Americans Are One Race with Members of Many Colors

Media are perpetuating racism by falsely claiming color divides us into different races.

Jesse Washington has reported that many dark skinned Americans recognize that they are not "African" Americans in spite of what some racists say.

 The term "African-American"  perpetuates the  principle tenet of Southern racism:  "part black, all black" under the "one drop rule".  

Those who use the term are in effect segregating  Americans with dark complexions from the rest of the population they may be related to.   Those who use the term believe that those with dark complexions should only be able to claim their African ancestors and should forget about ancestors who came from Europe, North America or Asia even if most of a person's ancestors came from places other than Africa.

The media in particular apply the term indiscriminately to any American with a dark complexion. For example, they call golfer Tiger Woods "African American" even though his ancestry is predominately Asian.  His mother is Asian and his father had Asian as well as African and American Indian ancestors.

Dr. Martin Luther King dreamed of a day in which  color would not be important.  Unfortunately, the media along with many politicians and black leaders are still preoccupied with skin color.

Members of the media still falsely claim that differences in skin color among Americans indicate a racial difference.  Perhaps there is an European "race" that is white and an African "race" that is black, but if there is an American race it is red and yellow, black and white.  We Americans are a mixture of peoples from all parts of the world.

As the Lakota say, Aho Mitakuye Oyasin (We Are All Related)   regardless of the color of our skin.     

The fact that a person has dark skin doesn't mean a majority of ancestors came from Africa. Dark skin only means a person received  one or more of the half dozen skin color related genes that produce "black" skin from an African ancestor.   For example, dark complexioned singer Eartha Kitt  told talk show host Dick Cavett that her father was white and her maternal grand father was Cherokee.

Some of the genes associated with dark complexion are also present in persons from other parts of the world, especially India and Australia.  The versions of the skin color genes that cause dark skin are dominant genes which means if a person has a dark version of the gene, complexion will be dark even if the other gene is associated with light skin.   Incidentally, the African gene pool includes the albino gene  which means some residents of Africa have pale skin.

Calling black Americans African-Americans denies them the opportunity to claim their European (especially Irish) and North American ancestry.  The first Africans  in the English colonies worked with the Irish in  the fields and occasionally became sexually involved with them. In some cases planters deliberately forced Irish women to have children by African men to produce children of a desired complexion. Later, Irish overseers and plantation owners sometimes offered favors for sex or just raped slaves.

Until the 1960's Southern white men could rape black women without fearing punishment.    Some black women voluntarily had sex with white employers or their sons.  Former Sen. Strom Thurman fathered a daughter by his parent's 16-year-old housekeeper when he was a young man.   Young southern women were told that if their good night kisses were too passionate, their boyfriends might seek sexual satisfaction in the black community.

Some black Americans can trace their ancestry back to President Thomas Jefferson and his virtual wife Sally Hennings.   DNA tests confirmed the claim that Sally Hennings descendants were also descendants of  Thomas Jefferson.  The tests examined the "Y" chromosome which is passed from father to son. 

A test of the "Y" chromosome of Martin Luther King III indicates that he and his civil rights leader father Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had a north European male ancestor  like about 33% of black American males.

The Spanish who established colonies in South Carolina, Florida and Georgia in the 16th Century using African slaves were less likely than the British to bring wives and instead used their slaves for sexual satisfaction.  The French in Louisiana also had a shortage of white women.  The French, unlike the English, even used terms indicating the proportion of African and European ancestry.

African slaves of the Spanish started a long association with the original inhabitants of North America that continued in the British colonies.  The Africans left behind when Spain withdrew from Florida joined with the Seminoles.  In the English colonies the Cherokees and some other tribes socialized with the Africans, gave refuge to runaway slaves or had African slaves of their own. 

Many white  Americans, including former President Warren G. Harding, have African ancestors.  Some believe as many as four other white presidents had African ancestors.  After the "Roots Miniseries" many whites who researched their family histories were  surprised to find ancestors who served in the military who had a "C" after their names for "colored".

Most whites with African ancestors probably don't even know it because their African ancestors whose skin was light enough to pass for white covered up their past.  It would only take a few generations of people with mixed parentage to have descendants with skin light enough to pass for white.  If only one gene were involved, the math of inheritance would indicate that if two parents each had one black parent and one white parent approximately 25% of their children would have white skin.  The math is more complicated with the involvement of multiple genes, but  the probability of some light skinned children increases with each generation.
  
Racists  sometimes suggest that black males  have a greater propensity for violence especially against women and falsely ascribe that characteristic to their African ancestors.   If some  black men actually have a genetic tendency to commit rape and murder it would be far more likely that they inherited the gene from a white male ancestor who raped one of their black female ancestors than that they inherited it from an African male ancestor.

Another popular stereotype is that blacks have "rhythm"  which they are supposed to have inherited from their African ancestors.  Although the slaves' African heritage would have influenced their music, it seems more likely that the social and biological association with the musically oriented Irish would be more responsible for the black emphasis on music. 

The Irish responded to the repressive treatment by the English through musical expression.  They would have passed that tradition along to the Africans whom they initially worked with as "indentured servants" and later supervised after black slavery was established.  The slaves blended their Irish and African traditions with their own situation.  They concentrated on expressing themselves through music because their oppressors didn't allow other ways to "fight" their situation.    Watch Irish groups like Riverdance and Celtic Woman and then say that black Americans could only have gotten "rhythm" from African ancestors.

The first  African "servants" arrived in Jamestown in 1619 only 14 years after the founding of the settlement.  During the two centuries of the Atlantic slave trade only about 500,000 additional Africans were imported into North America.   Britain led the way to ending the Atlantic slave trade in 1807 and the United States quickly followed to outlaw the importation of slaves without prohibiting the internal slave trade.   Thus, the vast majority of the 4.5 million blacks living in the U.S. in 1860 were born here to parents and grandparents who were born here.   A substantial portion had at least some ancestors who were living in North America at the time of  the American Revolution. 

