Greetings…

Monday’s column generated the mail and blog comments I expected,
so there was no surprise there. I learned a long time ago that
no matter what you say, some people will twist your words or go
off on a tangent completely away from the original message…

Oh well…<shrugging shoulder>

That being said, I DID get one note in particular that gave me
the idea for today’s column and just can’t wait to see how my
current thought process or “rant” if you will, will be perceived…

First, the note…

“Jamie, I have a question for you. I noticed, when talking about
Barack Obama, you said he was half black and half white, or just
black and never called him an African-American. How come?”

My answer is longer than I wanted to write in an email, which is
why I’m using today’s column to do it…

Without getting into a race issue, maybe it stems from hundreds of
years ago when a person was considered black if he/she had “one drop
of black blood”, although in my case, I don’t look at it that way
and didn’t use that criteria when mentioning it. I personally was
embracing the historical importance of the event and the man, and
if you really want to be honest, it is the “black” part that has
made it historical. Okee Dokee, before hitting the “reply” button,
hang on, I’m sure the next part will give you more ammunition…

As far as me not calling Obama “African-American”, it was intentional
on my part. Why? Because I think all of this (insert ethnicity)/
American stuff is a load of crap!!! When on earth did we have to
start identifying Americans by their ethnicity and more importantly,
WHY do we have to???

Was this a process put into place to profile? Was this a way to
show pride in your heritage? Was this a way to announce your
citizenship, even if you happened to be born in the United States?

BS to that I say!

Years ago, no one went around calling themselves, Irish-Americans,
Italian-Americans, etc. etc. and yet, you knew what ethnic background
your friends and neighbors were. No big deal! When the question of
“what are you?”, or “what nationality are you”? came up, no one was
ever insulted because they knew you meant their ethnic background,
not their citizenship!!!

How many black people are actually FROM Africa? How many German-
Americans have ever been to Germany, let alone been born there?
Are you getting my “drift”? This was another goofy politically
correct debacle that is a waste of time and a waste of extra
words, (especially when you have to type them). I understand
the whole “African-American” “thing” may have been based on slavery
and the origins of slaves, and in this case alone, ethnicity was
tragically stripped away from men, women, and children born into
slavery, removing ethnicity litle by little with each generation…

The words themselves describing a black person have changed over the
years. Ask the older generation and you will hear that Negro, and
Colored, were words used to describe Black/Brown people “back in their
day”…

Younger generations would never think of using some of the formerly
accepted terms, except for “Black”, because in my opinion, (that
would be the one that gets me in trouble all the time), Black people
themselves wanted to be called black, it wasn’t a label put on them
from the “white folks”. I recall this happening in the 70’s. I will,
and do from time to time, use African-American, but I’m here to say
that when I use the term “black”, it is not out of disrespect
in any way, shape or form, nor do I consider it a derogatory term
and if it is, I would ask someone to please email me explaining
why it’s an insult and I will gladly issue a public apology…

Back to the original issue at hand…

People from ethnic backgrounds are always proud of their heritage,
as they should be, and are more than willing to share it with people
if asked, or hide it if they feel like there could be a backlash
due to political reasons, but puleeeeeeeeeeeeeze, you can be proud
of being an American and proud of being a Martian without having to
go around saying you’re a Martian-American!!!

I don’t know, but I almost wonder if the “American” part was tacked
onto the end of an ethnicity to give other people the impression
that they’re “OK”, accepted and acceptable, when years ago, it
wasn’t an issue…

Do people in other countries do this? Are people Polish-French,
Spanish-English, Moldavian-Russian, the first being their ethnicity,
the second, their country of citizenship? Yeah, it sounds “weird”
when you do it for other countries doesn’t it, and guess what? It’s
just as ridiculous here in the United States!

Living in a state where illegal immigration is a BIG issue, do you
really think tacking on (insert ethnicity of your choice)/American
means a hill of beans???

Being an American can occur from being born here or achieving citizenship.
Your ethncity is your ethnicity and again, this isn’t about not being
proud of either one, it’s about the “labels” that are now used under
the premise of what? Being politically correct? What’s so politically
INCORRECT about telling someone your ethnicity if asked when you ARE an
American anyway? Is anyone asking you to prove citizenship when they
ask you this? I didn’t think so, and this is why I think the whole thing
is BS!!!

Oh yeah, I better add this…

Da management would like to inform you that the views and opinions
expressed in today’s column are solely of said editor. Da management
would also like to take this opportunity to inform people from Mars
that tacking on American at the end of your nationality will NOT
guarantee legal status in the United States of America, now is it
necessary to use should you become a legal citizen of the U.S. Said
editor is also willing to keep this in mind if she ever decides to
become a legal Martian and will refrain from using the term,
“American-Martian”…

Thank you veddy much…

Da Management…

And just because I just finished watching coverage of the first of
the many Inagural Balls, may I say that in my opinion, I HATED
Michelle Obama’s gown and was disappointed in the choice. I expected
better and while it might not be the most eloquent way of describing
the gown, I’ll just repeat the very first word out of my mouth when
I saw it…

“YUCK”! Maybe it’s me, but I sure haven’t been impressed with any
of her wardrobe since she first entered the political arena with
her husband. The comparison constantly made between Michelle and
Jackie Kennedy always makes me scratch my head a little and the
night Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for President, I
remember seeing Michelle’s dress and saying quite a few things,
none of which I’ll put in print. Let’s just say it hurt my stomach
as much as it hurt my eyes…

Just giving you another reason to slam me in email and blogs folks…