14 Let Love Rule

“We are not separate tribes of Latinos and whites and blacks in America,We’ve all mingled, and we have done so for generations” Edward Ball, -Slaves in the Family.

It seems that the whole topic of interracial dating & marriage has come back to surface with recent events in Louisiana & now the possible pardon of Jack Johnson.

We can’t forego the irony that it is a White Republican, John McCain who has been championing the pardon of Jack Johnson & now he has to beg for the pardon from a Black President, who is the product of this same interracial dating that needs pardoning! Oh Irony! Now if Pres. Obama doesn’t give the pardon does it mean he is condemning his own birth?

I decided to write this blog because of a post I read by someone of bi-racial lineage in reference to the pardoning of Jack Johnson with the title “Stay away from White woman”. Perhaps the title was just for provocation sake since he obviously felt Jack Johnson should be pardoned, but at the same time felt he should have stayed away from White woman because that act was what put him in jail. I find it interesting & full of irony that throughout Black history those who have pumped their fists the hardest for Black power have been on the lighter shade of Black or have dated/married interracially: Malcolm X, Angela Davis, Bobby Seale, Minister Farrakhan etc. I have many bi-racial friends who are against interracial dating, which I find extremely odd because they are a product of it & I am sure they would not be championing the White judge in Louisiana, who denied a black man & a white woman their constitutional right to be married in 2009 because he had some warped concern for their future children & what they would have to face in our very racially confused & obsessed world. We all need to be very careful in how we approach & discuss race because you can’t condone one thing & then condemn it for your own convenience because karma is real. We all, regardless of race & even education level have perpetuated the same type of thinking & rhetoric that the judge in Louisiana is proud of perpetuating in one way or the other. We have all found a way to be proud of or justify the same rhetoric at one time or another. This is far from a post-racial America or even a post racial world at that, but in my many travels around the world I find this disdain for interracial coupling more prevalent in America than many other nations I have been to. I always shake my head when I hear Americans of all races acting so shocked about the behavior that the judge in Louisiana perpetuated when it is very much a behavior amongst us all in our homes, neighborhoods & nation. We always try to sweep it under the rug, but eventually when too much dirt is collected under the rug, we have to lift it up & clean it in order to level the rug, so we are not tripping over the bumps created by the piled up dirt. We can’t be selective in the information we give both in our setbacks & progress. In the past I have had to call out my bi-racial friend who made a rude comment when a black man came into a restaurant with his white girlfriend, even though my friend has blue eyes, curly blonde hair, is a product of a white mother & a black father & was raised by her white mother. The irony many years later after this incident is that she is now in a loving relationship with a white man after never believing she could date a White man.

After seeing & having a dialogue about the disturbingly harsh video below of a Black man’s view of the so called “strong Black woman” losing Black men to White woman, I advised my Italian-American friend who is about to have a child with a Black man to recognize that their child will be categorized as Black, so it is their responsibility to teach, share & have their child own all of his/her history. My bi-racial friend, who is about to have a child with a White man still doesn’t see anything wrong with seriously & jokingly saying that she is a little racist against White people . Perhaps this is the confusion or discourse the judge in Louisiana was addressing in denying the interracial marriage on the basis of concern for their offspring as he stated because how can one who is bi-racial see it as OK to be a little racist against her own & how does that transfer to her children? The same way that my friend can justify saying or feeling a little bit racist against White people is probably the same way this judge in Louisiana can justify what most of us see as being a little or a lot racist against interracial couples. This is why I say we have to be careful about how we address, speak on & act on the topic of race. Why can we make an exception for one form of racism while condemning the other? There seems to be a lot of confusion in the world & we need to confront, address & move on from the issue of race as human beings. In actuality by historical definition spawned from slavery, even 1 drop of black makes one black, so I guess most of the world should be categorized as Black -so let’s all move on in our collective global blackness-LOL!

I just found out a few days ago the that even Angela Simmons (daughter of Rev. Run from Run DMC) has been getting all sorts of ignorant people chiming in on her life via the internet because she has chosen to date a white guy. Seriously people why does who someone else mingles with or lays down with has to concern you so much to the point of hatefulness & sometimes even violence or is it just a camouflage for self hate?

http://globalgrind.com/content/1085630/Rise-Above-The-Hate/

We are living in a globally fused type of world whether we like it or not, by economics, by borders & by love, so in the words of my beautiful bi-racial brother Lenny Kravitz “we got to let love Rule”!

There are countless videos on you-tube on race & race relations from all points of view. I have collected some to show the rhetoric , divide & commonalty on all sides so we can all see the part we play in a world of racial confusion by which we live & we choose to focus on instead of focusing on our human commonality & forward movements & thinking as human beings.

http://www.racialicious.com/2009/10/06/lou-jing-china-and-expressions-of-racism-online/

Controversy arose in China’s show when it was declared that the pop star was half black