Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 10:32:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: D. M. Robinson
Subject: Letter to the Editor
After reading the different points of view found on Your letters the the Multiracial Activist I find myself having to look “down” to see exactly where I stand. I too, am a father of multifacial children.
Some readers on your find page find that the “one drop” rule is outdated and is not accurate? I agree. However, am I to understand that you believe ethnicity should be based on our outward appearance? I did not find any “Editor’s Retort” in reference to the proprosed “Quadramore” race found in one of the letters posted. Can your silence mean that you are in agreement to something of this nature for your own and other multi-racial people?
If appearances don’t fall into this new system of catagoration then is it simply “claim what you please”? I have, two generations back, an American Indian Great-Grandmother and on my fathers side, a Great Grandmother of European descent, and yet, any casual observer would opined that I am black. So how would I be classified? I feel that I may be pretty typical of many blacks of this country who have a genealogy of more than a few generations. My three children (two daughters and a son), although easily recognizable as siblings, range in color from “Light-skinned, to north of a paperbag, to just south of the proverbal paperbag. All have have fairly straight hair. What are they? Do they join in allegience with other multiracial individuals and form one race? What is the terminal learning objective of the “Multiracial Activist”? What’s the bottom line.
Up until the present I had always felt that people like you just served to cause divisions. Creating a cause for career, monetary or political gain. My rational had always been to teach my children to “check the black box” when asked. I feel that our country’s past history has always and will always continue to typecast as it has since it’s begining. I now stand on the fence awaiting your well thought out and researched findings. If like many you have a cause with no real goal in mind then I will simply resort to my previous stance. It would be to my chagrin to have you respond with a snide remark, or worse, no anwser as you have my family’s attention.
P.S: If nothing else, KUDOS are in order for you putting your feet to your beliefs (Re: Editors Notes F. Simmons)
Editor: Unfortunately I don’t have time to respond to every crank. If you don’t see a response from me, that does not imply approval. Sometimes, I publish stuff and let the readers take it apart.