Take a look at this headline (found at Drudge) and the first two paragraphs of the piece:
'Biblical Exodus' From Africa Feeds Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric...
As boats carrying hundreds of Africans set sail for a better life in Europe, they were met on Italy’s Lampedusa island with two words by a 5-foot, 8-inch blonde: go away.
“They cannot be allowed on the shore,” Marine Le Pen, the 42-year-old leader of France‘s anti-immigration National Front, said in a March 15 interview in Rome after a three-hour visit the previous day to Lampedusa. “Send boats out to feed them. But they must not set foot on land.”
Sounds really racist, right? Whites living in fear of invasion by “Africans”?
The problem with Bloomberg trying to racialize the story is that if they were coming to the United States, the invaders would be considered legally white.
There are no Africans.
The system-wide legal definitions are reflected in this standard college application form:
Colleges and universities are asked by many, including federal and State governments and national surveys to describe the racial/ethnic backgrounds of our students and employees. You should answer both questions.
Are you of Hispanic or Latino origin? Yes [] No []
What is your race? Select one or more of the following categories.
[] White
[] Black or African American
[] Asian
[] American Indian or Alaska Native
[] Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.
Black or African American: A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.
Hispanic or Latino: A person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
Asian: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.
American Indian or Alaska Native: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community attachment.
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.
So if the people fleeing Tunisia, Egypt, or Libya were to come here, they would not be considered African; they would legally be white.
Bloomberg is an American and not a European publication, so I can’t understand why they’re stoking racial fears despite the American position that no racial differences exist. In addition to the talk of the “5-foot, 8-inch blonde,” there’s the sub-headline —
‘Become Black’
Last December, Qaddafi warned EU leaders that their region may “become black because millions want to come to Europe.”
My question — for both “Qaddafi” and Bloomberg — is a simple one.
How can they be black if they’re white?
Qaddafi is nuts, but what’s up with Bloomberg? It may be they’re trying to have it both ways, but it’s driving me crazy trying to figure out the meaning behind headlines lately.