Reparations? Really??

 I just stumbled across one of the week's most delightful contradictions. (Okay, next to the 'Latina/south Arab' got-my-job-because-of-my-'race' person... outed as 'white as the driven snow' by her mom. Oops.)

1969 -- at her first lecture in Royce Hall. 

I loved the Afro hairstyle --but could never get my hair to cooperate.

Angela Davis, former Black Panther and self-described Marxist radical teacher/writer, just discovered that she is directly related to:

William Brewster, one of the Pilgrim leaders on the Mayflower. 

Here he is, holding forth. 

The irony is delicious.

One of the very people who demands reparations for black people (though not Native Americans -- God forbid) may have to bill herself. 

Davis was not happy with this revelation. In fact, she was a bit angry. But hey, the person she was facing was Henry Louis Gates Jr., whose Finding Your Roots show has been such an interesting look at people's DNA backgrounds. (And more than a surprise, in several cases.)

I found this especially interesting, since one of my dearest friends, a blue-eyed blond, is also a direct descendant of William Brewster. (And nope, she and Angela don't look a thing alike.)

Think about this. 

We Americans are mutts -- myself and the Brick included. We hold such a mix of ancestry from different countries, people and events. Even those 'identifying' as Black are going to have a hard time arguing that they're 100% from Africa... i.e., African-American.

Because, except for extremely rare cases -- they're not. 

Even if they argue that the Caucasian blood came from white plantation owners taking advantage of female slaves (which definitely happened), they're going to have a harder time excusing their DNA ancestors who may have been kidnapped and put into slavery by -- other Africans. (Or done some slave-selling themselves, in turn. Increasingly stronger evidence points out that tribes would use this attack-and-kidnap approach to fatten their finances, and keep their tribe dominant. But it's a long ways from the 'Whitey put us in chains' argument.)

California currently has a reparations task force arguing that not only should Black people get substantial payments-- but they're stating flat numbers already. And saying that if the U.S. doesn't get behind this, we're all... you know... 

RACIST.

Here are the problems.

If this goes through -- and I have this uncomfortable feeling it will -- who will pay the money? People with slaveowner ancestors? Those who have 'white people' blood in their veins? What about those with 'black people' blood in their veins -- from African slavers? Do they count?

But...

Many, many Black Americans have some degree of 'something else' in their blood. (One way to see this is to compare photos of Black Americans with Black Africans. Whose 'of color' really stands out? I noticed this particularly in an episode of Finding Your Roots that brought Chris Tucker to his ancestral home in Africa.)

 It's inevitable, in this country of so many mixed cultures and backgrounds. Even Henry Gates, who said he got his professor's appointment because he was a 'person of color,' acknowledged that his DNA showed him to be 51% white. Not Black -- White.

So... who qualifies, and who doesn't? 

I've heard the 'One percent' theory -- that if your DNA shows even just 1% of the nationality you're claiming -- it counts. (If that's true, then I'm Basque -- because at one point, Ancestry.com stated it. Dear Friend's husband, in spite of a huge mix of Indian and Spanish blood, is also 100% Basque -- because he also has one percent.)

I've also heard that if you 'identify' as Black, that's good enough. (Shades of Rachel Doelzal, who continues to argue that she should be considered Black -- because she wants to be.) People aren't stupid. If 'identifying' as Black in California means a substantial payday, there will be a huge increase in 'Black' people moving there soon. 

What a mess. 

Meanwhile, a tiny bit of me is enjoying watching Angela Davis squirm because of her newly-discovered family history. And another tiny bit really wishes and hopes that the creator of the 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones, would make a similar discovery. Please, Dr. Gates -- 'do' her background next!

And while you're waiting, be sure to check out Finding Your Roots. It really is an illumination of all the various nationalities and people who made us who we are. Why not celebrate the fact that whatever's running around in your DNA --

You're an American. And that's something to be proud of.