Commentary: World Observations and Race

10723466-happy-hands-vector-designI don’t generally weigh in on touchy subjects such as race unless the subject moves me to the point of knowing that I need to speak out. Trayvon Martin, yeah I had something to say, so I said it. For as many people that believe OJ got away with it, I’ll forever believe that true of Zimmerman. Who is still showing his ass out in the news FYI.  What I have to say now isn’t anything magnanimous or prolific. Among most black folks we’ve known this “truth to be self evident” for quite some time. It’s something that happens even within our own culture for reasons that often date back to slavery. Prejudice based on skin tone is nothing new.

Now what has grabbed my attention was the big hoopla about the little tow headed girl found among the gypsies in Greece. You have all these folks mounting a huge posse ridden investigation, going all the way down to the marrow of the child to DISPROVE she didn’t belong the couple that said she was theirs. Based on what she looked like. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. Yes I am about to take you there so buckle up.

As it turned out after all the rigmarole was that a Bulgarian gypsy mother gave her to this couple. She and husband have several children, living in less than admirable conditions and simply stated she knew she couldn’t take care of the child adequately. She also stated she didn’t sell the child, no money was taken she was freely given. Now see that is a mother’s love. Not a gypsy love just a mother that would rather her baby eat and live than suffer. The article I read from Yahoo news said the woman didn’t have running water…

What amazes me most about all of this is not the biological mother’s capacity to give up her child but the fact that had the baby had darker features as some gypsies do, I don’t think they’d have question the validity of the adoptive parents. They put that child’s prints in several databases and nothing came back. Why? Child wasn’t missing. The adoptive parents simply stated she’s ours. And they had been caring for her. No abuse, no bruises bumps or cuts. She didn’t look unhappy on her photo; you know those pictures of the haunted big eyed orphan kids. Yet their word was in question because they had a tow head child in their midst…and the fact that you can’t trust a gypsy. I said that with as much sarcasm as I hoped would “drip” off of this page.  Prejudice and disbelief was the simple and underlying motivation to spend more money on disproving this kid wasn’t theirs than is spent on LOCATING THE MISSING CHILDREN THAT ARE OUT THERE.

Now I have cute little side bar here—Hmm, let’s see, there are some black children with blonde hair and blue eyes and I wonder how many of their parents had their parentage questioned by the authorities? My step daughter is one such child. Her mama has dark DARK skin, her father is bi racial so the DNA remix popped up. It’s not uncommon in black families to have rainbow children. In my own family, my parents were both fairer hued (Dad was lighter, mom was called Red…) but my sibling and I range in coloring somewhere in between. My children are also “assorted chocolate” and I don’t think anybody ever questioned if my kids belonged to me. For their sake they better had not…*eyes narrowing into slits to reiterate that statement*

I believe (and I can do that) a major concern some whites have (not all and not any that I know and I know quite a few…) when they run across non whites with white features (ESPECIALLY among blacks mind you) is if said person is trying to “pass”. As if being white somehow affords you a better standing and status in this world. Or is it that somehow if a few non whites get to walk that side of the line they somehow expose the “true whites” to some sort of ethnic pollution? Or maybe it’s all a trick of the Illuminati…But wait we’ve had that done — black folks passing!!! *horrified look then sobering* Well it’s too bad because none have ever come back to let me know the 411. So whether there is some validity to that could be and I’m just saying could be justified by the fear from the white establishment concerning such a thing happening and the blacks (and other minorities— passing is not limited to blacks) feeling desperate enough to do it from a misguided sense of belief in said supposed view. Now things do become a bit tricky, a bit dicey even (Snagglepuss) because “DANA” aka DNA “gone run and tell that” (Antoine Dodson) and she wins out every time. Eventually a darker skinned child is going to pop up… somewhere. @_@ (whaaat???)

It’s also not lost on me that in all my readings and in the few instances that I have met gypsies, that according to them, they are a despised group of people. They get their fair share of discrimination be it a caste thing, economic and social thing or just plain ole’ racist bull crap— you say the word Gypsy and you get a reaction. Most of the time negative.

Now I’ll be watching to see if they return the little girl. The parents as I understand it were detained solely because of their race and the fact the child looked white. They now know she wasn’t abducted and does not belong to anyone missing a white child so now what?

[[[(Side bar shame it needs to be said but I’ma say it.) Now if you know something more that can refute my statements please enlighten me.  And when I say enlighten me what I mean is that this is not an open door for ANYONE TO STEP IN MY YARD AND SPOUT RACIST BABBLING(S). I want documented sources, not your opinions or conjectures. Again I am speaking directly to the racist folks that are bound to put their two cents into my skeet and why I am saying HELL TO THE NAW (Shout to my girl Whitney H R.I.P) You can just get tah steppin’! The simple fact of the matter is: THIS IS MY COMMENTARY AND MY BLOG. IF THAT’S YO’ THANG, YOU CAN DO WHAT  YOU WANNA’ DO ON YOUR BLOG PLEASE AND THANK YOU. Now for the rest of the folks that want to weigh in by all means, please do. But do save the drama for your mama. Adults need to learn how to say what they have to say without bringing their issues into the mix. I’m not going to debate your feelings or mine. Just so you know. But I will say thank you and give you a smiley face! 😀 <— like that one for commenting.]]]

Any who, where was I — I had a shinny objects moment there, oh yes, the parents as I understand it have not committed a crime. I’d say they were exonerated of any wrong doing by the statement issued from the biological mother. Again,  I’ll be watching to see if they return this baby to her PARENTS; the ones that have sheltered her and fed her all this time. She wasn’t in the system awaiting a family. She had one. Now she’s being held in an undisclosed location…really?

I’ll also be watching to see what lengths they go to this time. It’s a sad day indeed for the human race, when you aren’t deemed good enough to have a child that looks differently than yourselves for underlying racist drivel. With all these hungry unclaimed babies in this world that would need a good home gypsy or otherwise, you’d think they would have applauded the tenacity that these people showed.

The Greek authorities called it a crackdown. Somehow that didn’t remind me of a crackdown it just reminded me of ethnic disparity and dare I say reminiscent of what started wars over ethnic cleansing. See those wars began too with the idea that one race trumped another— some features where better than others—like the color of someone’s skin…(And it’s not indicative of just whites go check out Spike Lee’s School Daze an oldie but still a goody and is still prevalent even in this current age.) 

When will we ever learn to celebrate what is unique about the races and to expound upon the similarities of the human race?  I can only live for that day.

(My info was cited based on this article: http://gma.yahoo.com/greek-mystery-girls-identity-confirmed-dna-144430550–abc-news-topstories.html)