White African American = Offensive?

At this point, I'm of the opinion that human life was created by an alien species' cable channel, purely as entertainment.

No no, just North American life...

Seriously tho, at least tell me this guy was busted selling poisoned milk to school children or something.

Stop hating on Mexicans.

I agree 100%. Humanity is, I'm afraid, the keyboard cat of the universe. So I wonder if this kid actually doesn't know any better or was just being a smartass.

I would smash.

Is it wrong that I thought Alien Nation just then?

I'd fuck those aliens too.

Ditto

I personally believe he is not in the wrong in doing so but at the same time the backlash is completely predictable. I technically am a Native American but it's against the rules for me to say that.

My favorite African-American.

I hope the student sues. People are far too hung up on defining themselves.

Would've been funnier if she wasn't darker'n Halle Berry in that shot.

But why is she your favorite? I would probably go with Muhammad Ali or Richard Pryor or Darby Jones.

She's my favorite because she's nicer to look at than Ali or Pryor or Jones. Also, she was born in Africa and became a naturalized US citizen whereas the others were born in the United States, so using the student's definition she is an African American, and a white one at that.

People are really stupid.

By the same token I should be pissed at all of you for calling yourselves Americans.

I personally think the whole idea of finding as many ways possible to separate and label each other by our ethical differences is stupid. And it really sucks that Americans, let alone humanity, won't figure that out until long after I am long gone, if ever at all.

I recall a similar shitstorm back in the 90's because a white kid from South Africa identified himself on an admissions form as African American. He was accused of trying to defraud financial aid sources because they'd look at the box he checked & assume was black, & possibly give him aid he wasn't "entitled" to. I don't, unfortunately, recall how that one ended. But I think it may also have occurred at Rutgers (the parent university of UMDNJ, the offending institution in the story being discussed in the thread). Rutgers likes to fashion itself as liberal, but my alma mater often goes too far the other way, resulting in intolerant backlashes just like this far too often.

I had a friend in college who was white whose parents were born in South Africa, so he put down "African-American" on his application. He was pretty sure that was how he got in.

Almost 20 posts and not a single person found a way to work Soul Man in this? Shame on you CHUD.

You just did. I salute you, CHUD!

If only the NAACP would just authorize an approved list of "colors". And preferably ones related to food. Peach, Caramel, Chocolate, Banana cream, etc.

Meta!

Let's ask billionaire Ubuntu Linux founder Mark Shuttleworth for his take on this controversy.

Race and ethnicity are different things conceptually, though people tend to conflate them. The former refers largely to genetics (genes, skin color, etc.) where as the latter refers to customs, language, traditions. A person who's parents are Asian, but who was born and raised in Germany would be racially classified as Asian and ethnically classified as German. In this situation, the student's race is White; ethnically, he is African American. As such, African American isn't what he should be putting on forms that ask about race.

Huh?

From the quote above, he described himself as;

What should Obama put on his form for race btw?

Well, the question isn't "should" but rather what his options are. If its a "select only one" form (as most governmental forms still are), Obama would most likely choose Black because that's a) how he self-identifies and b) it wouldn't be socially acceptable for him to choose White. If its a "select all that apply" form, such as the US Census, then he has the option of selecting White, Black, or both. The odds of Obama choosing only White is again slim to none because of social norms. I select White, Black, and write in Mixed on all my forms, regardless of the rules, and let the agency decide where it wants to place me.

I guess the larger question of 'who gives a shit' has yet to be addressed?

That makes sense, I was talking to my wife about that the other day.

There are more complex cases though, that could chose one or the other and I always find it curious to see what a person would chose to identify themselves.

Now for the ethnicity, it gets even more interesting to me. My wife has a cousin whose parents are from Puerto Rico and Guatemala. She chooses to identify herself as Puerto Rican. Why? Because it's 'cooler' to do so (specially in NY). She associates Puerto Rico with fun and cool, Guatemala with boring, and poverty.

With a group of Mexican kids I once saw Edward James Olmos talk about a similar issue. He asked them to raise their hand if they were proud of their Aztec ancestry, culture. Then he reminded them most of us are mixed with Spaniards and ask those who were proud of their white/European heritage to raise their hand. Nobody did. Interesting stuff.

That's why with my daughters we try to balance everything out, but also make sure they ultimately they know they are from the US. They were born here and they can be proud of our cultures, but they should acknowledge the various influences and define their own identity.

I think a lot of people should give a shit. This debate is about the freedom of individuals being able to self identify how they want to, while at the same time contending with the very real issues of race being used as a marker to determine federal funding, for examine health disparities, to enforce various civil rights, etc.

Shouldn't "African-American" not be an option in a question about race, then?

No, this is about an idiot at dental school.

I bet a got more injun in me then you do or most Hispanics do. I also know couple of people who have one of more parents who are black, but they can easily pass for white. I know one guy who mother is black as night ,but not only is his skin very fair, he also has blue eyes and blond hair.

Exactly!!! I might have went the wrong way around it but what I basically meant was that people shouldn't give a shit.

We need George Orr to come and dream us all grey.

I haven't had cause to fill out a form like this in some time, but IIRC, didn't they say "Race/Ethnicity" in this question? I'm not sure the distinction you make is universally agreed upon. I figure Uncle Sam doesn't recognize race as being different from ethnicity, at any rate.

Those are what I generally associate the term "Hispanic" (okay, not "boring")

Is he sure that's his real mother? I hear blacks like to sleep around a lot.

he may wish she wasn't, but she keep claming him anyways.