One Drop

I just had to post this link to an interview on Fresh Air with author Bliss Broyard, author of One Drop: My Father's Hidden Life. Full disclosure, I haven't read the book, yet, but the subject matter is fascinating.

The book is billed as a memoir of the author's famous father, Anatole Broyard, writer and literary critic for the New York Times. Born in 1920 to Creole parents in Louisiana, he and his family decided or were forced to, depending on who you ask, pass for White when they moved to New York City and couldn't find work as Black people. Once Anatole crossed the color line, apparently he never went back to the Black side, including keeping a distance from his own family.

The interview with his daughter is riveting as she describes what it was like at age 24 to find out that she was actually "part Black." I almost crashed my car listening to the interview as she was describing this moment because her mother's response to her children upon revealing "the secret," was (and I'm paraphrasing here) "Well, even though your father is Black, you're not. You're White."

Deep. Deep. Deep.

I for one will add this book to my list of must read Meltingpot books.

For more information about Bliss and to see if she's coming to a city near you, check out her website.

Peace.

National Hispanic Month

Am I the last person to find out that September 15 marked the first day of National Hispanic Heritage Month? Or are others out there as clueless as I? I happened to notice the small print on the calendar at my son's school and came home to investigate.

Sure enough, since 1988, September 15 - October 16 has been officially National Hispanic Month (or Latino Heritage Month, depending on who you're talking to), designated as such because five different Latin American countries -- Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua -- received their independence on September 15. And Mexico, coincidentally, celebrates their independence on September 16th!

Now here at the Meltingpot, we're all about celebrating diversity, so I am truly appalled that I didn't have a clue that Hispanic Month was happening. And I am willing to bet that I'm not the only one. Why is that? There are now officially like 35 million Hispanic people living in the United States and counting. This celebratory month (which was a week long celebration for 20 years before the U.S. government upped it to a whole month) has been an official celebration for more than three decades so why aren't there commercials on TV? Where are the PBS specials? Where are the books about great Latino/as in history being released to coincide with the big month? In other words, why isn't Latino History Month as big as Black History Month? Even National Poetry Month seems to get more play than Latino History Month.

And don't get me wrong, I know that in other parts of the country where there is a larger population of Hispanic people, there is surely a greater awareness, but still, I think there is at the very least a need for a greater PR campaign for this very important month.

But don't take my word for it. Check out Tolerance.org. On their website they not only explain the importance of Hispanic Heritage month, but they also offer some great ideas and lesson plans to help celebrate this oft neglected piece of American history.

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month!

America the Beautiful

I didn't watch the Emmy's last night, but that doesn't mean I wasn't really happy to see that America Ferrera won an award for Best Actress in a comedy series for Ugly Betty.

True confession, I've never watched Ugly Betty but I loved America in Real Women have Curves and she was pretty sweet in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. But more importantly, I think it's fantastic to have a Latina woman win this award. I've seen it mentioned that Ferrera would be the first Latina woman to win an Emmy, but this is not true as Rita Moreno, I believe, holds this honor for her work on The Electric Company. Still, America may be the first Primetime Latina Emmy Award winner. Whether she's a first or not, she's definitely in a small pool, so hats off to wonderful young actress.

Here's a Meltingpot trivia question. What country are America's parents from?

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And Changing the Subject...

Those of you living close to New York City, should check out theUp South International Book Festivalthis week. It runs September 19-23 in Harlem. The festival honors literary works by people of color from all over the world and incorporates music, dance, film and spoken word poetry into the celebration. Some of the authors who will be attending include, Martha Southgate, Tina McElroy Ansa,Stacey Patton, and the great Caribbean writer, Maryse Conde. And that's just a taste. Filmmakers from Iran, Senegalese dancers and Philly's own Sonia Sanchez will also be in attendance. In an effort to prove that people of color do create literary works beyond street lit, Up South, Inc. was founded, so check it out.

Happy reading.

Peace.

Black and Amish?

Correction!
Thanks to my eagle-eyed and knowledgeable readers, it has come to my attention that this couple is most likely not Amish, but in fact Mennonnite. The Mennonites and the Amish share a common protestant history, but they are quite different in their current practices and core beliefs. You can visit Thirdwaycafe.com to have all your Mennonite questions answered.

Thirdway Cafe also provides the following information about Black Mennonites:
" The Mennonite Brethren denomination was among the first known to begin work among people of African-American origin, in a mining community of Elk Park, N.C. in 1886. The Mennonite Church baptized its first black members in 1897 in Cocolamus, Pa."

End of correction

School's back in session and My American Meltingpot is back from summer vacation. Please keep tuning in to see what we're blogging about. This year we're going to try to post more frequently since there always seems to be something brewing in America's cultural stew. Things that make us mad. People who inspire us and of course those situations that just make us go hmmm....like this one.

Recently I went to the Philadelphia Zoo with my family. We were just strolling along, looking at monkeys and elephants and such when I noticed a large crowd of Amish folk taking in the sights as well. Of course I noticed them, because, well, big groups of Amish are noticeable at places like the zoo. Sure they were pushing strollers and pointing at the giant boa constrictors like the rest of us, but the outfits always make you look twice. Not that there's anything wrong with the Amish dress, I'm just saying you notice it.

Well, on this particular day, with this particular group of Amish, I noticed one couple because the husband was Black. Just regular old American looking Black. He was wearing black pants and a white shirt so at first I couldn't be sure if he was really with the group, but then I realized that his wife was the Amish woman in the floral-print dress next to him and the little biracial girl who held his hand was surely his daughter.

I had to hold myself back from running right up to him to ask if he was indeed Amish. I wanted to know how he came to be Amish. If there were more like him. Of course I did not ask these burning questions because I believe in people's right to enjoy an outing at the zoo without being attacked by curious strangers like myself.

So, I simply allowed myself to stare and wonder and smile at the sight. This is what I love to see, racial stereotypes being shattered by regular everyday people. Just by being out at the zoo, this couple made people stop and think and question. This is what I love about the human experience. This is what I love about My American Meltingpot.

Curiously, after a brief internet search I found very little information about Black Amish people. Technically, Amish is a religion so anybody "should" be able to join, but I'm not sure how the Amish handle "newcomers." Definitely something that makes you go hmmmm.

Peace.

Photo by Vitamin Lee

We're Coming Back....

Thanks for stopping by. The Meltingpot will be back in action, on September 10, 2007.

In the meantime, check out our new links and come back next Monday.