Sardonic Sistah Says

hat tip to Yayoi Winfrey for this story

I never really hear other Black mothers of Blasian kids discuss this, but for me whenever I tell people (usually black women) that J and I plan to add more kids to the family the common response, after how cute the kids will be with that BlacKorean mix, is how smart they will be.

“Ooo, they will be so smart.”

And I say, I know, because I’m fucking brilliant.  My daughter is an Ace.  How could another child from me not be?

“Oh, but you know, because the kid will be half Asian and Asians are really smart.”

(deep sigh)

I try to point out that blacks are intelligent, too, throw out some black nerd names they’ve never heard of and say that not all Asians are human computers.  There are Asian Americans that have little interest in math and science and, like my stepson, aren’t competing to be the valedictorian of their high school class. 

“Yeah, he’s smart,” I say.  “But he’s more of a jock.  That’s where his interest lies.”

Oh, but that’s the black in him, they argue.  And he’s still smart, right?  Yeah.  The intelligence is just latent.

I give up.

Kids are kids and I believe it’s nurture over nature when it comes to intelligence, even with this story about a young toddler who at the age of 2 has just become the latest Mensa member.

Elise Tan Roberts with mother and father

And the Elise Tan Roberts is Blasian with ancestry from England, Malaysia, China, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.  But what is more impressive is her IQ of 156 and she can name the capitals of 35 countries. 

The child is undeniably smart, but less credit goes to race, nationality and ethnicity.  That child is bright because her mother and father saw a spark in her and cultivated it.  Inquisitive children are like sponges that needs to soak up information instead of being told they’ve asked too many questions within a five minute period. 

Mrs Tan Roberts, a part-time accounts manager for Pickford’s removals, said: “She just says things and you have no idea where she got it from.

“I don’t set out to teach her loads of stuff, she just enjoys learning and picks things up. She’s always on the go, she never stops.”

Times Online 30Apr09

This could be a hint to parents who have talkative, inquiring children but you just assume the kid is just being a pest.  The child’s mind is just doing what it’s supposed to do and it’s the parents job to help develop it.

But then if people want to be lazy and just attribute intelligence to dominance of the Asian genes then I won’t argue with them.  Heck, my future kids and grand kids might benefit from it.

While surfing the net for Asian Pacific American heritage month I ran across this video that directed me to this website. 

I have never heard of Reginald. F. Lewis, the first African American billionaire, nor his wife, Loida Nicolas Lewis, who has continued her husband’s legacy after he died of cancer in 1993.

Mr. Lewis grew up in a middle class home in Baltimore, Maryland and went to Harvard Law School.  His first major business deal was the acquistion of McCall Pattern company, then later Beatrice International Foods renaming it TLC Beatrice International.  TLC became the first black owned company to have more than 1 million dollars in annual sales. 

Besides the businesses Lewis’ legacy includes the Richard F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture; a biography “Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun” which he was working on before his untimely death, and his two beautiful daughters.  There is also a Richard F. Lewis award which Sean Combs was the first recipient of.

Loida Lewis (center) with daughters Christina Lewis (L) and Leslie Lewis Sword (R)

These stories are why I don’t like to eat fried chicken.  Well, the stereotypes, the greasiness of the food, and the memory of the baby chick my father gave me for Easter one year.  When it became a full grown chicken my parents had it killed.  I remember when they came for the chicken, I ran to the box where we kept it and rolled around on the floor crying and pleading for it but the adults prevailed.  We had it for dinner the next Sunday, my mother serving it with greens and cornbread.  I can’t ever look at fried chicken the same way, it’s like the killing fields with broken fried body parts splayed across a table.

I tried to explain this one day to my daughter when she told me to pull into a Popeye’s but she just laughed  at my story and said she wanted a two piece with macaroni and cheese.  Humans are heartless.

So, back onto Popeyes who are getting some free advertisement this week on two separate blogs. 

The first blog was on Average Bro’s blog.  A woman in another city got jacked for her Popeye’s chicken (and,  as an afterthought,  her purse) and you are asked to identify the criminal’s race as either black, white or other.   I think you know what race they are.

And then Afronerd reported this a story about black folks losing their mind because Popeye’s ran out of chicken because of a special they were running.  Mothers were getting upset because they needed to feed their kids and the chicken was gone.  Maybe I’m wrong, but I think they sell chicken at the grocery store and you can get it fried, roasted or rotisseried.  Is Popeye’s that good?  Are they putting crack in the chicken?  Or are people showing out because the cameras there and they know their racial role?

“Ain’t no chicken left?  Oh, lawwwwd, what we gone do?  How’m I gone feed muh babies?  We gone starve, we gone starve, we gone star-ar-ar-arve.”

It’s just fried chicken, people.  If you are that worried about feeding your kids pick another food with the same nutritional value like a hamburger or meat lovers pizza or some styrofoam peanuts.  And another thing, why can some animals get pet status and others can’t?  You wouldn’t eat a cat, you wouldn’t eat a dog but chickens are okay?  Can’t we be friends?  Why can’t it be people and chicken together like this?

Instead of like this?

Oh, the horror!