2.20.2010

it's complicated

someone posted this on facebook yesterday.

overall, it's beautifully written. i think the sentiment is sincere.

but it also assumes a level of choice that many communities of color do not/did not have in the "creolization" of themselves.

in other words, a modern day jewish woman's decision to marry a hindu man--both of you knowing your extended family histories--is a little different than the hows and whys surrounding the reasons native americans/1st nations, black folks, and latin@s exist in a variety of shades and hair textures.

and by a "little" different, i mean a lot.

it's difficult for me to allow the author to explain that away--however poetically--to solidify her child's multi-ethnic identity, even as i agree that, in her family's case, "no such thing as half" is relatively true.

her daughter can be everything at once because it's now.

born 60, 70--even 20 or 30 years ago, depending--she would have been jewish. period.  and her mormon dad probably would have had an awfully hard way to go.

i'm also assuming that, phenotypically, the author, her husband and daughter present as white/european-descended.  how many people--outside of her spiritual spheres--are going to ask her if she's "half" anything?

see how fuzzy that gets? 

what do y'all think when you read this?

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