[Ads-l] big apple (UNCLASSIFIED)

[MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY CCDC AVMC (USA)]

CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

> 
> > 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."
> 

Wilson -- I spent a few minutes trying to figure out the best way to say this.  It looks like I could have done better.

For the purposes of the episode in question, I suppose that Silvera was a white guy.  He played a white character.  His features and skin color (as least on B&W film stock) are pretty ambiguous -- he played a lot of Mexicans and "ethnic" characters.
https://www.gstatic.com/tv/thumb/persons/21892/21892_v9_ba.jpg




CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

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