It's time we recognize that the only African ancestors of the descendants of slaves arrived here centuries ago.  We need to recognize that those dark skinned  Americans whose ancestors were slaves are just as deserving of being called  regular Americans as those of us with light skins without any modifier that segregates them from the rest of us.

Americans with dark skins should be allowed to claim all of their ancestors, not just those who provided the genes responsible for their skin color.  Those of us with light skins need to accept the possibility that many of those with dark skins are our distant cousins.  Those of us whose ancestors arrived here a couple of centuries ago or came from the British Isles, especially Ireland, likely had relatives who had sexual relations with the descendants of Africans. We could also have ancestors who came from Africa. Those whose ancestors have lived in the south for several generations, especially if they have dark naturally curly hair,  could easily have an ancestor who passed for white at some time in the past.

Americans need to recognize that color is only skin deep.  It doesn't totally define us.            

Democrats Are Regressive Ultraconservatives Not Progressive Liberals

Conservatives should stop helping ultraconservative  Democrats  lie by agreeing  with the Democrats' false claim  that  Democrats are liberals   instead of ultraconservatives.  Conservatives should also stop calling outdated Democratic ideas   "progressive". 

Conservatives, like many Americans, falsely believe there are only two political  "attitudes" in the United States.  One attitude is called "liberal".  The other is called "conservative".   There is a  third attitude called "ultraconservative" which  has at times adversely affected American society.

Real liberals are open-minded and sometimes overly optimistic about the positive  impact  of change.   Democrats are closed-minded True Believers who tend to believe they are Right about everything and anybody who disagrees is Wrong.   Democrats seem unable to comprehend the possibility of any other proposals than theirs.   A real liberal believes his  ideas will win over your  ideas in  a  fair debate.
  
A real liberal who believed the global warming / climate change myth might believe warming would  be desirable  because it would  create a longer growing season.  A real liberal might belittle claims of  climate disasters  by suggesting the disaster claims  represent ultraconservatives'   exaggerated  fears of  change.

In 1861 ultraconservative southern Democrats started the Civil War.   A century later ultraconservative southern Democrats were trying to block efforts by Republicans and liberal Democrats to end the south's rigid system of racial segregation.

Although liberal presidents such as Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy led the Democratic Party in the mid 20th Century, by the 21st Century ultraconservative  racists were back in control.   Pastor Clenard Childress, Jr. , Dr. Alveda King   and  Day Gardner   accuse Democratic Party supported Planned Parenthood of "Black Genocide."

Conservatives who believe "liberal" is a bad name don't understand that many others [including most political journalists] don't consider "liberal"  a bad name.  Many journalists seem to think that American politics involves a contest between good guys and bad guys like a 50's tv western.    Many also believe that "liberals" are the good guys and "conservatives" are the bad guys.

Most journalists have no idea what a "liberal" is but assume that the people  conservatives call "liberals" are the ones they should support.    Conservatives have no idea what a "liberal" is but falsely assume that the people who disagree with them must be "liberals".  Conservatives don't consider the possibility one or both of  them  might  have wrong information.  If  both had correct information they might agree.

The conversion of American liberals into ultraconservatives involves a process  Friedrich Nietzsche described. "Liberal institutions straightway cease from being liberal the moment they are soundly established:  once this is attained no more grievous and more thorough enemies of freedom exist than liberal institutions."

Once liberals create an institution they become protective toward their "baby".  Liberal created regulatory agencies may become  over zealous, Subsequent liberals may face opposition if they try to reform the institution.   

Often one generation's liberals become the next generation's conservatives.  Politicians who  support old programs are some type of   conservative:  Thus, politicians who want to expand Medicare are conservatives.

Conservative  Republicans need to recognize that they are in the middle between  liberals and ultraconservatives.   Or, conservative Republicans would be in the middle between  liberals and ultraconservatives if the United States had any real liberals.  Conservative  Republicans aren't on the "far right" as Democrats falsely claim: : Conservative  Republicans are actually in the American political main stream as were liberal Democrats such as Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy. 

Republicans will have  a better chance of  winning if they stop  helping  ultraconservative Democrats lie by agreeing  with the Democrats' false claim  that  Democrats are liberals   instead of ultraconservatives. 

Republicans  should  stop using the word "progressive" to describe Democrats or  their old 20th Century proposals.   Democrats use the  term "progressive" because "progressive" is the political equivalent of the consumer  product slogan "new and improved".    Unfortunately many naive voters, especially young voters,  don't understand that the  term "progressive" is meaningless.   Some politicians even call the archaic  concept of socialism "progressive".

Virtual "Blackface" and the Squad

I'm tired of the Democratic Party's race baiting.  The most recent example is the blatant lie that President Donald Trump's criticism of  the four female Representatives  on "The  Squad"  was racist.   Pardon my shouting, but REP. RASHIDA TLAIB AND  REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ ARE WHITE.   The complexions I see on my computer indicate they could have used a whites only restroom in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1955.

Tlaib is Palestinian and Palestinians, like other Middle East peoples,   belong to the so-called "white race".  It may come as a shock to those who call themselves "Aryans", but Aryans are Indo-Iranians.

AOC is among the 75% of Puerto Ricans who are white.  Light complexioned European ancestry Hispanics have long been considered "white", especially those from Puerto Rico, Cuba and Mexico.  My first 11 years I lived in segregated Wichita.  There were no black residents in my south Wichita neighborhood,  but my elementary school had a popular Mexican teacher.   I was allowed to invite the Mexican boy in my class to my birthday party and attended a party at his house.  The husband on  the popular "I Love Lucy" show was from Cuba.   On the "Cisco  Kid" two Mexican heroes helped capture Western outlaws.

A century ago some white comics would put on blackface makeup because they believed people would be more likely to  laugh at their jokes if they wore blackface.   Even the great Bob Hope used blackface early in his career.  Hope told Dick Cavett  in a television interview that he stopped using blackface after he arrived at the theater too late to put on the makeup.    The manager told him to do his act without makeup.  The audience reaction  convinced Hope he  didn't need the makeup. 

