Newly Minted

Newly Minted
Right after I was hooded

Friday, January 8, 2010

Counting Negros in 2010

...Self-identified Negros of course

A student sent me this link: www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/01/06/2010-01-06_census_negro_issue_use_of_word_on_forms_raises_hackles_memories_of_jim_crow.html

This is a link to a brief article about the 2010 census. What is remarkable is that a student from over a year ago was impacted enough by the Examining Mixed Race course to still be concious of the value of such an article. I am feeling pretty good about that. It was the first incarnation of the course and students like Rachael have continued to shape the way I teach and think about mixed race. Thank you Rachael.

In Rachael's email she asked me what I thought about the inclusion of the word negro on the 2010 census. During our class we had spent time being critical of the occurrence and disappearance cycle of the category mixed race, in varying forms, on the United States census. Never in a million years did I think I would find myself talking about the word negro as cyclic or reoccurring beyond the realization of the African American identity.

I have to admit I am reacting to one online article and will spend a lot more time researching this. And, I have to say that this is what happens when we discount something like the census because we know it is flawed and systemically oppressive. I have not only not been paying attention; I have been ignoring the impending census on purpose hoping that it would not come. This is clearly something that I should have caught as the creation of the race question was being discussed. I was deeply aware of the very public debate about adding "Other" or any of its variations to Census 2000. That said, it is unfathomable to me that this has not been a more high profile conversation that would have caught the attention of even the most disconnected citizen.

I wonder if they discussed this with our new president or if there are statements or thoughts that he has already shared on the inclusion of negro in the census. What about the tenants of civil rights, are they weighing in on this? I am sure my research will uncover either a suppression of this conversation or my complete ignorance. My sense of it though, since 2010 is here, is that my committee or cohort would have rushed this to my attention knowing that I have used the census in my research and that I would be most interested in this. I am very curious about what my research will disclose about how this decision was made and by whom.

The most important thing I want to think about with all of you is this: What are we counting? What I have learned about census' role in socio-racial construction is not what the question on the form is; rather, what was the thought process and intention that led to that question. What we have learned about the race question in the United States, in its current form, is that the race question was added to count slaves; to access human property. Mulatto was added to make sure that mixed race bodies were counted as slaves and were not left out of that count because of aesthetic ambiguity. Mulatto then went away after the one-drop rule made it unnecessary to count mixed race bodies separately from black bodies. So, if negro is being recreated as a category on the 2010 census, what are we counting? If I read this article correctly, it would seem we are simply counting African-Americans over the age of 80.

More soon...

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Cyborgs, Mixed-Race Bodies, and Passing...Oh My!

Reinvigoration comes from the most random places. I was talking to a keynote speaker that I am engaging for our student mini-conference in March. The conference focus is diversity, equity and social justice; our theme is imagining communities without walls. Our keynote is an esteemed scholar in Rochester; a woman of color, who captivated my students and I at a symposium she held with her students last fall. During the symposium, which was this amazing room full of women of color - academics, lawyers, doctors; I remember thinking this woman had changed my life. First, I had never been in a room full of brown women who were both successful AND welcoming. Second, she was just dynamic and engaging. When I approached her after her talk and told her how she had impacted me, because I am impulsive like that, she hugged me and welcomed me into her community. By the time I left she had given me her personal and professional contact information and offered her time and experience as I moved through my PhD journey. I felt blessed and tucked the information away. I felt I could never tell this black feminist scholar that I studied mixed race.

So... yesterday we were talking about the conference and she was letting me know that because of the immediate connection she had felt with myself and my students, she was doing our conference when she really didn't have time. She went on to tell me that she was teaching three NEW courses, something I would do to myself, and started to tell me about them. All of a sudden...WHAM (I have no better way to articulate the sensation I experienced in this moment) she is talking about mixed race. (Happy Dance by the Mixed Race Professor)

Save the fact that I became a babbling idiot, as I am want to do in the shadow of greatness, I was blown away. My own assumptions get me in trouble often; my assumption about black feminist scholars may be causing me more than trouble. My assumption that all black feminst scholars, save the few who have actually verbally attacked me in public places, reject mixed race identity is keeping me from engaging other academics and scholarship. My gift, the revelation and the validation of what I believed when I began this journey is that there is a community of scholars that not only believe in mixed race they are studying and teaching it. Our conversation continued as this amazing scholar graciously started giving me resources and pointed me toward other scholars doing this work. Then, she asked me for resources and suggestions for the teaching of her new class. This kind of peer acknowledgment always makes me incredibly giddy (and I became less and less able to communicate because of it) but I was able to fumble through the exchange.

I was up at 1:50 am this morning thinking about my dissertation. I won't admit to anyone how long it has been since I thought about my dissertation (or worked on it) but I am on fire. It is 4:37 am and I have been researching the possibilities she shared as well as a healthy jstor search for new articles. Thank you to the powers that oversee lost PhD candidates, I think I may be headed in a good direction.

More soon...