Artbrooks: I was definitely, definitely speaking in jest. Waitaminnit... "Geographically-based racial pointers of yesteryear", you say???? Guess again: everybody seems to have a geographically-based pointer right now... except the "White" folks. I think it's time for me to post the lyrics to a song I wrote a few years ago, with tongue firmly affixed to cheek, after a conversation with a friend similar to the one we're having now (he's the "Jewish-American" in the song):


WHITE (A Song of Color)

You've got your African-American, your Asian-American,
A name for every color of skin.
You've got your Indian-American, your Native American,
A name for any ethnic group that you might be in
Except for the one that I'm a member of. There's no name that I would love
To use 'cause nothing sounds quite right
And yet it would seem that every other race is called by its starting place.
So whydaya have to call me "white"?

Some people think that I should say I am Caucasian-American
But they don't know what "Caucasus" means.
Then others want me to proclaim I am an Anglo-American
But England's not the only land where I got my genes
'Cause I'm a descendant of some German men, some French, Scots, and Irishmen
And Welshmen, too, so here's my plight:
That's too many places to put in a name that claims that they're all the same,
So whydaya have to call me "white"?

Bridge:
A Jewish-American friend of mine says he thinks what fits
    me would be a name that starts with "European"
But I think it sounds 'way too much like that old riddle for kids
(Spoken: "You know the one... If you're American in the living room, what are you in the bathroom? Yer-a-peein'!")
    so I wanna pick another group to be in!

No one should use a color as a slur at people. No moniker
Like "red" or "black" or "yellow" or "brown"
Because we're more than mounds of melanin. We're humans beneath the skin
That's got a pigment based on where our ancestry's found
So don't you insist that it's PC to call me "white". Take a look at me!
Just use your eyes and see what's right!
Forget about what your closed-up mind might think. My skin's kinda peachy-pink...
...sorta...
So what if it's just a few shades light?
Oh, whydaya have to call me "white"???



Copyright Sharon Abbott All rights reserved.