Washington D.C. is having a mayor's race between incumbent Adrian Fenty and City Councilman Vince Gray. I think it totally fulfills the promise of the Postracial Obama Age that black majority Washington D.C. now has two white guys running for mayor, and nobody has even mentioned it!On the left is a picture of D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, whose ancestors journeyed to Earth from the same planet as Vin Diesel's people. (By the way, have you ever noticed how Vin Diesel looks like Jerry Seinfeld -- not in pictures, so much, but in terms of facial expressions?)
In the pictures on the right is Fenty's 67-year-old challenger Vince Gray. As you can see, the only thing black about Gray is his hair color.And then there's the mayor of Cleveland, Frank G. Jackson, who is humorously known as one of the leading African-American politicians in Ohio, although in a previous career, he was the white Maoist intellectual behind a Latin American indigenous peasant uprising, or at least that's what he looks like to me.
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50 comments:
Uh, these guys are "white"?
I'm not quite sure what you're trying to say with you usaging such bizarre humour.
What are you saying?
Sailer's talking about the rise of the mulatto elites, one of his major themes over the past year or two.
this latest blog entry comes off as inexplicable and pretty pointless, frankly.
And YOU, sound very cranky!
The Mullatto elite in action...
I think the point is that in the age of affirmative action, you go with the best qualified black guy. The best qualified black guys are at least half, if not 7/8 white. We could probably throw a certain former senator from Tenn into the mix, although he's not as strikingly white as these guys.
I'd like to reply to anonymous- no not that one the other one- no, below him, lower, yes that anonymous.
Dan in Dc
Al Gore is 1/8th black?
Someguy, I meant congressman - Ford
6 Anonymous
My girl friend used to claim that she was an octoroon. Since she had blues eyes, blond hair and very fair skin this seemed improbable. But I suppose it helped her at her job.
Albertosaurus
I think there is some sublety to this point in that it illustrates the transition from the "high flying" Marion Barry days. Also think of Kwame Kilpatrick and Ray "Chocolate" City Nagin. The boring Mulatto elite is definitely in its ascendancy at the expense of the "keeping it real" black folks (althogh Nagin was probably more one of them).
As for the Anonymous's. They sound like cranky little fags.
The level of banter and light humour in this post is pretty good for an everyday blog. Not saying it would make the anthology.
I'm 67 too but I've switched to the Light Brown hair dye to try to keep from appearing ridiculous. Maybe if I run for mayor I'll also have to go back to the Dark Brown.
Albertosaurus
"I think the point is that in the age of affirmative action, you go with the best qualified black guy. The best qualified black guys are at least half, if not 7/8 white..."
Uh, No.
Anonymous not only posts a lot, but he has quite a sense of entitlement. He really thinks that there's a serious violation of an important rule if something appears on the internet that he can't immediately understand.
My advice to Anonymous has two parts. First, before posting, stop and see if you can figure it out on your own. Google might be of some use in this situation. Second, remember that when you get this unpleasant, confused feeling, it often means that the author is joking.
I'm sure little Justus is quite a good chess player, it does sound that he has been recruited and groomed and indeed has been allowed to switch to a school 90 minutes away from home (known for its chess program).
so he's got some natural talent, but he also sounds like someones project as well.
"Uh, No."
Can I have a News One for White America, please?
I'd say chess matters at least as much as basketball, standup comedy, and hip hop.
Truth, use your words
Uh, these guys are "white"?
Their "whiteness" may be questionable.
Their "blackness" however is veering lose to the fantastical.
Personally I'm thrilled that there's a young black chess genius. I hope he winds up rated 3000 and the world champion. I also hope that he becomes a role model for black Americans and fathers 18 children.
Some non-dysgenic fertility would be a nice change.
