Tag: Multi-racial

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Multi-Racial, by Lewis

I am actually ashamed to say that I have almost nothing worthwhile to say about the subject of racial diversity. I have heard the demographers’ predictions about the U.S. becoming a “majority minority” racial country within 30-40 years. The America I grew up with was so heterogeneously white that it was more common to see pastel linen sheets on the clothesline than it was to pass a person of color on the street. Hutchinson, Kansas, was bisected by two sets of railroad tracks. Anything south of the “lower” set of tracks might as well have been Mexico, as far as my family and friends were concerned.

One notable exception was the one black family that lived about two blocks away on the same street. Theirs was the old, white wood-sided farmhouse with the detached garage that was probably the oldest property on our long street. No doubt they were there before any of us white folk or else they wouldn’t have been at all welcome. Their kids were older and I never attended school with any of them. When I passed by, I usually paid them no mind, unless someone was in the yard and then I would stare to see what they looked like. Seemed nice enough. Had no horns that I could see.

When I was about 10, my parents paid the family’s teenage daughter to babysit me. Of all my babysitters, she is the only one I remember. I think I was feeling very uncertain of myself and stayed pretty much in my bedroom. I couldn’t think of a single thing to say to her other than, “Hi”.

All through primary and secondary school, I didn’t have a single friend of color. My elementary and junior high schools were all-white. The junior high was so white, I almost made the 9th grade basketball team. The first time I ever looked out at a group of kids my age and saw a black face was when I gave the invocation at a junior high school exchange assembly. Sherman Junior High was south of the color line.

I’m almost positive I was in high school before I ever passed a student of a different race in the hall. Rarely did I ever share a classroom with one. As I type this, it seems so dehumanizing to refer to human beings of a different color as “ones”, as if I were talking about aliens or primates. Yet, I never gave it a thought. That’s just the way the world was. Whites ruled and that’s the way God intended it.

Even in junior college and college, nothing happened to change my views on race. I was either a pre-med major or in engineering. Those are not majors whereby one was likely to sit next to a person of color in those days.

I was shaken by the Detroit riots in 1967, not because I thought the “niggers were getting uppity” but because somewhere, deep inside, I understood. How was it that I felt that way? Why wasn’t I outraged like most of my friends and the folks quoted in the newspapers? After all, wasn’t I a person who enjoyed the perks of “white privilege” (though white folk would never acknowledge such a thing existed)? When Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated the following spring, I wished the white on my skin would wash off. I saw my own race as filled with hate and spite and a sense of entitlement.

You can imagine how uncomfortable, how awkward it was for me not to know anything about what being black was like and resenting the color that I was stuck with. It was kind of like—shit, it’s just hitting me now—it was like knowing that I wasn’t attracted to the gender that I was supposed to be attracted to but instead having feelings of deep attraction for members of the gender that was “verboten”. If my friends and family knew that I was “queer”, a “homo”, a “fag”, wouldn’t they treat me as badly or even worse than if I were black?

The experience of knowing how badly people of color had been treated for centuries colored forever my perceptions of American history and the differences among the races economically, socially, and politically. My politics became almost radicalized, though the demands of school and then finding employment kept my activity to a minimum for a few years. Although I grew up in a state that was purple and is now deep red, I still cannot understand how any human being who has felt what I felt—the deep sense of rejection for what I held to be most true in the deepest recesses of my heart—could possibly vote Republican. All of those who have been victimized by prejudice by the powerful should stand shoulder-to-shoulder until such time as justice for one means justice for all.
© 13 April 2015

About the Author

I came to the beautiful state of Colorado out of my native Kansas by way of Michigan, the state where I married and I came to the beautiful state of Colorado out of my native Kansas by way of Michigan, the state where I married and had two children while working as an engineer for the Ford Motor Company. I was married to a wonderful woman for 26 happy years and suddenly realized that life was passing me by. I figured that I should make a change, as our offspring were basically on their own and I wasn’t getting any younger. Luckily, a very attractive and personable man just happened to be crossing my path at that time, so the change-over was both fortuitous and smooth. Soon after, I retired and we moved to Denver, my husband’s home town. He passed away after 13 blissful years together in October of 2012. I am left to find a new path to fulfillment. One possibility is through writing. Thank goodness, the SAGE Creative Writing Group was there to light the way.

