A prolific painter of portraits before and after the French Revolution ...

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techniques for explaining
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Multiracialness is a very tricky subject for my father. He’ll tell people that
I’m Native, African-American and Caucasian American, but at the
same time he’ll say things like, “Listen to jazz, listen to your cultural
music.” He says,“LaMer, look in the mirror. You’re black. Ask any white
person: they’ll say you’re black.” He doesn’t get it. I really would rather
be colorless than to pick a race. I like other music, not just black music.
The term African-American bugs me. I’m not African. I’m American
as a hot dog. We should have friends who are yellow, red, blue, black,
purple, gay, religious, bisexual, trilingual, whatever, so you don’t have
a stereotypical view. I’ve met mean people and nice people of all different
backgrounds. At my school, I grew up with all these kids, and
I didn’t look at them as white or Jewish or heterosexual; I looked at
them as, “Oh, she’s funny, he’s sweet.”
I know what box I’m going to choose. I pick D for none of the above,
because my race is human.
Lange, Dorothea, photographer, “Migrant Agricultural Worker’s Family.” February
1936. America from the Great Depression to World War II: Black-and-White Photographs
from the FSA-OWI, 1935–1945, Library of Congress.
PROFESSIONAL COPY—NOT FOR RESALE