(Page 2 of 2)

Reaching For A New Identity

It Is Hard To Measure Every Subtle Shade Of Ethnic Difference

March 25, 2001|By Dawn Turner Trice. Dawn Turner Trice, an author, covers urban affairs for the Chicago Tribune.

Remember when blacks were counted as three-fifths of a person in the census? And when those with even a hint of black blood were so defiled by its presence they were considered Negro? More specifically, in the 1890 census, a person who was one-eighth African and seven-eighths white was considered octoroon. A person with one-fourth African blood was considered quadroon

(In the 19th Century, racial data from the census was collected at the behest of scientists who hoped to figure out whether blacks and whites were of a different species, and whether mulattos would die sooner than their single-race counterparts.)

Yet, also tucked within the black experience and often eclipsed by the negative stuff is evidence of great triumph over the most abominable of conditions, from slavery through Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the civil rights and Black Power movements on up to today's myriad challenges.

During crucial periods blacks have struggled together and overcome together.

The shadow of race

In the end, there's no question that race will always cast a long shadow over our country by dictating our political, social and economic order.

It will be some time before we know the ramifications of letting people color themselves by choosing from a more colorful palette.

But what we do know now is that it has forced many of us to think about our multiculturalism.

Maybe these baby steps will lead to larger ones that guide us in redefining the entire race paradigm.

Perhaps eventually it will force us to see people instead of perceptions.

We will start to ask why a school shooting in a white suburb is still national news and an urban drive-by still local; why it is that of all the interracial combinations, the black-white combination still gives us the most visceral of reactions; and why we still have to explain to our kids that skin color makes a difference.

Perhaps, once we have acknowledged all our varied selves, all our many hues, it will enable us to see color as the camouflage it really is.

The bad news is that this will not happen for many censuses to come.

The good news is a paradox: We have made such a mess with regards to race that we will continue to defy our own greatest efforts to put people in nice, neat boxes.