I Am Not Black

Northern European through and through.

By sending my saliva to be analyzed I discovered I had a gene that made me more readily metabolize caffeine. Which went a long way toward explaining why my siblings and I have been impervious to the effects of caffeine all of our lives.

I wrote about this in my essay “Me and Caffeine”.

But the reason I spent the hundred dollars to have my DNA analyzed was that I was curious whether I had a shred of Native American blood in me. (Yep, I know. Yet another characteristic I share with Elizabeth Warren). Throughout my life, due to my darker skin tones, inability to grow a real beard, Jim Thorpe-like athletic prowess and hawkish nose, other people have speculated that I might be some part Native American. It was a reasonable speculation especially since my mother’s ancestry was unknown to the family.

My mother was an adopted child in rural Mississippi. (Before my siblings chime in, I consider all of Mississippi to be rural including its largest cities.)

Being an adopted child in the state of Mississippi, as far as I am concerned, is explanation enough for why her ancestry might have been lost to the sands of time.

What I discovered through my DNA analysis and profile, (assuming it’s actually based on science and not one part con, one part science and one part theatrics), was that I am almost entirely of Northern European heritage. There was a smidgeon of DNA from the Basque region between Spain and France but, other than that, I am a descendant of the pasty white people of the British Isles.

I also would not have been surprised if some of my DNA originated from Africa. I have the birth certificate to prove I was born in rural Hattiesburg, Mississippi, dubious ancestry, dark features and a propensity to over use “y’all”. But then there’s the zero ‘hops’ - meaning I tried high jumping in high school but I could never clear the entry bar.

And few people are more earthbound than I was on the basketball court.

I ‘present’ as white. A white who tans well. And the DNA backs this up. As such I can not know a Black person’s experience in America. But it is clear that no matter what our fellow Black citizens do, no matter how hard they try to assimilate or insulate themselves, they will be met with fear, disdain, unease, suspicion and/or violence.

Having a Black person as a friend is not enough to have any idea of their American experience and it certainly does not disqualify you from being racist.

I don’t need statistics, the FBI or the Southern Poverty Law Center to tell me there is a resurgence of racial animus in America. I’ve seen more Confederate battle flags in the past four years than I ever saw growing up. It’s fitting the people least capable of dealing with diversity have adopted the swastika and the Confederate emblem for their ‘Stop the Steal’ rallies.

Two failed efforts to install hatred on a pedestal.

I think those of us in direct opposition to autocratic rule and wiping your ass with the Constitution should start identifying as “antira” - as a play on antifa. Because, then, the Proud Jackasses, and the proudest jackass of them all who still resides in the White House - for now - and their like, would have to go on record as being opposed to people who are calling themselves anti-racist. Perhaps it would bring them a little further out in the open.

I have no delusions that it would actually change anything, I just think it would be rich hearing them publicly shouting their distaste for ‘Antira’. And then claiming they themselves were not racist in the least bit.

I’ve said all of this in so many other words, so many other times, but I feel the need to keep revisiting it, fleshing it out, looking at it in a slightly different angle. Systemic racism is real. Voting issues are real. I happen to think allowing unfettered access so Black voters could express their opinions via voting would go a long way toward knocking the foundations out from under systemic racism.

And the voter suppression issues are painfully obvious. The laws of Jim Crow are alive and well. They have morphed, out of necessity, but they are nearly as effective. Black voters mattered in this election but, in many places, they figuratively made Black voters crawl across cut glass to vote.

From the ACLU:

• Seventy percent of Georgia voters purged in 2018 were Black. 

• Across the country, one in 13 Black Americans cannot vote due to disenfranchisement laws.

• One-third of voters who have a disability report difficulty voting.

• Only 40 percent of polling places fully accommodate people with disabilities. 

• Across the country, counties with larger minority populations have fewer polling sites and poll workers per voter.

From the USA Today (or, as I like to call it, the Useless Today):

• Armed people showing up at polls

• Voters with Black Lives Matters shirts denied the right to vote

• False robocalls and mailers

• Ballot Drop boxes set on fire

You may have heard of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It’s purpose was to protect minority voter’s rights at the polls. If I remember correctly, this is the Act LBJ signed knowing - as a Democrat - he would be handing the South over to the Republicans for generations to come. And, that is exactly what happened.

The Voting Right Act was dealt a serious blow in 2013 by the U.S. Supreme Court when they basically decided to let states (or, more accurately, voting jurisdictions) determine the stipulations for voting and the jurisdictions no longer had to clear these rules with the Department of Justice to show they did not have a discriminatory purpose or effect. A bipartisan Voting Rights Advancement Act, that would address this issue and go a long way to ameliorating much of the blatant voter suppression, has been quagmired in Congress since 2015.

You can imagine why. His first name rhymes with bitch.

In 2016, 14 states - due to the 2013 Supreme Court ruling - instituted new voting restrictions for the first time. These 14 states made it more difficult, not less difficult, to vote. Interesting. Makes you wonder if that had any affect on the 2016 outcome.

Hmmmmm…….Interesting

This is one of those subject matters - the Voters Rights Advancement Act - you can put in your hopper to pester your representatives periodically. Like, once a month, a reminder that it is an issue that needs to be taken up.

It’s as good a place to start as any.

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Betsy Brown’s column titled Careful, about not letting your guard down on the pandemic, is a good one to read today - especially with the holidays around the corner.

Also, Moscow Never Sleeps’ analysis of our newest Supreme Court justice is well worth the read. How to Fix the Supreme Court, Part Three: A is for Amy - Enjoy!