Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

COLUMN: Not by the color of my skin
By Jonathan Evans
Daily Mississippian (U. Mississippi)
08/28/2006

(U-WIRE) OXFORD, Miss. — When you look at person, what's the first thing your notice about him or her? His hair? Her eyes? Or are you like 99.99% of the people I have encountered who merely look at person's skin color and label that person "black" or "white"?

To intimate a person is of a particular ethnicity or race because of his skin color is as absurd as calling a vegetable a cabbage simply because it is green. One's race and one's color are two completely different specifications. I am not a "black" man. My skin color is a mixture of brown, tan, caramel, milk chocolate, mocha, java, latte and sienna. No part of my body is black except my hair.

If you ask me my race, my race is Negro, NOT African-American. At no point in my life have I ever lived in or visited the continent of Africa. Who cares where my ancestors originated? For most so-called "African-Americans" today, their heritage stems from more European ancestry than African, so the phrase used for their race is wholly inaccurate.

The majority of true African-Americans came here prior to 1802 (the date when America ceased the importation of slaves), and even those slaves weren't counted as American people but as property (a detailed account of why I'm in some ways a proponent of slavery should and will follow in a future column). Negro, then, is as close as it gets to an accurate description of my race and entails any ties to Africa I may have, though my ethnic makeup includes bits of Caucasian, Portuguese and Creek Native American influences.

But why do we need to use race and color? Why can't we all just be human beings? Different shades, different personalities, but human - all of us.

To categorize a person by something as base, ill-suited and amorphous as the colors "black" and "white" is downright nonsense. "Black" and "white" in relation to people is not descriptive. A color can not effectively describe a person. I am not defined by my melanin. "Me" is stuck somewhere between the back of my head and my eyeballs. "Me" is this guy who plays trombone. "Me" is this guy who is a proud member of the Pride of the South Marching Band. "Me" is this guy who refuses to be defined by something as banal as a color.

If people would take the time to get to know a person when they meet them instead of automatically pigeon-holing that person into "black" or "white," the world just might have a chance at a goal it has yet to achieve: true objectivity.

So keep in mind that a person's color is not synonymous with that person's race. In other words, don't judge people by their color. I know I won't, and I'd appreciate the same courtesy.

I am Jonathan Evans, not a "black" guy.

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