[Ads-l] big apple (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Wilson Gray]

Ivan Dixon starred in the movie, A Man Ain't Nothin' But a Man. I also saw
him in person, back in the '60's, at some now-forgotten all-originals scene
held at the L.A. County Museum, where, as MC, he spoke the slogan of Ron
Karenga's black-militant organization, U[nited]S[laves]*: "Wherever *US* -
pronounced "us" - is, *we* are!" IMO, a hip use of the possibilities of BE
syntax.

> a mixed-race Jamaican who was said to identify as black

That's a real thigh-slapper! He didn't "identify as black." _Identify as_
makes it seem as though he had a choice! He was either "colored" or a
"Negro," as long as he resided in the United States. Indeed, when used in
American English, _mixed-race_ is ill-defined. That is, how "mixed" and
with what "races" must a person be "mixed," in order to be defined as
"mixed-race"? E.g. Keanu Reeves is of European and Asian ancestry. Is he
considered "mixed-race" or is he simply "white"? Kenneth Chung of the New
England Patriots is a Jamaican of Asian and African ancestry. Is he
considered "mixed-race" or is he simply "black"? In an interview published
in The Boston Globe, Jennifer Beals was asked what race she was. She
answered to the effect that, if you asked her father that, then she was
"black." But, if you asked her mother that, then she was "mixed."

Youneverknow.

On Thu, Feb 6, 2020 at 3:32 PM MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY CCDC
AVMC (USA) <0000099bab68be9a-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> >
> >
> > ----
> >
> > > I have watched about 45 of them
> > > now and have yet to see a black actor, not one.
> >
> > To quote my favorite line from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, "What country
> do you
> > think this is?!"
> >
> > There was Eddie "Rochester" Anderson on The Jack Benny Show, Willie Best,
> > the poor man's Stepin Fetchit, on Father Knows Best, and the black
> players of
> > MLB and of the NFL (one of whom, ironically, was Rochester's son) and the
> > CFL. (It may startle some of the younger folk to read this, but Canadian
> > football was once a staple of American TV. Any sports-fan of the day
> could
> > tell you who Sam Etcheverry [star, record-setting Basque-American QB of
> the
> > Montreal Alouettes who ended his career with the former St. Louis
> Football
> > Cardinals] was.) Louis Armstrong guest-starred on the Texaco Star
> Theater,
> > Your Show of Shows, Ed Sullivan, etc.  Oh, and there was Mantan Moreland,
> > of "Feets, don't fail me, now!" fame, who played "Alabama,"
> > Charlie Chan's chauffeur, as seen in TV re-runs of the Chan series.
> >
>
> Perry Mason had a few black actors.
>
> Vince Townsend played a judge, with no speaking lines (thus doesn't appear
> in the credits or in IMDB) in "The Case of the Skeleton's Closet."  He was
> a LA County Municipal Judge in real life.
>
> Ivan Dixon (better known for "Hogan's Heroes" was in two episodes.
>
> Frank Silvera, a mixed-race Jamaican who was said to identify as black,
> and who was in segregated black units in WW2, was in an episode but played
> a white character.
>
> Alvin Childress played a janitor in one episode.
>
> Bill Walker plays a night watchman in one episode.
>
> Amanda Randolph played a maid in one episode.
>
> Bobby Johnson was a redcap in an episode.
>
>
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org