The Negro Problem, 2010 Census, and Bad Dreams
“They approach me in a half-hesitant sort of way, eye me curiously or compassionately, and then, instead of saying directly, How does it feel to be a problem? they say, I know an excellent colored man in my town; or, I fought at Mechanicsville; or, Do not these Southern outrages make your blood boil? At these I smile, or am interested, or reduce the boiling to a simmer, as the occasion may require. To the real question, How does it feel to be a problem? I answer seldom a word”- W.E.B. Dubois
Last night I had trouble sleeping. Lately I have been suffering from extreme night terrors. However, last night’s episode was far worse than any of the previous ones I have suffered from. I usually wake up in a cold sweat after having a vision of falling into an abyss of nothingness. That imaginary abyss is minor compared to the frightening horrors that I battled with all last night. Brace yourself…Last night I dreamt that someone called me a NEGRO in 2010. Well it didn’t start it out just like that. In fact, there was quite a lot that built up to this. Since there is no way for you to experience what I did, allow me to paint a picture.
Setting: Anywhere in the United States of America at anytime on any day
Characters: Joe America & Me
Scene Begins-
Joe America: I can’t believe those damn bleeding heart liberals really pushed healthcare reform through. It’s just another way for those poor Blacks and Mexicans to suck off of the government and take money away from hardworking Americans like me.
Me: I don’t understand why you’re complaining. You’re currently unemployed and have no healthcare whatsoever. This package should help you just as much as it will help anybody else.
Joe America: You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’ve been drinking Obama’s kool-aid for far too long. I don’t want my hard earned money going to illegal aliens.
Me: First of all, the bill doesn’t extend coverage to those who aren’t citizens. In fact, on page 143 of the bill it says, “Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.”
Joe America: Don’t sass me boy.
Me: I know I may be younger than you, but I’d appreciate it if you called me by my name.
Joe America: My deepest apologies. Let me rephrase that, don’t sass me NEGRO!
Me: Excuse me! My name is Edward, and I’d appreciate if you referred to me as that only that.
Joe America: Well aren’t you so uppity? If your college education were worth anything you would know that I have every right to call you that.
Me: Really? Why is that?
Joe America: That’s what the government refers to you as. How does it feel it to be a problem?
Me: Where is all this coming from? The government refers to me by name, and I’m not a problem.
Joe America: Yes you are. You take me for a fool? I read Dubois. Yes, there still is a NEGRO problem.
Me: I’m not even going to argue with you. My father told me never to argue with fools because people from a distance can’t tell who is who.
Joe America: Yea, yea, yea! No matter what you do or say you always be a NEGRO, at least for the next ten years.
Scene Ends.
Then I woke up in a cold sweat. Let it be known that in 2010 we are still seen as Negroes. That is not a Negro problem that is an American problem.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXj4nUfg1VI
This is so outdated. I bet those 57,000 people who wrote in “Negro” were Hispanics/Latinos who speak Spanish and were probably not really African-American (perhaps immigrants). If they have African ancestry, in Spanish they are Negros, which does not have the same connotations as the English one does.
Just like I had to write in “mestizo” because as a Mexican-American, it’s news to me that I am “white.” (I know I have Spanish “white blood” but racially, I am more Indian.)
This is so outdated. I bet those 57,000 people who wrote in “Negro” were Hispanics/Latinos who speak Spanish and were probably not really African-American (perhaps immigrants). If they have African ancestry, in Spanish they are Negros, which does not have the same connotations as the English one does.
Just like I had to write in “mestizo” because as a Mexican-American, it’s news to me that I am “white.” (I know I have Spanish “white blood” but racially, I am more Indian.)
Recently, I found the 2010 Census form hanging on my door. As I began filling it out, I came across a dilemma. The U.S. government wants to know if my children are adopted or not and it wants to know what our races are. Being adopted myself, I had to put “Other” and “Don’t Know Adopted” for my race and “Other” and “Don’t Know” for my kids’ races.
Can you imagine not knowing your ethnicity, your race? Now imagine walking into a vital records office and asking the clerk for your original birth certificate only to be told “No, you can’t have it, it’s sealed.”
How about being presented with a “family history form” to fill out at every single doctor’s office visit and having to put “N/A Adopted” where life saving information should be?
Imagine being asked what your nationality is and having to respond with “I don’t know”.
It is time that the archaic practice of sealing and altering birth certificates of adopted persons stops.
Adoption is a 5 billion dollar, unregulated industry that profits from the sale and redistribution of children. It turns children into chattel who are re-labeled and sold as “blank slates”.
Genealogy, a modern-day fascination, cannot be enjoyed by adopted persons with sealed identities. Family trees are exclusive to the non-adopted persons in our society.
If adoption is truly to return to what is best for a child, then the rights of children to their biological identities should NEVER be violated. Every single judge that finalizes an adoption and orders a child’s birth certificate to be sealed should be ashamed of him/herself.
I’d really like to know how Uncle Sam wants adopted persons will sealed identities to answer the race question. Does the U.S. Government want us to lie or does it expect us to be psychic?
Recently, I found the 2010 Census form hanging on my door. As I began filling it out, I came across a dilemma. The U.S. government wants to know if my children are adopted or not and it wants to know what our races are. Being adopted myself, I had to put “Other” and “Don’t Know Adopted” for my race and “Other” and “Don’t Know” for my kids’ races.
Can you imagine not knowing your ethnicity, your race? Now imagine walking into a vital records office and asking the clerk for your original birth certificate only to be told “No, you can’t have it, it’s sealed.”
How about being presented with a “family history form” to fill out at every single doctor’s office visit and having to put “N/A Adopted” where life saving information should be?
Imagine being asked what your nationality is and having to respond with “I don’t know”.
It is time that the archaic practice of sealing and altering birth certificates of adopted persons stops.
Adoption is a 5 billion dollar, unregulated industry that profits from the sale and redistribution of children. It turns children into chattel who are re-labeled and sold as “blank slates”.
Genealogy, a modern-day fascination, cannot be enjoyed by adopted persons with sealed identities. Family trees are exclusive to the non-adopted persons in our society.
If adoption is truly to return to what is best for a child, then the rights of children to their biological identities should NEVER be violated. Every single judge that finalizes an adoption and orders a child’s birth certificate to be sealed should be ashamed of him/herself.
I’d really like to know how Uncle Sam wants adopted persons will sealed identities to answer the race question. Does the U.S. Government want us to lie or does it expect us to be psychic?
i stumbled upon night-terrors-children.com and got this same advice with a lot others
i stumbled upon night-terrors-children.com and got this same advice with a lot others