Note: This was originally posted by Sameera Righton on Sparrowblog Thursday, May 10, 2007.
Here's something else to love or hate about the hunky golfer who refuses to identify himself by race.* Ten years ago, on Oprah, he got everybody riled up by saying, "I'm a Cablinasian." As in Caucasian-black-Indian-Asian. "I'm just who I am," Woods said, "whoever you see in front of you."
It's getting harder to label Americans by race. Take Halle Berry, for example. Or Derek Jeter. And on American Idol, when Jordin Sparks said, "I've got an average family," and a photo of her black Dad and white Mom came up, I found myself wondering if she'd say she was African-American or white, or both, or neither. (Weird note to self: they all have black Dads and white Moms ...)
People are talking race about candidates Obama and Richardson, describing them as black and Latino, but Obama's white American mother fell in love with his Kenyan father at a Hawaiian university, and Richardson has a half-white, half-Mexican father and a Mexican mother. So does that make him Latino? Even though I know it's important for the black and Hispanic communities to feel represented (hey, the day we have an Asian-ish candidate, believe me, I'm going to notice), maybe the real question to ask is whether these guys would make good Presidents.
*Technically, Tiger's 1/4 Chinese, 1/4 Thai, 1/4 Black, 1/8 Native American, 1/8 Dutch, his wife Elin is Swedish, so do the math for their babies if you care about the numbers.
Photo Source: Fifi LePew
Here's something else to love or hate about the hunky golfer who refuses to identify himself by race.* Ten years ago, on Oprah, he got everybody riled up by saying, "I'm a Cablinasian." As in Caucasian-black-Indian-Asian. "I'm just who I am," Woods said, "whoever you see in front of you."It's getting harder to label Americans by race. Take Halle Berry, for example. Or Derek Jeter. And on American Idol, when Jordin Sparks said, "I've got an average family," and a photo of her black Dad and white Mom came up, I found myself wondering if she'd say she was African-American or white, or both, or neither. (Weird note to self: they all have black Dads and white Moms ...)
People are talking race about candidates Obama and Richardson, describing them as black and Latino, but Obama's white American mother fell in love with his Kenyan father at a Hawaiian university, and Richardson has a half-white, half-Mexican father and a Mexican mother. So does that make him Latino? Even though I know it's important for the black and Hispanic communities to feel represented (hey, the day we have an Asian-ish candidate, believe me, I'm going to notice), maybe the real question to ask is whether these guys would make good Presidents.
*Technically, Tiger's 1/4 Chinese, 1/4 Thai, 1/4 Black, 1/8 Native American, 1/8 Dutch, his wife Elin is Swedish, so do the math for their babies if you care about the numbers.
Photo Source: Fifi LePew