL' OR `MULTIETHNIC', RESPECTIVELY, AS RACIAL OR ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION.

(a) IN GENERAL- Section 3507 of title 44, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

`(k) The Director may not approve a collection of information that would request or direct a respondent to specify a racial classification from among a list of racial classifications, or an ethnic classification from among a list of ethnic classifications, the approval of such a collection of information by the Director shall not be inferred, and an agency shall not sponsor or conduct such a collection of information, unless the list provides an opportunity for the respondent to specify `multiracial', in the case of a list of racial classifications, or `multiethnic', in the case of a list of ethnic classifications.'.

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE- The amendment made by subsection (a) shall take effect January 1, 1998.

James Landrith is the notorious editor and publisher of The Multiracial Activist and The Abolitionist Examiner, two cyber-rags dedicated to freedom from oppressive racial categorization. Landrith can be reached by email at: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or at his personal website/blog.

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