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Multi-Racial, by Betsy

In the New Jersey
suburb where I grew up there was very little diversity in the groups of people
to whom I had any exposure.  My friends
and family, my parents friends, and most of the people in our community were
white and Christian.  Black people entered
our community to do work for the white people–always house work, child care,
or yard work.  This was the extent of my
exposure.
Later in the early
1950’s we moved to the Deep South.  My
eyes were immediately opened to not only the presence of an entire culture made
up of black people, but also to the injustices and insults that routinely were
dealt them.  In Louisiana at the time
everything was highly segregated. I have to say that the denial of access to
public services, stores, parks, recreational facilities, schools, some jobs, etc.
was indeed shocking. This was the highly valued way of life in the South, they
declared.  Always had been, and always
would be.  Everyone, white and black,
wished it to be so, I was told. Every man knew his place in that culture and
every man was content with the status quo. 
Why ever change it?  It worked for
everyone, didn’t it?
I left the Deep South
after three years in high school.  I left
for college and I deliberately chose to leave that part of the world.  I never felt like I belonged.
Given this deeply
entrenched way of life it is no wonder that when I returned to Louisiana to
attend my step-mother’s funeral two decades after the civil rights legislation
had gone into effect, I discovered that what had changed was that many public
facilities had become private, thus giving legality to excluding certain people
from entry.  One positive change,
however, that I observed was that many skilled labor positions previously reserved
only for whites were now occupied by black people.
In college as a student
of sociology I learned that there were three races. White, black, and
yellow.  Detailed studies had been done
to describe the respective features of each race.  The implication, if not the direct message,
was that each race would retain its own distinctive features, and would always
be identifiable if the individuals of each race kept to themselves.  Of course, there was no mention of any social
inequities among the three races–no mention of unequal rights.
Then came the civil
rights movement of the 1960’s.  Being
occupied as a new mother at that time, I did not become active in the movement
except for cheering for the civil rights advocates and mostly observing what
was happening.  I saw that John Kennedy
was on was I deemed to be the right side, so I switched sides and became a
Democrat.  There were Republicans on the
side of justice, too, but they were working much too slowly and not making
enough noise.  Kennedy and later LBJ, became my heroes.
When we moved to Denver
in 1970 I observed a much more multiracial society than I had seen in
Rochester, NY or anywhere else.  Blacks,
Asians, Latinos, and whites all going about their daily business together.  At least on a given day in down town Denver
it appeared that way.  We chose to live
in Park Hill neighborhood because it was an “integrated neighborhood.”  True, it was integrated to some extent.  Apparently those who did not want to live in
an integrated community had been part of the “white flight” that had taken
place years earlier.
I soon began working
for the Girl Scout Council after we became settled in Denver.  The mission of the organization at the time
was to serve the entire community. 
Although the mission was not written as such, those of us in the membership
Department knew it meant we were to change our image from a white christian
organization to that of a multiracial organization with spiritual values not
identified with any specific religion–but all inclusive.  The traditional image of the Girl Scouts is
that it is an organization for   white,
Christian women and girls.  Although in
truth, my experience has been that the organization has always been pro-active
when it comes to including all races, religions, and socio-economic
groups.  In fact, during my 22 year
career with GS Mile Hi Council, a huge part of my job was to see that the Girl
Scout experience was delivered the to girls of all ethnic, racial, and
socioeconomic groups.  For example, I
remember planning how to approach a newly established community of Vietnamese
immigrants to assure them that the Girl Scout organization welcomes their
girls.  Of course, there was no way to do
this successfully at the time.  It would
take a couple of generations before the families had any interest in joining
our ranks.
We have always had a
multiracial staff at the Girl Scouts. 
When I first hired on, my supervisor was an African-American woman.  When she left for greener GS pastures in the
National Council Office, of course I got a new boss.  This time a woman of Hispanic descent. Many
of our board members, the real bosses, and many volunteers who carry out the
programs have been women of color.  When
I became a team leader my staff was multiracial.  In fact, at one time, of the seven of us,
three were white.
My grandfather was a
reasonable man, a wise man.  However he
was a product of his generation and a bit misguided when it came to racial
issues. I remember arguing with him about the injustice of racial inequalities
in our society. My parents had instilled in me a strong sense of justice.
Because of that and, I am sure, because I was becoming sensitive to the feeling
of being different when in the minority, I could not accept my grandfather’s
ideas and had to tell him so.    For me
life was easy though.  My difference
could be hidden; it did not show up in the color of my skin. (Furthermore I had
escaped the dreaded queer-o-meter at birth.)
I have a so-called
multiracial family.  I recently came
across a photo of my daughter with her partner at the time, a black man from
Africa, and my son and his new Asian wife from China.  In another photo next to it, sits my oldest
daughter and her partner of 15 years, an African American woman who calls me
“Mom.”  My younger daughter later married
a black man from Cuba.
Let me tell you about
the importance the concept of race has for me. 
What comes to my mind when someone mentions the word “race” are the
following memorable and multiple experiences: the high school track team, NASTAR
ski racing at Winter Park, a race against my aging body on a cross country
bicycling trip, a swim-bike-run triathlon at Cherry Creek State Park, the Race
for the Cure, and the Cherry Creek Sneak.
© 16 April 2013
About the Author 
 Betsy has been active in the GLBT community
including PFLAG, the Denver women’s chorus, OLOC (Old Lesbians Organizing for
Change).  She has been retired from the
Human Services field for about 15 years. 
Since her retirement, her major activities include tennis, camping,
traveling, teaching skiing as a volunteer instructor with National Sports
Center for the Disabled, and learning. 
Betsy came out as a lesbian after 25 years of marriage. She has a close
relationship with her three children and enjoys spending time with her four
grandchildren.  Betsy says her greatest
and most meaningful enjoyment comes from sharing her life with her partner of
25 years, Gillian Edwards.
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Multi Racial by Michael King