Tlaib and AOC,or perhaps Democratic Party leaders, are trying to use virtual blackface to get people to support their programs or to try to prevent criticism..  A century ago southern Democrats  would use racial allegations to con white voters and divert their attention from real issues.  Today Democrats falsely claim  that individuals or actions are racist to con black voters and divert their attention from issue positions that might benefit them.

Have Racists Regained Control of the Democratic Party?

Dr. Martin Luther King’s niece, Dr. Alveda King, accuses Democratic Party supported Planned Parenthood of what Rev. Dr. Clenard H Childress Jr. calls "Black Genocide." 

King points out  “The leading cause of death in the African-American community is not gang-violence, gun violence, heart attack, stroke, HIV, high blood pressure, diabetes. People will name all these. No, it’s abortion. And the reason we have come to that conclusion, statistically, you’ve got 60 million plus abortions legal in America since 1973. About a third of those occur in the African-American community. That means dead babies. And, with us being 13 percent or less of America’s population that means we are having more abortions'."

  King says the number of abortions don't mean that African-Americans are more immoral or don’t care."  Instead  she states:  "We are just regular, everyday people like everyone else. But Planned Parenthood moved into our community with the abortion killing centers and said, ‘We’re here to help you. Let’s kill your baby, so you can have a better life.’ Well, killing our babies doesn’t give us a better life. I have had my own abortions in the 1970s. They were secret then, and after I became born again in 1983 and became a pro-life voice, I began to talk about how those abortions hurt me and my family.”

The claim that racists have regained control of the Democratic Party may come as a  surprise to those who don't know that the Democratic Party is the historic home of racism.  The   Democratic Party is the party of slavery, secession and  segregation.  

The peopls who complain about the monument to slave owner Thomas Jefferson in Washington ignore the fact that he and other slave owners established the Democratic Party.   People protest southern Civil War monuments and ignore the fact the Democratic Party is itself  a monument because Confederate leaders  were Democrats as were the founders of the  post war Ku Klux Klan [KKK]..  Late in the 19th Century the Democratic Party established rigid "Jim Crow" racial  segregation laws in southern states.  . 

    Day Gardner notes that  during the 20's "the KKK raged a lynching war on blacks in the south while Margaret Sanger and friends devised an evil plan of their own. Sanger was a staunch believer in eugenics, “race hygiene.” Her book, The Pivot of Civilization, {1922} contained her solution to the negro problem. She touted sterilization of 'genetically inferior races' which she called 'human weeds'.Since blacks were known to be blessed with large families, Sanger’s plan had to include limiting the growth of the black population by eliminating our children."

After World War II the Democratic Party split on the racial issue.  President Harry Truman integrated the armed forces in spite of opposition from within the Democratic Party.  Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson continued Truman's effort to end racial discrimination with Johnson managing to get landmark civil rights legisltion through Congress.  Southern Democratic Party senators provided the primary opposition to Johnson's legislation.  

Prior to the passage of Johnson's legislation Democrat governors tried to block court ordered integration at Little Rock Ark. high school and the University of Alabama. Some local southern Democrats tried to suppress civil rights demonstrators.

After the sixties, racism in the Democratic Party seemed to be relatively benign.  Democrats have continued  to perpetuate the old southern myth that black Americans  and white Americans belong to  different races in spite of the fact that African, European, and North American DNA have been mixing together for 400 years.   

At some point racist Democrats obviously decided to partner with the Planned Parenthood organization founded by racist Margaret Sanger    to pursue what appears to be their "final solution" to the racial issue.   They would try to discourage black women from having babies to keep the black population from growing.

Dr. King says, “Margaret Sanger, the founder of the Birth Control League [later, Planned Parenthood], said, that ‘colored people are like weeds,’ and they need to be eliminated. They need to be exterminated. We don’t want the word to get out, so let’s not package it that way. So that’s why they began to make a lot of propaganda and marketing materials, saying that abortion is a woman’s right. It will help her to finish college, get a job, do this or do that.”

Day Gardner notes, "in New York City, the abortion rate in the black community is at 60%, which means more black babies are aborted than are born.The KKK brutally killed about 3,500 black people since it began in 1865, Sanger’s Planned Parenthood is responsible for 19 million black deaths since 1973."

As part of the  effort to maintain the appearance of racial conflict, Democrats encouraged blacks to fear white racism while trying to keep blacks from recognizing that the real threat was to their babies.

Southern blacks should  stop wasting time with ghosts from the past associated with Civil War monuments.  The real racist threat is the threat to beautiful black babies from the unholy alliance of racist Democrats and Planned Parenthood abortionists.

African-American Is a Racist Label

 Whoopi Goldberg and Raven-Symoné   have  rejected the extremely racist term "African-American". 

“You know what uh uh! This is my country,” Goldberg said. “My mother, my grandmother, my great-grand folks, we busted ass to be here. I’m sorry. I’m an American. I’m not an African-American, I’m not a chick American, I’m an American!”

In October, 2014, Raven told Oprah Winfrey' "I'm tired of being labeled. I'm an American. I'm not an African American; I'm an American."

The time has come to eliminate this term "African-American" which perpetuates the old Southern racist concept that dark complexioned Americans are a separate race from light complexioned Americans.     Those using the term essentially rely on the racist concept of "part black all black" [the one drop rule] rather than looking at all of a person's ancestors.

For example, journalists routinely label Asian ancestry golfer Tiger Woods "African-American" even though  he has an Asian mother and a father with Asian and North American ancestry as well as some ancestors from sub-Sahara Africa.     Raven-Symoné obviously has more skin complexion genes from ancestors outside of Africa than from sub-Saharan Africa ancestors.  A century ago someone with her complexion might  have decided to leave her family and pass for white.  

Those who use the term "African-American" don't seem to understand that Africa refers to a continent, not a group of people.  The Sahara Desert divides the continent into two genetically and culturally different populations.   North American slaves came from the area south of the Sahara.  In this post I will use "African" to designate persons from south of the Sahara.

