"What Would Shirley Sherrod Do?"~ Passin' Black, My Memoir Short Stories

C.D. Holmes-Miller

I really enjoyed listening to Shirley Sherrod's speech last evening. After following the journalists' reports for nearly 48 hours of broadcast coverage, I wanted to critically regard the situation myself. I took the time to both, listen to the speech and to read her words carefully. She made a few remarks which caught my attention.

Sherrod, "You know, back in the late 17th and 18th century, black -- there were black indentured servants and white indentured servants, and they all would work for the seven years and -- and get their freedom. And they didn't see any difference in each other -- nobody worried about skin color. They married each other...Well, the people with money, the elite, decided, hey, we need to do something here to divide them...

So that's when they made black people servants for life. That's when they put laws in place forbidding them to marry each other. That's when they created the racism that we know of today. They did it to keep us divided...

...So I took him to a white lawyer that we had -- that had...attended some of the training that we had provided, 'cause Chapter 12 bankruptcy had just been enacted for the family farmer. So I figured if I take him to one of them that his own kind would take care of him..."

Shirley's words about farming, and black and white indentured servant relationships made me think of my paternal mulatto, FPOC (free person of color), dear Lawdy absolutely lookin' white, haplogroup R1B1B2 DNA, grandfather and my paternal Negro 1/4 white grandmother. They were farmers' children in Madison and Fauquier County, Virginia. They must have met on a farm working, fallen in love, migrated to Washington, D.C. to make a life and to get out of racial harm's way. Whooeeeh, eventually they would be Momma's in-laws; you can't imagine!

Well, I went to the dentist today while really contemplating about the entire situation. The dental assistant was from Albania, Southeastern Europe. Of course the infamous question came up, "What are you? You look Italian." "I am mixed Filipina and the Philippines have been colonized so many times and my maternal family's surname is Italian--who knows, I have a body from so many places. I was born in D.C. and I'm American but my body is from three different parts in the world," I muffled with a mouth full of cotton!

"Well, you look like the people in Naples," she spoke from her perspective and her place of origin. "You look just like the people in southern parts of Italy." "Your color, your hair, everything, you look Italian." She accepted my response. Believe you me, if I told her I was "black in the day," ignorant of my race and D.C. Negro-centric (that's not even Afro-centric,) she would have looked at me with that confused frown. MERCY! The Novocain was taking effect and no time to explain, I had been "Passin' Black, Until Now!" Culturally black and racially black are two different things!

After listening to all of the broadcast commentaries throughout the day, I watched Shirley on CNN last night. Bewildered, in so many words she was reflecting and said (paraphrased) "I don't understand these folks' thinking. If America is about it's melting pot, white folks need to accept we all are here."

So that my parents wouldn't break the law, my mother chose "colored" on her marriage license! They were married in Washington, D.C. between the miscegenation law abiding states of Maryland and Virginia. My mother was culturally Danish when she came to America. What in the world did she know about being a Negro, except she couldn't marry a white man being mixed Asian. She couldn't racially identify as "white" marrying a black man. Racially sandwiched, she selected the box "colored" and died a "black" woman in America.

Just suppose, I had a need and went to Shirley Sherrod's desk to request her help. Then she analyzed my situation, possibly tried to figure out my race and next referred me to a "one of my kind" lawyer. I wonder what kind of lawyer that would be?

What Would Shirley Sherrod Do?

Well after reading and listening to her ENTIRE speech, I believe she would send me to the BEST lawyer in town that I could afford, no matter the color.

Funny thing, Beck might loose his sight and Limbaugh is going deaf. America it is time for us to hear and listen to the truth for ourselves.

C.D. Holmes-Miller, Sabino's own aka "Bishop"

"Passin Black, Until Now!"

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