Wilde Yearnings

• Black, White, Grey?

  Posted: October 8, 2008, 8:03 pm by Wildeyearnings

  Forgive me if I bore you with this post and go on about a really tedious topic. However you see I am ticked off. Well just a little bit quite honestly. My sunny disposition :) however doesn’t allow me to stay ticked off for longer than 5 minutes.
  
  I’ve just had a conversation with some guy who’s stuck in 1939. You see I refer to myself as black, because that’s what I think I am- culturally and my heritage as well. And damn proud of it. Now the 1930’s guy took offence…on behalf of ‘black people’ ( I didn’t know there was an association- Black People’s Association (BPA) and informed me in no uncertain terms that I cannot ,CANNOT call myself black because I’m most certainly not and therefore cannot identify with the BPA.
  
  Now I think that everyone has the right to classify themselves as they choose, Obama identifies (or is identified) as a black man, Mariah Carey says she’s black as does Lewis Hamilton. Ryan Giggs has referred to himself in the past as being proud of his black roots, but then other people have called him white. On the other hand, Wentworth Miller refers to himself as white with some ‘African’ heritage etc…
  
  Point is…are we who we say we are? Who determines who or what we identify with? Ourselves? Other people? One of my sisters refers to herself as ‘multi-racial’ only- neither black nor white but both and she has a right to do so. She takes pride and identifies with the two, both ethnically and culturally. The rest of us (brother and sisters) all say we are black- although we might not all look it.
  
  I don’t believe in classifying people according to skin colour otherwise I’d probably be called grey- (black +white = grey). But for me black is a cultural identity which defines me. Or maybe to be politically correct- African….but what about Caucasian Africans (white Africans to be less PC?)
  
  So to end this unbelievably pointless post, I’m black because I say I am.:)
  And to borrow a leaf from GUG’s book I finish with a poem I love from a Caribbean source….
  
  Excuse me
  standing on one leg
  I’m half-caste.
  
  Explain yuself
  wha yu mean
  when yu say half-caste
  yu mean when Picasso
  mix red an green
  is a half-caste canvas?
  explain yuself
  wha yu mean
  when yu say half-caste
  yu mean when light an shadow
  mix in de sky
  is a half-caste weather?
  well in dat case
  england weather
  nearly always half-caste
  in fact some o dem cloud
  half-caste till dem overcast
  so spiteful dem don’t want de sun pass
  ah rass?
  explain yuself
  wha yu mean
  when yu say half-caste
  yu mean tchaikovsky
  sit down at dah piano
  an mix a black key
  wid a white key
  is a half-caste symphony?
  
  Explain yuself
  wha yu mean
  Ah listening to yu wid de keen
  half of mih ear
  Ah looking at yu wid de keen
  half of mih eye
  an when I’m introduced to yu
  I’m sure you’ll understand
  why I offer yu half-a-hand
  an when I sleep at night
  I close half-a-eye
  consequently when I dream
  I dream half-a-dream
  an when moon begin to glow
  I half-caste human being
  cast half-a-shadow
  but yu must come back tomorrow
  wid de whole of yu eye
  an de whole of yu ear
  an de whole of yu mind.
  
  an I will tell yu
  de other half
  of my story.

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes