Ethnically Speaking by Larry Meeks

Dear Larry: Two married friends of mine enrolled their daughter in school for kindergarten. The wife is white, and the husband is Hispanic. They had to fill out a mountain of paperwork, and part of the stuff was a section concerning the race of the child. They decided neither white nor Hispanic was accurate, so they checked "other."

The school did not agree with their classification and changed the child's race to "Hispanic." The school said the child has to be listed as Hispanic because her father's genes are dominant.

I have seen some exceptions: I knew a kid back in grade school whose father was Japanese, and his mother was white. He had more of his mother's features, including blond hair. The only features he had from his father were his eyes. He was listed as white.

I know a woman whose father is white and whose mother is Korean. She is listed as Asian instead of white because she has more of her mother's features.

I also have noticed that most of the time, when an interracial couple is black and white, the child always is listed as being black. What is interesting is that lately, black/white children now are being called by that old taboo name "mulatto."

When it comes to people who are biracial, why does society tend to identify what race the person should be? I thought it was up to the individual or the individual's parents to state the individual's identity. — Pat

Dear Pat: You have noted a real flaw in the whole race classification system. I am sorry to say there is no official way in which one should label race. I have seen white people listed as black, Hispanic and Asian.

I have seen blacks labeled as white, Hispanic, Native American and Asian. I have seen Hispanics labeled as every major ethnic group.

The most dramatic listing I ever have seen was a family with five children, each of whom had the same black father and Hispanic mother, and each child was listed in a different ethnic group. The parents thought the whole ethnic classification thing was a joke and would say with great pride they had the most politically correct family in America.

This is a multicultural society in which the races have blended so much that race identification is becoming more of an art than a science. As we blend, the ability to identify will become more and more difficult.

I believe there never could be a perfect system of race classification.

Someone asked me what race he should list on a document. I told him he could put any race he would like to be. Chances are he would be right.

Dear Larry: I am writing in response to "Confused," who wrote about how her black co-worker cursed her out and referred to her as a "naive fool" because she said racism doesn't exist anymore in the U.S. because of the election of Barack Obama.

She is wrong to think racism doesn't exist anymore. However, I agree with your answer that people need something to justify their lack of achievement.

My message to "Confused" is perhaps this "friend" isn't a friend at all. Anyone who treats you that way just for having a differing opinion is not your friend.

Perhaps in your response, Larry, you should have advised her to find better friends. — Alison

Dear Alison: You are right. I wish I had said so.

To find out more about Larry G. Meeks and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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