One Drop

How does one define black? Have you ever asked yourself that question? I certainly have. Whatever the answer is, it’s not one of those that comes rolling off the tongue effortlessly. When I proposed this question to myself I couldn’t come up with an answer that was satisfactory. What makes me black? I had to do some research. What did science have to say? Not much actually. You can’t tell from DNA. Anthropology is where we get our ideas about race but modern anthropologists will be the first to tell you what they call race is not based on science. Race is a social term, a social construct not a scientific term. Because it is a social term it can be wielded in many ways to satisfy many purposes from the benign to the malevolent. “Racism”, “race card”, “race baiting”, “miscegenation”, all these terms are rooted in subjective beliefs of race and have nothing to do with science or facts. When these words are used it is most often to shape and define a debate or conversation. It’s propaganda. It’s control. It’s a tool of authority. Census taking, job applications, loan applications, school applications, voter registration, prison populations, airline security, police profiling, immigration, legislation, and judicial decision making are processes where the subjective view of race weighs heavily on outcomes. There was a time when the weight of race was the law of the land and could be thrown around blatant without impunity. That’s the way it has been for the majority of the history of the U.S. 45 years after the Civil Rights Act we still find ourselves mired knee deep in race issues and defining race… or having race issues define us and how we live together (or not).

In post Civil War America segregation was the apparatus used to circumvent the 13th and 14th amendments which made slavery and involuntary servitude unconstitutional. Black people may have been freed but there was not liberty. In 1896 the future of black Americans for decades to come was decided by Plessey v Ferguson (state of Louisiana). In that landmark case it was ruled that states could use segregation as a way to regulate as long as there was equality (separate but equal). The irony of Plessey/Ferguson is that in today’s America Plessey would be considered white. He was what they used to call an octoroon, meaning he was 1/8 black (and 7/8 white). His case was orchestrated by a group of New Orleans citizens who wanted to challenge the legality of segregation. They believed that segregation was unconstitutional and in violation of the 13th-15th amendments which declared that all Americans would have the same rights and be treated equally under the law. Up to this point, One-Drop laws had been in effect in the southern states. The one-drop laws basically stated that if a person was 1/32 or more black they were legally black and subject to the authority of segregation laws. Race laws were always based on the implicit belief in racial superiority. Without race laws there would be no reason to legally define a person’s race. At the advent of the 20th century the United States had the choice to have an integrated country or to have a segregated country. Plessey v Ferguson went all the way to the Supreme Court where it lost 7-1 thus establishing segregation as legal under the guise of separate but equal. By 1931 the states of Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Nebraska adopted one-drop laws.

I believe that the United States today would be a much more progressive country had Plessey won and segregation was declared illegal. It certainly would be a better country for black people and other minorities. Legal segregation allowed beliefs in racial superiority and caste systems to flourish and become ingrained in our culture and society polluting the minds of Americans black and white. One of the greatest opportunities this country has ever had for progress was squandered by Plessey v Ferguson and the institution of segregation and one-drop laws. During the 58 years between Plessey v Ferguson and Brown v Board of Education racism rooted itself firmly in American culture and institutions. Segregation was the one thing that defined relations between white and black Americans more than anything else. Both sides lost. Segregation did not make the United States a better country. For white people it created a history of shame and a legacy of guilt. For black people it extended the legacy of slavery and condemned equal rights and upward mobility, stagnating growth and inducing self hatred and opened the doors to be victimized by state and civilian sponsored terrorism. The roots of the problems of the black community today go all the way back to Plessey v Ferguson. For black people it is the ultimate “what if?” question. What if we had never been legally separated? Where would we be today?

I’m sure you are familiar with the recent case of Beth Humphrey and Terence McKay who were denied a marriage license by justice of the peace Keith Bardwell in New Orleans. They were denied because Beth is white and Terence is black. Bardwell’s decision is a direct result of Plessey v Ferguson. Even though it is 2009 we can clearly see how history plays a roll in the present. Bardwell believes that the children of black and white marriages are negatively impacted by being mixed. There is no logic, science, or empirical data to support Bardwell’s actions, there is just the history of segregation. He used his authority to deny two Americans the legal right to marry each other. What’s worse is that he has been doing this for 34 years. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights is what makes America, America. It’s not our economic system, it’s not our national wealth, it’s not our military strength, it’s not our racial makeup, it’s not our religions, and it’s not our 50 states that make us American, it’s the Constitution and the Bill of Rights that makes us American. It’s what makes us unique as a country. We were founded on paper. We were founded on the most progressive ideas of humankind which have been in existence for thousands of years but rarely used to define a nation.

In 2009 two of the most globally known and respected Americans are from mixed marriages, our President Barack Obama and renowned golfer Tiger Woods. Because of the one-drop history they are considered black in the United States. Obama is just as much white as he is black and Tiger is just as much asian as he is black. It’s all a matter of perspective. In Brazil the take on one-drop is the opposite. If you are not completely black then you are considered white whereas in America if you are not completely white then you are considered black. When the human genome was mapped no indicators of race were found in our DNA. They looked for it but could not find it. It’s too bad this science was not around in the 1890’s.

I like to compare the human race to grapes and winemaking. A grape is a grape is a grape but from a grape comes many distinctly looking, smelling, and tasting wines. The main difference between white wine and red wine is that the skin is retained in the making of red wine adding pigment but the grape is basically the same. The incredible array of wines is created by the environment of the grape and how it is processed. The soil, the amount of sunlight, the range of temperature, and the amount and timing of yeasting is what defines the grape becoming wine. Human beings are born into this world with the same DNA structure and instincts. Like the grape becoming wine we are affected by the conditions we are exposed to, whether they be natural or manipulated, in becoming self actualized, independent thinking and choosing adults. I fancy cabernets, merlots, and pinots but I also fancy chardonnays, rieslings, and sauvignon blancs. If were to choose one over the other as a rule I would only be denying myself the pleasure of the enjoying all the flavors that wine has to offer. It certainly would not increase my knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of wine in its totality. Why limit myself when I don’t have to?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed

apart

I am the Negro, bearing slavery’s scar,

I am the Red man driven from his land

I am the immigrant clutching the hope I

seek-

And finding only the same old stupid plan

Of dog eat dog, or might crush weak.

O, yes,

I say it plain,

America never was America to me

And yet I swear this oath-

America will be!

Langston Hughes

Let America be America Again (1938)