Diversity is the characteristic of life. This is true of humanoids as well as all other life forms. Creatures that are similar tend to group themselves and are often defensive or even hostile toward beings that are different. The early humans dating back a million years seldom came into contact with the various subhuman groups that hadn’t developed the brain capacity to express wisdom and forethought and eventually became extinct. It is the focalized bones of these subhumans that have been found and incorrectly labeled as ancestors. Present day humans are in the ape family as were the various groups of unrelated subhumans.

The true humans continued slowly to evolve for about five hundred thousand years when the racial diversity occurred. There were the primary colored races, red yellow and blue and the secondary colored races, orange green and indigo. When the colored races mated with the precolored peoples the dominant genetic makeup of the colored parent was always passed on to the children. Only one group of the precolored peoples still exists as the Eskimos of northwestern North America.

The natural animosity toward beings who are different kept the racial groups somewhat separated and often in conflict when small bands encountered each other. Intermixing was rare but did occur. The half-breeds were usually discriminated against as were the captive slaves from warring groups. Trade brought together dissimilar peoples more peaceably and when the differing humans were in close contact interbreeding occurred more frequently.

Over the last five hundred thousand years the green and orange races were wiped out or to a minor extent absorbed into the more blended groups. The indigo race for the most part became isolated in sub-Saharan Africa but in northern Africa and around the Mediterranean there has been much intermixing of most of the colored races

The red race settled in northeast Asia until somewhat displaced be the yellow race, although many remained in what is now Mongolia. The Japanese is a blend of red and yellow and some of the red peoples migrated to North America. Most of the blue peoples settled Europe with considerable blending. Around thirty eight thousand years ago the violet race emerged and became blended with all but the red peoples of the Americas and the Indigo peoples of sub-Saharan Africa with the majority in northern Europe.

There are mostly multiracial peoples now on the planet and the blending of races is increasing at a rapid rate. Differences in skin color still bring about conflict when ignorance, prejudice and hatred is taught to children who pass it on to succeeding generations. In recent history there have been many examples of ethnic cleansing, vicious slaughtering and gross mistreatment of fellow humans. Greed, power and prejudice pathetically have not diminished.

I am probably as multiracial as anyone however since my more immediate ancestors came from Europe the mix of red, yellow, blue, violet and possibly orange and green mixed with the precolored peoples is also the multiracial blend of most European peoples and a large percentage of immigrants in North America. New DNA testing is showing that besides the red race there are traces of most of the colored races in the indigenous peoples of South America precluding the arrival of the Spanish five hundred years ago. The Cherokee have some of the same DNA as the Hebrews and the Incas contain DNA similar to northeast Asians. Only a small percent of DNA can be presently understood. We will have a much clearer perspective when the other ninety some percent can be analyzed and so much erroneous theories can be corrected. Most of my encounters with follow humans have been cordial and I have had warm friendships with the individuals from most racial and ethnic groups. It has been a joy to travel and in the process connect with people from a different culture and racial blend.

It is my hope and the hope of most people that we can learn to accept, respect and enjoy one another. No matter how diverse we appear we all share some of the same ancestry and exist on the same planet where we can still become ecologically kind and appreciate the magnificence of all existence.

About the Author

I go by the drag name, Queen Anne Tique. My real name is Michael King. I am a gay activist who finally came out of the closet at age 70. I live with my lover, Merlyn, in downtown Denver, Colorado. I was married twice, have 3 daughters, 5 grandchildren and a great grandson. Besides volunteering at the GLBT Center and doing the SAGE activities,” Telling your Story”,” Men’s Coffee” and the “Open Art Studio”. I am active in Prime Timers and Front Rangers. I now get to do many of the activities that I had hoped to do when I retired; traveling, writing, painting, doing sculpture, cooking and drag.

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Multi-racial by Merlyn


Some of the most
attractive people I have known are Multi-racial, but that doesn’t guarantee
they will have good looking kids. 
I used to know a white
girl that married a guy from somewhere in Asia. They had two girls. Even though
they both looked like their parents, one of them was gorgeous and the other one
was very unattractive.
One of the kids I went to
school with had an Indian father who was always drunk and a white mother and a bunch
of brothers and sisters.
I used to deliver the
Detroit Times newspaper to his house in the afternoon when I was a kid and we
were in the same grade.
The thing I remember the
most about him was that his father raised guinea pigs in a spotless new white
garage at the end their driveway. The walls were lined with shiny cages full of
guinea pigs; it was always spotless. I never noticed any odor when I was around
the garage. His father would be sitting in a chair drinking beer bossing his
kids around as they keep everything clean waiting for when I got there with the
paper.
On Saturday I would have
to go to the front door to collect the money for the paper. They lived in a
dirty little house that was falling apart. I would have to breathe though my
month the stench was so bad while waiting for her to count out the sixty cents
in change for the week’s paper. 
He grew up in one of the
worst home environments I can imagine, but he just seemed to have something
inside of him that helped him turn into one of the most popular kids in school.
The last time I saw him he was married had kids and lived in a nice new house. He still had that sparkle in his eyes.
I don’t think it matters
that much what race or races a person is. Some people will rise above any obstacle
and other people will have every break handed to them and will blow every opportunity
and be miserable all of their lives.
I try not pay attention to
what race people are, if I like them I tend to just see them as someone I like
and forget their race or multiracial background. 


© 14 April 2013 

About the Author

I’m a retired gay man now living in Denver Colorado with my partner Michael. I grew up in the Detroit area. Through the various kinds of work I have done I have seen most of the United States. I have been involved in technical and mechanical areas my whole life, all kinds of motors and computer systems. I like travel, searching for the unusual and enjoying life each day.