All that being said, it begs the question, how does one identify one's race?
I am raising bi racial children and their Father and I have done our best to be "colour blind" and teach our children to be the same. It was not until my son started pre school that he questioned his "colour." He ran up to me asked what colour he was. I admit that in my naivety, I was unprepared. I assumed that we had gotten past the idea of colour by their generation. Regretfully I was wrong. My instintive answer was he was Café au Lait. His Father being the "café" and myself being the "au lait." This answered satified him for quite a long time.
I noticed, however, as he grew older, that he began to say he was black. I asked why, and his response was that this was the way other people saw him. Which brings me back to my original question. How do we identify our race?
I cannot speak of the criteria of anyone else but me. I have done my best to maintain my blindness to colour. I see myself as a woman of the human race. My skin tone is irrelevant and whatever colours others see when they look at me are of no consequence. My heritage is of Ireland and Sweden, but I am a very proud Canadian. I appreciate that there are a plethora of cultures and subcultures on this planet, and am curious about all of them. Knowledge is the surest way to eliminate fear and prejudice.
I do not know why Ms. Dolezal would identify her race as black when biologically she is not. But it does open up a large can of worms. What is the definition of race?