Southern racism treated dark complexioned individuals as if their only ancestors came from Africa.    The term "Africa-American" perpetuates this false claim.   The fact is that African DNA began mixing with British DNA at Jamestown in the early 17th Century.  The first Africans arrived at Jamestown in1619 and were treated like the white indentured servants.   Indentured servants were temporary slaves who used their labor to pay off a debt.  In the North American colonies the  debt was likely the cost of travel to the colony.  Many of the Irish indentured servants, like the Africans, were  forced to move to North America.     For the Africans, the debt was the purchase price from the slave traders.   Many of those with African ancestry who were brought to North America came from the West Indies rather than directly from Africa.   Some of these may have had some European or western hemisphere ancestry. 

Marriages across the color line began occurring even before African indentured servant  John Punch married a white woman, who was probably also an indentured servant,  in 1636.  Four years later Punch was sentenced by a judge to be the first permanent slave in the British North American colonies after he and two other indentured servants ran away.  Punch's marriage deserves special attention because it is the earliest marriage to produce traceable descendants.  Nobel Prize winner Ralph Bunch is one of his black descendants.   One of his white descendants is Stanley Ann Dunham the mother of President Barack Obama.

In the early years of the Virginia colony people sometimes had to marry across the black, white and red color lines because the small population reduced the number of potential mates.    A similar situation existed in Spanish and French North American settlements.  The earliest connection between an African and North Americans occurred in Spanish Florida in 1526 when a slave escaped and was accepted by a North American village.    The practice of accepting escaped slaves would continue in the British colonies and later in the United States. 

The process of British and African genetic integration accelerated briefly after the British government authorized permanent slavery.   The law said that a child's status [slave or free] would be determined by the status of the mother.  A white child of a slave mother would become an indentured servant. A black child would become a permanent slave.  Slave owners knew that a child with a black parent and a white parent would be black so they forced their white female indentured servants to mate with their African male slaves.   White male indentured servants  had little choice but to mate with African female slaves.

Only about 500,000 Africans were imported to North America during the  nearly 200 years the slave trade was legal with most of them arriving before America won its independence.  The first U.S. census showed a population in 1790 of  3,172,000 whites and 757,000 blacks.    Thus it is likely that most descendants of slaves had multiple  ancestors living in North America before the Revolution.    The descendants of slaves could have a hundred  different ancestors who were living in North America before the American Revolution.  At seven generations back a person can have 128 different ancestors.

In slave societies it is common for males in the owner class to have sex with female members of the slave class especially unmarried females.  Unmarried female slaves may even encourage such attention to gain better treatment.   White male - black female relationships were common in New Orleans during the Spanish and French because men from these countries often arrived without wives.  The introduction of European DNA into the black population continued during the Jim Crow era when southern white men were able to rape black women without fear of punishment.

The introduction of African DNA into the white population was more indirect because those babies who received dark complexion genes would be born with dark complexions.  African DNA involving other than skin color genes entered the white  population when persons with African ancestry were born without  the dark complexion genes and passed for white.  Some descendants of the early unions between Africans and Europeans had "lost" enough dark complexion genes to pass for white by the American Revolution.   This process would continue.  By 1800 some slaves qualified as white such as Thomas Jefferson's concubine Sally Hemings. No paintings of her are available, but she was described as white with long straight hair.  

It seems likely that many who passed for white didn't tell their children.   .President Warren G. Harding was aware he had recent  black ancestry but Ann Dunham apparently did not know she had African ancestry. If she had known she likely would have told her son Barack.  Some people believe as many as five other presidents could have African ancestors.

The dark skinned descendants of slaves should be allowed to claim all their ancestors, not just the ones who came from Africa.  Their ancestors came here and became a new people who are a blend of peoples from three, and in some cases four, continents.  They only have some genes in common with the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa.  The Americans who have some African ancestors made their own culture after they got here.    They helped make this country what it is and deserve to be recognized as full fledged Americans -- not quasi Americans.

It's time we Americans recognize that America is not the home of a black race and a white race, but instead is the home of a single race  whose ancestors were red and yellow, black and white.

The Impressions lamented in their song "This is My Country"  --
"Some people think we don't have the right
To say its my country
Before they give in, they'd rather fuss and fight
Than say its my country"

It's time we started encouraged the descendants of slaves to call America, rather than Africa their country.  If light skinned Americans whose ancestors all arrived after the Civil War can call themselves 100% Americans, why must dark skinned Americans whose ancestors may have arrived before the American Revolution be treated as part American and part something else.   Many slaves earned their freedom by helping to defeat the British during the Revolution.    
 

Roseanne's Tweet Isn't Racist

Slandering apes by comparing them to politicians  isn't racist because comparisons can involve both black and white politicians.   The practice  isn't new.

Who does the following rant describe?  ”This guy is weird! This guy’s, like, an ape. He’s got ape arms! He’s got, like, ape-awkward arms. This guy’s, like, an ape-awkward guy! This guyyy! Is an ape;"

No, it's not President Barack Obama.   He was a president, but he wasn't a Democrat.

No, it's not President George W  Bush.  Many people nicknamed Bush with variations of the word "Chimpy", but this president lived in a different century and had  a long lanky build..

Well would you believe "the Illinois Ape [The Original Gorilla The Orangutan in the White House]" was none other than President "Ape" Lincoln.   I mean Abe Lincoln

Valerie Jarrette  would be in good company if Roseanne had compared her to an ape,  However, Roseanne didn't say Jarrette was an ape.  Roseanne tweeted "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”

Johnny Carson occasionally observed that if a comic had to explain a line it wouldn't get a laugh.   Comics rarely analyze situation.   They make observations based on  a superficial view or use an idea that comes from their subconscious.   Sometimes they will get a laugh and other times they may lay an egg.

"The Planet of the Apes" is a series of movies based on a science fiction story set in earth's distant future.   Apes have displaced complacent humans as the most intelligent species.   If Roseanne is making a negative comment about Jarrette then obviously Jarrette would be one of the "dumb" humans rather than one of the intelligent apes.

I realize that those who support the old southern one drop rule consider Jarrette black, but her DNA is more European than African.  The  people of the Middle East are white.   The Europeans originated in the Middle East.  For example, the Aryans are Indo-Iranians.

Roseanne's combining of the Muslim brotherhood with "The Planet of the Apes is interesting because the Muslim culture  is attempting to displace the European culture like apes displaced humans.

Is It Colin Kaepenick's Revenge?

I didn't realize how bad the NFL's concussion problem was until  many of its players developed kneeling sickness during the singing of the national anthem.    .  The kneelers claim they are protesting racism, but kneeling is usually done as a form of submission, not a form of protest.   In the NFL, a player who fields a kickoff in the end zone will kneel to show he doesn't plan to run with the ball.   Late in the game the  quarterback on the team that is leading will "take a knee" to run out the clock.     Kneeling is what a slave may do to show obedience to an owner.

The national anthem, "Star Spangled Banner", recalls the bravery of the men in one of our nation's most important battles.   In the War of 1812 the men of Ft. McHenry held off the British navy in spite of a fierce naval bombardment.  At dawn the flag was still waving.  By protesting during the national anthem,  the kneelers  show contempt for those Americans who died in that battle including an escaped slave who had enlisted as a private in the U.S. army using the name William Williams.   The  kneelers also show contempt for 360,000 U.S. army soldiers who died fighting in the Civil War which ended slavery.   40,000 of those soldiers were black.

The kneelers alienate many of those fans who have friends and relatives serving in distant combat zones.   Many fans have served in combat in the current conflict or lost friends or relatives in the 9/11 attack.

The kneelers have created a rift between players and fans that is costing the league revenue.   I wonder if that was Colin Kaepenick's goal when he persuaded current players to become involved in this silly protest.   Did he encourage the protests to get even with NFL teams for not signing him as  a free agent?

If NFL players really want to do something about racism they should donate money to civil  rights organizations, including political action committees that support civil rights oriented candidates  Kneeling on the sidelines and whining like children in a store who want toys is unlikely to accomplish anything.

Media Perpetuating Racism

{I am reposting the following so it can be used for information]

Jesse Washington has reported that many dark skinned Americans recognize that they are not "African" Americans in spite of what some racists say.

 Th e term "African-American"  perpetuates the  principle tenet of Southern racism:  "part black, all black" under the "one drop rule".  

Those who use the term are in effect segregating  Americans with dark complexions from the rest of the population they may be related to.   Those who use the term believe that those with dark complexions should only be able to claim their African ancestors and should forget about ancestors who came from Europe, North America or Asia even if most of a person's ancestors came from places other than Africa.

The media in particular apply the term indiscriminately to any American with a dark complexion. For example, they call golfer Tiger Woods "African American" even though his ancestry is predominately Asian.  His mother is Asian and his father had Asian as well as African and American Indian ancestors.

Dr. Martin Luther King dreamed of a day in which  color would not be important.  Unfortunately, the media along with many politicians and black leaders are still preoccupied with skin color.

Members of the media still falsely claim that differences in skin color among Americans indicate a racial difference.  Perhaps there is an European "race" that is white and an African "race" that is black, but if there is an American race it is red and yellow, black and white.  We Americans are a mixture of peoples from all parts of the world.

As the Lakota say, Aho Mitakuye Oyasin (We Are All Related)   regardless of the color of our skin.     

The fact that a person has dark skin doesn't mean a majority of ancestors came from Africa. Dark skin only means a person received  one or more of the half dozen skin color related genes that produce "black" skin from an African ancestor.  Some of the genes associated with dark complexion are also present in persons from other parts of the world, especially India and Australia.  The versions of the skin color genes that cause dark skin are dominant genes which means if a person has a dark version of the gene, complexion will be dark even if the other gene is associated with light skin.   Incidentally, the African gene pool includes the albino gene  which means some residents of Africa have pale skin.

Calling black Americans African-Americans denies them the opportunity to claim their European (especially Irish) and North American ancestry.  The first Africans  in the English colonies worked with the Irish in  the fields and occasionally became sexually involved with them. In some cases planters deliberately forced Irish women to have children by African men to produce children of a desired complexion. Later, Irish overseers and plantation owners sometimes offered favors for sex or just raped slaves.

Until the 1960's Southern white men could rape black women without fearing punishment.    Some black women voluntarily had sex with white employers or their sons.  Former Sen. Strom Thurman fathered a daughter by his parent's 16-year-old housekeeper when he was a young man.   Young southern women were told that if their good night kisses were too passionate, their boyfriends might seek sexual satisfaction in the black community.

Some black Americans can trace their ancestry back to President Thomas Jefferson and his virtual wife Sally Hennings.   DNA tests confirmed the claim that Sally Hennings descendants were also descendants of  Thomas Jefferson.  The tests examined the "Y" chromosome which is passed from father to son. 

A test of the "Y" chromosome of Martin Luther King III indicates that he and his civil rights leader father Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had a north European male ancestor  like about 33% of black American males.

The Spanish who established colonies in South Carolina, Florida and Georgia in the 16th Century using African slaves were less likely than the British to bring wives and instead used their slaves for sexual satisfaction.  The French in Louisiana also had a shortage of white women.  The French, unlike the English, even used terms indicating the proportion of African and European ancestry.

African slaves of the Spanish started a long association with the original inhabitants of North America that continued in the British colonies.  The Africans left behind when Spain withdrew from Florida joined with the Seminoles.  In the English colonies the Cherokees and some other tribes socialized with the Africans, gave refuge to runaway slaves or had African slaves of their own. 

Many white  Americans, including former President Warren G. Harding, have African ancestors.  Some believe as many as four other white presidents had African ancestors.  After the "Roots Miniseries" many whites who researched their family histories were  surprised to find ancestors who served in the military who had a "C" after their names for "colored".

Most whites with African ancestors probably don't even know it because their African ancestors whose skin was light enough to pass for white covered up their past.  It would only take a few generations of people with mixed parentage to have descendants with skin light enough to pass for white.  If only one gene were involved, the math of inheritance would indicate that if two parents each had one black parent and one white parent approximately 25% of their children would have white skin.  The math is more complicated with the involvement of multiple genes, but  the probability of some light skinned children increases with each generation. 