-bushrod
I went to a meeting with Vin Diesel at his production company and met his sister, who works there as well. She's about two shades darker than him and is pretty easily identified as an attractive light-skinned black lady. Her hair has an intermediate level of kinkiness, and one suspects that Vin Diesel keeps his head shaved largely to play up his ethnically indeterminate looks. Both of them were plenty smart and pleasant to deal with as well. Diesel didn't even get mad when I told them that I'd be a more appropriate choice to play Hannibal than him, since as a Lebanese guy I was more closely related to the Carthaginians than he was.
Truth has a point, chess doesn't seem to have a "mulatto elite", I can think of a few titled black players - the "Swedish" GM Pontus Carlsson, some African GM I can't remember, GM Ashley, and FM Tate - and they're all pretty black, can't think of any very strong mulatto players.
As for this Williams kid, I'm not sure if the WSJ article is accurate, he's 5th on the 12-year-old list: http://main.uschess.org/component/option,com_top_players/Itemid,371?op=list&month=1008&f=12&h=Top%20Age%2012
But he is ahead of all the 11-year-olds, so if he's the youngest of the five, he may be the highest-rated US player of his exact age or less. Based on his age and rating, I'd guess he won't go further than International Master but I could be wrong. An asian kid will have his parents pestering him to get a real career once they realize he won't be the World Champion, or even able to make a decent living from chess (those two categories are not so far apart), a black kid might be more likely to stick with it. Also a smart black guy would have more opportunities to make some money teaching chess than a smart asian guy, the latter not being an "inspirational example" to his race.
Valedictorian at a local private school this year was a mulatto son of dual mulatto elite doctors in the neighborhood where I live. He also happened to be captain of the tennis team, head of the debate team and student body president. Yeah, he is going to Harvard. But the ironic thing is that his SAT scores, reportedly 1960ish, don't really equal that of his peers who did not beat him by grades as a measure. He was not a National Merit Scholar. He was an AP scholar, with 5s on 9 AP exams. Don't know, just thought you would find that interesting Steve.
The funny thing about the DC election is that Fenty is actually losing to Gray. The difference between the two candidates is strictly race based: Gray leads 64-19 among blacks and Fenty is up 64-28 among whites.
DCist with some notes about it here (w/bonus Wire and SWPL mentions):
http://dcist.com/2010/08/stuff_white_people_like_the_wire_ad.php
Ray Nagin, in some photos, looks like he could be D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty's brother.
"this latest blog entry comes off as inexplicable and pretty pointless, frankly.
And YOU, sound very cranky!"
Time to take your meds, Mr. Anonymous #4.
* * * *
Also, how is Twoof referencing some 12 year old black chess player supposed to refute the observation about Mulatto politicians?
If pure-breed Negros were so smart, this 12 year old black chess player should be typical, not a rare exception - and let's see just how good he is as an adult.
Also there's little money in chess playing, except for at the very top; there's a reason why the mulattos are in politics, not chess.
Anyway Twoof is engaging in his usual blather. One smart black kid is supposed to somehow negate all the stupid ones? If I say that 95% of X have Y attributes, and you show me 5% of X who actually have Z attributes, how have you refuted my statement? You haven't: you've confirmed it.
-bushrod wrote
"Personally I'm thrilled that there's a young black chess genius. I hope he winds up rated 3000 and the world champion. I also hope that he becomes a role model for black Americans and fathers 18 children.
Some non-dysgenic fertility would be a nice change."
The above may be mutually exclusive. Check out the reproductivity of top grandmasters. Chess appears to be a jealous mistress, although the Polgar sisters seem to be an exception.
Also regarding Truth's comment about Chess players, you might check out the political views and personal lives of prominent grandmasters. Maybe they would moderate themselves if they actually held political office, but judging from Fischer and Kasparov (or even Korchnoi), the thought is pretty scary.
-Anonymous
I grew up in Cleveland and have follow the politics there more closely than any other city that I don't live in. I knew of Frank Jackson going back to when he was Council President, but it was only about two years ago that I realized that he's black.
