All white people are racists...or "white fragility" ??

[Rhondazvous]

And me: Well, at a family reunion, it was discovered that we are direct descendants of General Robert E. Lee. What the fuck am I supposed to do, pay myself reparations? I got up, looked in the mirror and apologized to myself. Just talking about race as a definite reality is too mixed up crazy.

Agreed!

By the way, Robert E. Lee was not a slave owner, and was an abolitionist. He wrote and spoke out against slavery. He fought for the Confederacy out of a sense of patriotism to his state, not because he was in favor of the "Southern cause". Interesting tidbit that most people don't know. So at least you don't have to be ashamed of that part of your heritage.

I'm as Euro-gene'd as it's possible to be, and yet I have dark eyes and dark brown, almost afro-esque curly hair, courtesy of my Cajun French ancestry. Because I tan easily, I am often mistaken for mixed-race toward the end of summer, and I get quite the kick out of the confusion of people trying to make that determination. When asked, I reply, "does it matter?" (Sometimes I'll say I'm Cajun, since I know most people don't know our heritage in racial terms or they confuse us with the Creoles, so it confuses them even more.)

I'm not clear about the Cajun/Creole connection. But I'd be more than happy to learn.

A white man who can pass for Black. That shows you these classifications aren't based on anything scientific.

I knew Lee was fighting out of loyalty to his state, but I didn't know he was an abolitionist. Based on what I know about why the North was fighting the South, I've often wondered if what Lincoln did to the Southern states was any different from what Russia did to the Slavic states. We've has several threads about the Civil War but never from that angle.