Re: theres is no such thing as african american

Dara <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> offered this sage advice: 

: Listen Pilar there are millions of us non-blacks who have childrens
: whom in my case on their birth certificates it does not say
: AfroIranian it says BLACK! you bet I do NOT feel as an outside and I
: do PREACH because I have 5 kids running around African Americans
: saying they are part black part Persian and they see me as their
: father.

That doesn't make you an "insider". It makes you an outsider who has black 
children, or biracial, however you term them. 

How you teach your children is of course up to you. That is not a matter I 
can interfere on, nor should anyone else. However, outside of your family, 
take heed. I take heed as a woman of African ancestry, and I don't preach 
-- at least, not on this issue. 

: Yes there are many of us and we have come to claim our place in
: African American socities as parents and lovers and you should know we
: are going to scream loud and clear as I did with police detectivies,
: judges, school principals, neighbors, shop owners...

Fine. Why are you preaching at those who aren't...? It seems to me that 
you are discussing two spheres here, and the one you are criticizing isn't 
on this list. 

: So there is a toll booth evey morning, You go thru they look at you
: and say INSIDER PASS!

No, actually, they don't. I'm multiracial. Boy do I look it. I go to grad 
school on the East Coast, so I dount' "sound it". 

But those are stereotypes. I don't adhere to those. 

: then comes poor Kafou and they look at him and
: say WELL YOU HAVE BLACK SKIN BUT WITH CREOLE ACCENT AND MIX MUSHROOM
: POWDER WITH YOUR RICE THEREFORE YOU ARE OUTSIDER STOP and then I come
: and they say WELL YOU DO NO HAVE BLACK SKIN AND IN SPITE OF YOUR BLACK
: KIDS YOU ARE OUTSIDER STOP...

Yes, you are an outsider. A concerned one, and I think anyone can
appreciate that. But you are Iranian, you will never be Black in ANY way,
even if your kids are. When yo speak, it will be as an outsider. 

That's not a bad thing. What is is assuming that you need to be an insider 
to be sensitive...or your observations are somehow more legitimate because 
you are one. The things you feel and observe are all part of the 
experience of all peoples of African descent in this country. If you are 
upset about the system as a whole...address it as an American, or one who 
lives in America. 

You don't need to specify black people to address your problem. 

: There is no such toll booth and if there was I would drive through it
: to get my kids

You can't. That doesn't mean you can't care for them. 

: --DARA


--
Pilar