One thing that threw me off is his craggy face, which seems to be unusual on a black guy his age.
Just to keep things straight, "mulatto" is someone who is 1/2 black and 1/2 white.
Justus Williams is at around ELO 2140 at age 11. That's very strong, and it implies a 130+ minimum IQ, but there's still very little reason to believe that he'll ever be a top-100 in the world (and therefore able to make a good living off chess alone).
Be careful talking about the hi yalla elite ("light, bright, almost white", paper bag tests, etc.).
It is a real sore spot with black folks. But they call it "colorism", not "racism".
Adam Clayton Powell Jr. was respected and honored by black folks partially because they knew he could have passed for white, yet chose not to.
Most black folks would pass if they could, and they are ashamed of the instinct, so when faced with a Fenty or Powell, they respect them. "Black-by-Choice", if you will.
Hi yalla folks in the Caribbean still call the shots in their communities. In places like Barbados they call themselves (and are called) "white". The colorist/racist tension is still there. As Rihanna famously said, "I was bullied at school for being white … Now I’m in a much bigger world."
Truth:
I live in one of two small abutting towns (total of about 10K), one of which is about 40% black, the other nearly all white. I've lived here right about 40 years.
For as long as I've lived here, there's been a core of chess die-hards, who play in several informal venues. And, for just as long, a distinctly large % of the best players have been black. And, though some of them were obviously more white than black in descent, a good number have been (or close to) black enough not to raise any doubts as to whether they were "really" black.
I, myself, know how to play but don't play that well or know much about the game. It doesa seem to put a premium on a "somewhat different" type of thinking ability: it may be less about "maximizing" and more about "strategizing," not in the theoretical sense of "game theory" but in that of correctly assessing the potential of the opponent and being able to draw the opponent into a desired sequence for which you've got the defeating moves. (Which is somewhat typical of some athletic competiton, as well.)
Just wanted to express that blacks are no strangers to chess--at least, not around here.
Let's hope Justus Williams isn't killed for not "keepin' it real".
Are the mulatto elite good or bad for America?
Are blacks happy to accept such white 'blacks' as black, or would they prefer to vote for actual blacks?
Diesel didn't even get mad when I told them that I'd be a more appropriate choice to play Hannibal than him, since as a Lebanese guy I was more closely related to the Carthaginians than he was.
Diesel doesn't seem to wear his ego on his sleeve, at least. Saw a clip of him once and he was basically saying he's just some chump and "I got to work with what I got" and he gave this self-effacing shrug - it was pretty funny. I think he's got a blue collar attitude about the whole thing.
Apropos of nothing, I thought Chronicles of Riddick was a lot of fun, rampant ethnic ambiguity and all.
"and let's see just how good he is as an adult."
Oh I don't know how significant that really is, but I do know that RIGHT NOW he would set up 5 chessboards, and in under 20 minutes, WHIP YOU AND ALL FOUR OF YOUR DADS!
Most black folks would pass if they could, and they are ashamed of the instinct, so when faced with a Fenty or Powell, they respect them. "Black-by-Choice", if you will.
That's not true anymore among black/white mixes, due in large part to the racial spoils game and the goodies available as a black. It may still be true among hispanic/black mixtures, because "racism" seems to be more commonly expressed among them and in most cases there aren't any more goodies for being black than there are for being hisp.
Truth knows he doesn't have a valid point, that's why he didn't bother to argue, but just gives us a drive-by link. This is similar to his little zingers that don't address substance. I thought that the link would at least be a story about the rise of dark politicians or something. As has been pointed out, the exception doesn't disprove the rule. I don't think anyone visiting this blog doubts the existence of genious Africans or world class sprinting Asians, we just know they are not very common.
6 Anon
Most black folks would pass if they could, and they are ashamed of the instinct, so when faced with a Fenty or Powell, they respect them. "Black-by-Choice", if you will.
