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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
QOTD-Wendesday
I am sure that it won't be a good as LB's have been. lol
If you were two races, white and black/hispanic, but you could pass as white would you?
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Re: QOTD-Wendesday
I think I see where you're going with this. I'm guessing you're pulling this question from all the hoopla in the media lately about the "one drop rule" but forgive me if I go off on a tangent.
My father is Puertorican and my mother is Irish, German, and Danish. I am multi-racial. If people assume I'm white, I almost always clarify that I'm also Hispanic but if people just assume I'm Hispanic I also discuss my mom's background.
I think the division over this issue is really interesting. I personally think that people who try to push their children into one race or another (such as Halle Berry insisting that her daughter is black even though the father is white) are doing them a huge disservice.
On another note, there have been many times where both DH (who is Black, Japanese, Native American, Chinese, and Eastern European) and I have been in a group of people who assumed we were both white (we can both pass relatively easily) and have made racist comments that make us feel uncomfortable. In these scenarios I find being able to pass as white an advantage as we usually will leave shortly after (with an excuse about other plans, etc) and then choose not to associate with these people again. We are able to learn people's true colors more easily because they don't hide their true feelings.
Is something going on in the media world about this? I didn't know. I do remember watching Anderson Cooper or someone and they interviewed someone who just found out that they were half black after like 50 years.
I was thinking about my friend at work who is from Columbia. Very beautiful woman. If you were to look at her you would say that she was Hispanic. The other day she made a comment "I am just one of the white girls." I told her that no one would ever consider you white. She was saying that in her country she would be. I know that is a little different from my question.
I agree with both Sikes and Lucky.
I don't know why anyone wouldn't have pride for whatever heritage they are. I think society has evolved enough that no one is looked down on or judged for their race - but I could be looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. Of course there are racist people (of all races against all races) but they make up a very small minority.
I do think the Halle Berry thing is pretty absurd, it sounds like she's just trying to claim her daughter in every aspect of life because there's a messy custody battle brewing.
It's been in the media a good bit since the new census allowed people to check multiple races for the first time. There's been a lot of discussion about people holding to the one drop rule or whether they should choose all of their races. I believe the one drop rule tends to be used more often by people who are African American mixed with anything else but I'm not positive.
Some of the discussion has been multiracial individuals saying that the president isn't African American, but that he's multi-racial (once again, going back to what he checked on his census), while others think that it's doing a disservice to African Americans to say he's multi-racial since he's the first president that is even part African American.
I work in EO Compliance so the changes to the census are very relevant to us. This is an interesting article that my manager passed along about the whole subject:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/us/30mixed.html
You look a lot like my youngest sister, IMHO, so I wasn't surprised at all when you told me you are Cuban.
ETA: I'm not saying that Cuban and Puertorican people are the same, just that people think Hispanic and assume dark skin and other features while that's not necessarily the case.
Let's get a couple of things straight first. There are differences between races and heritages. Hispanic isn't a race. I am 100% hispanic but race-wise I am caucasian. Many people that don't have hispanic heritages don't notice that most questionnaires (census included) ask these questions differently now in acknowledgement of these nuances, e.g. "White not hispanic" vs. "South American" as choices.
I can't pass myself off as anything but white but my heritage is hispanic, spanish was my first language and I identify more in many ways with South American/latin people and cultures.
I think people can only pass off what they look like. Obama is half-white but no one ever calls him that...he's been "black" not even half-black since I can remember, because he looks like what the current conventional mores say we consider blacks to look like.
While you are absolutely right about ethnicity versus race, I still think including ethnicity as part of this discussion is relevant. More so in the way I interpret the question than the way others may have interpreted it. While being Hispanic is my ethnicity, it still opens you up to a lot of the same negative reactions that being of a minority race does. While someone who is Hispanic may make the distinction, a lot of other people don't (which I guess is pretty much what you're getting at).
As for Obama, I have always thought that he looks half-black, but that's just my opinion.
Completely agree with you that ethnicity is relevant, but I thought making the distinction was important. It's a pet peeve of mine to use race and ethnicity interchangeably when they are not the same thing. And yes, negative reactions can still be there, but I'd argue that they are usually less insurmountable than a visual difference...at least for me they were.
As far as Obama goes, I was referring to the news in general, not our own opinions. He was labeled the first black president...not the first half-black president.
It used to be a pet peeve of mine but I find that I've started to use them interchangeably myself (depending on the circumstances...I know, shame on me). I definitely agree that the visual difference can be far more easy to overcome if your Hispanic heritage results in a lighter skin tone. Not so much for others (like my grandparents, aunts, and cousins).
I completely agree with you about Obama and how he is portrayed (and to be honest, it annoys me).