Stardate 20010907.1044 (On Screen): And while I'm commenting on other blogger's writings, I might as well link to this one written by Iain, which I found quite good. It reminded me of something similar. In their drive to find icons to represent them by being "a credit to their race" some groups have ended up in the strange situation of adopting people who don't want to be adopted, but just want to be left alone. Easily the best example of that now is Tiger Woods, who has been adopted by American Blacks as A Credit To His Race. But whenever anyone asks him about that he responds that he's only half black. His mother is Thai. After he won the Masters recently, his parents were at the 18th hole and so I got a chance to see them as they both came out and gave him a big hug. (It was a very emotional moment; Woods had to hide tears at one point. It was good.) Once you see his mothing and his father, you can clearly see how he got aspects of his face from them both. But if you hadn't seen his mother you could easily conclude that he has classic negro features.
Back in the bad old days, there used to be all kinds of places in the laws of some states where certain things were declared to be illegal based on the race of the participants. Of course, that required a legal definition of race, and the definition of "negro" was anyone who had at least one great grandparent who was negro. (No-one seems to have noticed that this definition is recursive.) This was, of course, deeply offensive on a number of levels. The odd thing is that this seems to be exactly what those trying to seize on Woods are doing: since he is half black he's black.
The people of Thailand respectfully disagree. Woods is reported to be something of a national hero there, and his wins and losses are followed closely since, of course, he's Thai. To me, though, he's just an amazingly talented and poised young man that I enjoy reading about and watching on TV. I hope that's not just because I can't claim him to be white. (I don't recall thinking of Arnold Palmer as a credit to the White race, so maybe I'm off the hook here.) (discussion in progress)
