« It’s the big fact of American life now, isn’t it? That we are patronized by our inferiors. | Main | Bill Clinton: The Early Years »
October 16, 2016
If you like your race, you can keep your race. (If it's the right race.)"
Brazil Sets Up Controversial Boards To Determine RaceIn order to "prove" that he was Afro-Brazilian, his lawyers needed to find some criteria. He went to seven dermatologists who used something called the Fitzpatrick scale that grades skin tone from one to seven, or whitest to darkest. The last doctor even had a special machine. "Apparently on my face I'm a Type 4. Which would be like Jennifer Lopez or Dev Patel, Frida Pinto or John Stamos. On my limbs I would be Type 5, which is Halle Berry, Will Smith, Beyonce and Tiger Woods," he said.
Posted by gerardvanderleun at October 16, 2016 9:51 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
It's not the color per se.
It's the features.
And the character that girds it all.
Color probably carries the least amount of weight in the multitude of issues surrounding race.
As my ol gray haired Pappy used to say, "Son, ya got yer niggas and ya got yer colored folks, and they ain't the same thing."
One will lend you a cup of sugar and the other will slice you to ribbons, unprovoked.
Posted by: ghostsniper at October 16, 2016 1:32 PM
In lower Alabamy where I live, we use the fried chicken test.
Posted by: BillH at October 16, 2016 2:06 PM
I spent 8 months in Brazil working on a government project. Brazil is about 80% black. Most of those slaves from Africa went to the Caribbean and South America, not the USA.
Posted by: Ray at October 17, 2016 8:37 AM
All the mandatory diversity trainings I have to take at my workplace point out that race is not the same thing as skin color. So I have always told my nephews and nieces that one's race is a matter of personal choice. When applying to college, you might improve your odds of getting accepted if you mark yourself down as "black". It worked for Vijay "Jojo" Chokal-Ingham, it could work for you. It definitely worked for Elizabeth Warren and Barack Obama, so why the hell not for you? And if you find that you don't like being black, you can always change it to something else. It's like your gender these days: it's all a matter of your personal choice, and anyone who tries to contradict your chosen race is a racist bigot. Keep that in mind and be vocal about it.
Posted by: Grizzly at October 17, 2016 6:49 PM
Good advice, Griz.
Posted by: Smokey at October 17, 2016 7:21 PM