I wouldn't think that either Adrian Fenty or Vince Gray could pass for white. Not in the United States, at least; perhaps they could in South America. While both are clearly much more European than African, both have some visible black ancestry.
Frank Jackson, on the other hand, almost certainly could pass for white if he so chose.
Peter
Big Bill: Adam Clayton Powell Jr. was respected and honored by black folks partially because they knew he could have passed for white, yet chose not to.
Most black folks would pass if they could, and they are ashamed of the instinct, so when faced with a Fenty or Powell, they respect them. "Black-by-Choice", if you will.
I find that kind of surprising. A guy like Powell is a somewhat above average performer - for a white guy. For a black guy, he is presidential material. This is why most mixed race individuals with some black DNA identify themselves as black - affirmative action (legal and otherwise). A lot of mixed race individuals with Asian blood tend to identify themselves as white for the same kind of reason, but in reverse, given that Asians tend to perform better than whites, on average, in non-creative roles.
If I say that 95% of X have Y attributes, and you show me 5% of X who actually have Z attributes, how have you refuted my statement? You haven't: you've confirmed it.
Indeed.
I'm sure we all observe this.
That is the substance of most of my online arguments with liberal types!
The new "One Drop Rule".
How said that blackface and minstrelsy were not politically correct?
"the same planet as Vin Diesel's people"
"RIGHT NOW he would set up 5 chessboards, and in under 20 minutes, WHIP YOU AND ALL FOUR OF YOUR DADS!"
How? How could a kid, even a smart one, accomplish such a thing? How is it possible for a person to have four fathers for a chees-whiz to beat?
"I find that kind of surprising. A guy like Powell is a somewhat above average performer - for a white guy. For a black guy, he is presidential material. This is why most mixed race individuals with some black DNA identify themselves as black - affirmative action (legal and otherwise)."
When Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (born 1908) was a young man (and even more so when his father Adam Sr. (born 1865) was young), revelation of part black ancestry was a career-killer or close to it in numerous fields from politics to baseball. Obviously the current President proves that the reverse is now the case, but we can't read that back into the past, when may light-skinned blacks did indeed "pass."
"How is it possible for a person to have four fathers for a chees-whiz to beat?"
The mom rotates them every two years.
When Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (born 1908) was a young man (and even more so when his father Adam Sr. (born 1865) was young), revelation of part black ancestry was a career-killer or close to it in numerous fields from politics to baseball. Obviously the current President proves that the reverse is now the case, but we can't read that back into the past, when may light-skinned blacks did indeed "pass."
The guy ran for office in a black area in New York City. Would passing as white have helped him? Could he have won in a white area on competence alone, given that white New York City politicians tended to have all kinds of credentials?
I don't know where you got these photos from but I've seen both Mayor Fenty and Vincent Gray and neither one resembles in any way a white person
Steve,
Looking at Black Enterprise magazine's list of the largest black owned (US) firms, the founders/heads seem somewhat disproportionately "mulatto," but not strikingly so. Here are pictures of the heads of the 10 largest firms (by revenue): 3 obvious "mulattoes" and 7 whom most would probably eyeball as "just black." Not a single one that could realistically "pass."
1. David L. Steward
2. Kase L. Lawal
3. Ronald E. Hall, Sr.
4. Janice Bryant Howroyd
5. Harold Mills
7. Joseph B. Anderson
8. Thomas Baltimore
9. Ulysses Bridgeman
10. Don Barden
Also, looking at pictures from Yale and Harvard's black student groups, there seem to be a lot more dark blacks than "mulattoes."
Yale Black Student Alliance
Harvard Black Student Association
"the founders/heads seem somewhat disproportionately "mulatto,"...3 obvious "mulattoes"
Are we looking at the same pictures?
"Are we looking at the same pictures?"
I don't know. How would you describe them?
BTW, here's the corrected link for #7...
7. Joseph B. Anderson
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