Racists  sometimes suggest that black males  have a greater propensity for violence especially against women and falsely ascribe that characteristic to their African ancestors.   If some  black men actually have a genetic tendency to commit rape and murder it would be far more likely that they inherited the gene from a white male ancestor who raped one of their black female ancestors than that they inherited it from an African male ancestor.

Another popular stereotype is that blacks have "rhythm"  which they are supposed to have inherited from their African ancestors.  Although the slaves' African heritage would have influenced their music, it seems more likely that the social and biological association with the musically oriented Irish would be more responsible for the black emphasis on music. 

The Irish responded to the repressive treatment by the English through musical expression.  They would have passed that tradition along to the Africans whom they initially worked with as "indentured servants" and later supervised after black slavery was established.  The slaves blended their Irish and African traditions with their own situation.  They concentrated on expressing themselves through music because their oppressors didn't allow other ways to "fight" their situation.    Watch Irish groups like Riverdance and Celtic Woman and then say that black Americans could only have gotten "rhythm" from African ancestors.

The first  African "servants" arrived in Jamestown in 1619 only 14 years after the founding of the settlement.  During the two centuries of the Atlantic slave trade only about 500,000 additional Africans were imported into North America.   Britain led the way to ending the Atlantic slave trade in 1807 and the United States quickly followed to outlaw the importation of slaves without prohibiting the internal slave trade.   Thus, the vast majority of the 4.5 million blacks living in the U.S. in 1860 were born here to parents and grandparents who were born here.   A substantial portion had at least some ancestors who were living in North America at the time of  the American Revolution. 

It's time we recognize that the only African ancestors of the descendants of slaves arrived here centuries ago.  We need to recognize that those dark skinned  Americans whose ancestors were slaves are just as deserving of being called  regular Americans as those of us with light skins without any modifier that segregates them from the rest of us.

Americans with dark skins should be allowed to claim all of their ancestors, not just those who provided the genes responsible for their skin color.  Those of us with light skins need to accept the possibility that many of those with dark skins are our distant cousins.  Those of us whose ancestors arrived here a couple of centuries ago or came from the British Isles, especially Ireland, likely had relatives who had sexual relations with the descendants of Africans. We could also have ancestors who came from Africa. Those whose ancestors have lived in the south for several generations, especially if they have dark naturally curly hair,  could easily have an ancestor who passed for white at some time in the past.

Americans need to recognize that color is only skin deep.  It doesn't totally define us.          

Black Men Don't Matter on Decades Channel

I'm white, but I am concerned that the  February schedule for the "Decades" television channel  could indicate the staff is racist.   February is supposed to be Black History month, but you can barely tell it from the Decades program schedule.   The emphasis is on publicizing the lives of those they call remarkable women even though women have the month of March as their month.

Decades normally has a schedule that combines history documentaries and entertainment programs. Each weekday has a program that summarizes major events that occurred on that day which may include events such as a birth or career milestone in a celebrity's life.  Weekends have marathons called "binges" of a single series.  Lately they have been running mini-binges with two 3-hour periods devoted to a single series possibly featuring a celebrity being emphasized that day.   This month they are running series featuring predominately white women.  They are running a week of shows featuring black women, but except for "Touched by an Angel"  the shows have a white male as the principle character.

There aren't very many female entertainers who are more remarkable than Debbie Allen who played  a dancing teacher on "Fame" while being the show's choreographer.  She later became a successful director.   Diahann Carroll as "Julia" was one of the first black women to play the central character in a sitcom.    "Barefoot in the Park", a series about a young black couple,  was the first show since "Amos and Andy" to feature a predominately black cast.  Teresa Graves starred in "Get Christie Love" the first series about  a police woman since the fifties' series "Police Decoy",

 I had expected they would emphasize programs featuring black performers to observe Black History Month possibly including episodes of Nat King Cole's program.   There's no good reason to run women's programs instead of black programs this month. One thing that would have been great would have been to run different series showing how the roles available to blacks changed since the fifties.   If they wanted to devote two months to women's programs instead of one month they could have used April instead of February.   The devotion of a week to black women indicates they believe  black women matter.  The lack of a similar  week for lack men implies they don't believe black  men matter.

Why Is Rush Limbaugh Helping the Democrats?

Rush Limbaugh doesn't understand that he is the best friend the Democrats have.  He is helping them get the devotion of the Main Stream Media.

Most national journalists don't understand  politics, but somewhere they got the notion that politics is like fifties television westerns.  They believe politics is a contest between good guys and bad guys and the good guys are called "liberals".  Journalists have no idea what the term "liberal" means, but they are convinced "liberals" are the Roy Rogers and Lone Ranger of politics. 

Limbaugh may score points with those who consider themselves "conservatives" when he mislabels Democrats as "liberals", but the practice helps Democrats get media and public support they do not deserve.

There was a time when Democrats could be considered liberals, but liberals do not always remain liberals.  Friedrich Nietzsche  once observed:  "Liberal institutions straightway cease from being liberal the moment they are soundly established: once this is attained no more grievous and more thorough enemies of freedom exist than liberal institutions."  

Once liberals get what they want, they defend their creations like a mama bear protecting her cubs.

The fact is that liberal Democrats are an endangered, if not extinct, political species. Most national level Democrats tend to be ultraconservative elitist control freaks and thus the antithesis of liberals.  

Real liberals look for new approaches to dealing with social problems and operating government.  Democrats haven't had a new idea in 50  years.  They have only one approach to dealing with social problems -- heavy government regulation and large spending programs controlled from Washington.

Real liberals tolerate the opinions of others.  Democrat are "true believers"  who attack anyone with the audacity to suggest Democrats are wrong regardless of how simple-minded the Democrat favored ideas are. 

Real liberals have compassion.  Democratic leaders favor policies that would please Adolph Hitler.  Democrats believe in aborting babies which don't possess the characteristics Hitler desired for his "master race".   No real liberal could support abortion. 

