I’m actually in the wave camp on this issue and believe that race policies are often too simple to encapsulate the complexity of Race and how it works in our society especially.

I’ve written about the changing definition of the “scientific” word Caucasian and the WSJ article touches on the changing concept of Whiteness as well.

The article also touches on the “one-drop rule” but only to show how the French liked to make up words for partially black folks. In the US, the one drop rule meant if you were ANY PART black, AT ALL, you were black period (and a slave!).

In the case of Obama, I see this idea coming to the fore and it’s important in terms of context and history. To me, Obama is black. Yes I recognize that he’s actually half-white and even half-AFRICAN (not multigenerational African American), which you THINK would put him even outside of the AfricanAmer context… and it does… especially to AfricanAmers, but to whites and the media? Nah. Phenotypically, Obama is black simply because he “looks” black and has undergone raciallization as such. Unfortunately, that’s the context we’re dealing with and yes it certainly robs him of half of his heritage, just like it robs someone who looks white, but is, in fact, part something else… in this country, if you pass, you pass.

Back to my point on Obama. With all that being said, it’s amazingly historical and great that we’re about to have a black man as President of the United States. His blackness will not be diminished in this regard and sure it’ll be at the cost of his true racial diversity, but since this country’s racist history would have proclaimed him a slave 150 years ago, so too, we must BREAK that tradition by using the very same categorical methods… sort of the exception that proves the rule, but in reverse. If that makes any sense (sorry been reading too much Kerouac).

But you know, just like white racists lament, once the color-line is broken, it’s a free for all for colored folks everywhere. I for one welcome it even as a whitey. ok enough rambling.

I’m half Japanese, half Chinese; and actually not very conversant in either language, yet.

As for the dry cleaning lost pants case, I never thought it a Black vs. Korean issue; when the guy is/was a judge, and suing for millions of dollars over one pair of pants; to me he immediately went into the ‘insane’ category. His race didn’t matter one twit.