Real liberals would recognize that there is only one race of Americans, if not humanity in general.   Democrats practice Archie Bunker "politics".   For those unfamiliar with the old "All in the Family" television show,  Archie Bunker was a bigoted character who lived with his wife and their daughter and her husband.   An ad for the show used a segment in which Archie explained a "balanced" political ticket to his son-in-law Michael.  Archie may have used different words, but he explained that his party ran a black candidate for one position, a Jew for one position, an Italian for another, etc. and a "Regular American", a white guy like Archie, for the final position.     Democrats believe Americans belong to different races with all members within an ethic group wanting the same thing. 

Like Archie Bunker, Democrats believe only white people are the regular Americans and everyone else is a quasi American.   For example, to Democrats black Americans are Africans [living in] America and those with Asian ancestry are Asians [living in] America.

Limbaugh also lies when he says Democrats are anti-business or anti-corporation.   The fact is that Democrats are just as pro-business as Republicans, but Democrats often favor different businesses than Republicans. 

Democrats tend  to favor businesses that want something from government and thus are willing to help Democrats win elections.  For example,  health insurance companies were  upset because some people weren't buying their over priced health insurance.  The companies convinced their pet Democrats to pass legislation requiring everyone to obtain health insurance, with penalties for those who don't comply.  If Democrats hadn't been pro-business, the program would have set up a government run program financed by a tax based on a person's ability to pay, with people being allowed to escape the tax by purchasing private insurance.

Democrats also demonstrate their pro-corporation inclination by their support for the greatest corporate fraud in history, Enron's global warming scam.  The claim that changes in the carbon dioxide content of the air of a few parts per million could change air temperatures is so absurd,  it should be recognized as obviously false by any intelligent person.

Real liberals tend to be optimists who look on the positive side.  Democrats belong to the "disaster of the month club".    They warn of impending doom if their policies are not followed on issues like global warming nonsense.

Liberal President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."  Today's Democrats say we should fear this, that and the other thing." 

Limbaugh's continued misrepresentation of Democrats as "liberals" gives them a positive image they do not deserve.  The Democratic Party is a rotten apple that is corrupt to its core.  Democrats think they are better than the rest of us, but are really worse.

Whoopi Goldberg Rejects Racist Label

ABC's "The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg has joined fellow "View" co-host Raven-Symoné   in rejecting the extremely racist term "African-American". 

“You know what uh uh! This is my country,” Goldberg said. “My mother, my grandmother, my great-grand folks, we busted ass to be here. I’m sorry. I’m an American. I’m not an African-American, I’m not a chick American, I’m an American!”

In October, 2014, Raven told Oprah Winfrey' "I'm tired of being labeled. I'm an American. I'm not an African American; I'm an American."

The time has come to eliminate this term "African-American" which perpetuates the old Southern racist concept that dark complexioned Americans are a separate race from light complexioned Americans.     Those using the term essentially rely on the racist concept of "part black all black" [the one drop rule] rather than looking at all of a person's ancestors.

For example, journalists routinely label Asian ancestry golfer Tiger Woods "African-American" even though  he has an Asian mother and a father with Asian and North American ancestry as well as some ancestors from sub-Sahara Africa.     Raven-Symoné obviously has more skin complexion genes from ancestors outside of Africa than from sub-Saharan Africa ancestors.  A century ago someone with her complexion might  have decided to leave her family and pass for white.  

Those who use the term "African-American" don't seem to understand that Africa refers to a continent, not a group of people.  The Sahara Desert divides the continent into two genetically and culturally different populations.   North American slaves came from the area south of the Sahara.  In this post I will use "African" to designate persons from south of the Sahara.

Southern racism treated dark complexioned individuals as if their only ancestors came from Africa.    The term "Africa-American" perpetuates this false claim.   The fact is that African DNA began mixing with British DNA at Jamestown in the early 17th Century.  The first Africans arrived at Jamestown in1619 and were treated like the white indentured servants.   Indentured servants were temporary slaves who used their labor to pay off a debt.  In the North American colonies the  debt was likely the cost of travel to the colony.  Many of the Irish indentured servants, like the Africans, were  forced to move to North America.     For the Africans, the debt was the purchase price from the slave traders.   Many of those with African ancestry who were brought to North America came from the West Indies rather than directly from Africa.   Some of these may have had some European or western hemisphere ancestry. 

Marriages across the color line began occurring even before African indentured servant  John Punch married a white woman, who was probably also an indentured servant,  in 1636.  Four years later Punch was sentenced by a judge to be the first permanent slave in the British North American colonies after he and two other indentured servants ran away.  Punch's marriage deserves special attention because it is the earliest marriage to produce traceable descendants.  Nobel Prize winner Ralph Bunch is one of his black descendants.   One of his white descendants is Stanley Ann Dunham the mother of President Barack Obama.

In the early years of the Virginia colony people sometimes had to marry across the black, white and red color lines because the small population reduced the number of potential mates.    A similar situation existed in Spanish and French North American settlements.  The earliest connection between an African and North Americans occurred in Spanish Florida in 1526 when a slave escaped and was accepted by a North American village.    The practice of accepting escaped slaves would continue in the British colonies and later in the United States. 

The process of British and African genetic integration accelerated briefly after the British government authorized permanent slavery.   The law said that a child's status [slave or free] would be determined by the status of the mother.  A white child of a slave mother would become an indentured servant. A black child would become a permanent slave.  Slave owners knew that a child with a black parent and a white parent would be black so they forced their white female indentured servants to mate with their African male slaves.   White male indentured servants  had little choice but to mate with African female slaves.

Only about 500,000 Africans were imported to North America during the  nearly 200 years the slave trade was legal with most of them arriving before America won its independence.  The first U.S. census showed a population in 1790 of  3,172,000 whites and 757,000 blacks.    Thus it is likely that most descendants of slaves had multiple  ancestors living in North America before the Revolution.    The descendants of slaves could have a hundred  different ancestors who were living in North America before the American Revolution.  At seven generations back a person can have 128 different ancestors.

In slave societies it is common for males in the owner class to have sex with female members of the slave class especially unmarried females.  Unmarried female slaves may even encourage such attention to gain better treatment.   White male - black female relationships were common in New Orleans during the Spanish and French because men from these countries often arrived without wives.  The introduction of European DNA into the black population continued during the Jim Crow era when southern white men were able to rape black women without fear of punishment.

The introduction of African DNA into the white population was more indirect because those babies who received dark complexion genes would be born with dark complexions.  African DNA involving other than skin color genes entered the white  population when persons with African ancestry were born without  the dark complexion genes and passed for white.  Some descendants of the early unions between Africans and Europeans had "lost" enough dark complexion genes to pass for white by the American Revolution.   This process would continue.  By 1800 some slaves qualified as white such as Thomas Jefferson's concubine Sally Hemings. No paintings of her are available, but she was described as white with long straight hair.  

It seems likely that many who passed for white didn't tell their children.   .President Warren G. Harding was aware he had recent  black ancestry but Ann Dunham apparently did not know she had African ancestry. If she had known she likely would have told her son Barack.  Some people believe as many as five other presidents could have African ancestors.

The dark skinned descendants of slaves should be allowed to claim all their ancestors, not just the ones who came from Africa.  Their ancestors came here and became a new people who are a blend of peoples from three, and in some cases four, continents.  They only have some genes in common with the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa.  The Americans who have some African ancestors made their own culture after they got here.    They helped make this country what it is and deserve to be recognized as full fledged Americans -- not quasi Americans.

It's time we Americans recognize that America is not the home of a black race and a white race, but instead is the home of a single race  whose ancestors were red and yellow, black and white.

The Impressions lamented in their song "This is My Country"  --
"Some people think we don't have the right
To say its my country
Before they give in, they'd rather fuss and fight
Than say its my country"

It's time we started encouraged the descendants of slaves to call America, rather than Africa their country.  If light skinned Americans whose ancestors all arrived after the Civil War can call themselves 100% Americans, why must dark skinned Americans whose ancestors may have arrived before the American Revolution be treated as part American and part something else.   Many slaves earned their freedom by helping to defeat the British during the Revolution.    
 
 

Why Did South Reward Racist Killer and Encourage Racism?

Why did the southern states reward a racist murderer by making him the most significant southern political figure since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?    Are southern politicians so ignorant that they don't understand that the people who commit such crimes do so to get attention?  Why are they aiding and abetting his effort to steal the Confederate Flag and make it a symbol of racism?  Why are they trying to cause whites to be mad at blacks and possibly hate them?

My favorite phrase by the late radio commentator Paul Harvey was often used after a story about someone like the man who killed nine in a Charleston, S.C., church.   Harvey would end the story with, "he'd like me to mention his name."    Southern states have done more than just mention the Charleston killer's name.   They have made him a major historical figure by basing policy decisions on his action. 

I remind readers that I am neutral about the Confederate flag because my great grandfather was in the Union army.  I have been concerned about racism since I was in the 7th grade and read a couple of biographies about Jackie Robinson who became one of my childhood heroes.

There are no inherently racist symbols.   Racists may attempt to use objects or designs as racist symbols, but the symbols can only become racist if others allow the racists to have a monopoly on the use of a symbol.

I got a bit of cultural shock shortly after I arrived in Vietnam.  A bunch of us replacements were flying north to An Khe from Long Binh.  We landed at an air field I think was at Nha Trang and got off the plane for a short time.  Across the road I saw some type of Vietnamese compound.   Swastikas were on top of each of the two posts at either side of the entrance.  The only difference from the Nazi symbol was that these swastikas were resting on one of the arms like on a base.  One of the men who knew more about eastern religions than I did told me swastikas  were used as peace symbols in the Buddhist religion.  The symbol is also sacred in Hinduism and Jainism.   For the first few months I was in  Vietnam the post office where I worked was in a compound that had what appeared to be graves with tombstones that displayed the swastika the same way an American tombstone might have the letters "R.I.P."

Generations of southerners have used the Confederate flag to commemorate the efforts of their ancestors to defend their homes and communities against attack in the Civil War.  Then a cowardly murderer in effect said he wanted the flag to only be used to indicate racism.  Southern  political leaders then  bowed down to him and essentially said:  "yes, Mr. Killer if you say the flag stands for racism we'll let you steal the flag from the families of southern Civil War veterans."

Southern blacks need to understand that freedom means more than just not being the property of a plantation owner.  Many southern blacks are virtual slaves because they have allowed their fears to enslave them.  They need to recognize that they cannot truly be free until they stop fearing ghosts from the  past.

Blacks need to get over the phobia they have about the Confederate flag.

Racism doesn't come from pieces of cloth or other symbols.  Racism develops when people feel somebody has hurt them and decide to dislike all of those who are similar to the person or persons who have wronged them.   When I was in college I worked one summer with a young man who hated all blacks because a black truck driver had killed his parents in a traffic accident.  

The Confederate flag is important to many white southerners because it provides a tie to their ancestors.   They can feel important because they feel their ancestors were important.  

Those who want to eliminate that flag are implying they hate the Confederate flag and by implication the people who consider it important.  Some whites will respond to that hatred by developing hatred of their flag's "enemies".   Telling those who support that flag that they are racists will cause many to become racists.

Dr. Martin Luther King's most important teaching was that you cannot defeat hate with hate. As Marvin Gaye sang in "What's Goin On":  "Only love can conquer hate."

  Southerners who want to defeat racism should embrace the Confederate flag and those who consider it important.   The Confederate flag was not racist.  Both blacks and whites fought under that banner.  As I noted in a previous post both blacks and whites owned slaves and there were white slaves as well as black slaves.   Those plantation owners who sold the lighter complexioned slaves were likely selling slaves who were their sons or daughters, nieces or nephews.

We should not forget the Civil War and those who fought in it.  We should use  it as a reminder of what can happen when politicians fail to find compromises on difficult issues.