This from today's Dunday Mail..I thought might be worthy of wider 'mature' discussion..

These snippets I stress are Excepts..the article is way to long to copy in entirity ok..

Whats is it about Mixed race writers? What is it abou that dash of white that has made them irresistable to the reading public? Until recently, publishers and book buyers have shown a marked preference for ethnic authors they could call one of ours, rather than a full strenght unadulterated ones who lurk in the margins.

Why is it that the highest profile Asian writers in britain, such as Hari Kunzru, Hanif Kureishi and Monica Ali all have 'white' parents? Sheer coincidence? And what does this have to say about what the public learns about the Asian experience?

The proportion of Asian who are Mixed race is very lowyet these are the people chosen to tell our stories.. Perhaps Britain hasn't been ready to hear the Asian experience unless the voice is WHITE enough to be trusted.

Zadie Smith an Oxford graduate like Kunzru and Ali was lauded for her trendy new novel 'white teeth'.. The trendy PC brigade clambered over one anothwer to declaim their allegince to Multi Ethnic London.

The discourse of race has always involved a heirarchy of colour involving many shades..of black and brown..Mulattoes and Anglo Asians......The prominance of the mixed race author in Britain has been a symptom of our societies unwillingness to confront the grit..The unpallettable dirt and street level grime of Multiculturalism

Among the children of immigrants there is a growing disillusionment with the soft bigotry of the liberal mainstream that has chosen to engage with the issue of race........it has been cleansed of its unattractive realities. Our voices have been muffled and the stage given to those who offer trite and the twee..

I look at the bigotries I've seenm Between ethnic minorities that found expression in the riot between Blacks and Asians in Birmingham last Autumn........Britain is changing...Our public discourse about race has to expand to accomodate as many voices as possible, voices that haven't been heard. it should no longer be monopolised by the glib sentiments of an Oxbridge elite, seeking to impress their equally aloof and inexperienced liberal white peers...

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although this is centred on Asians..I think it speaks to the experience of Africans and the reason why IR and Mixed race agendas has been pushed so hard in our community....Do you agree with the sentiments or disagree...?

Ps: any silly childish or idiotic responses will be removed..ok..only sensible comments please..

@ kunjufu, Idont kno why the mix race agenda is pushed so hard within our communities. It actually makes me sick becasue Iam beginning to wonder if when I eventually hav children are they goin to be a minority, because they will have 2 black parents?! Even when you fill out application forms the mix race category is often put before black boxes to tick. Hey maybe im being extra but I canthelp but notice the little things that go towards the bigger picture.

We all already know about the colour hierrarchy in our community so I dont need to mention it, but it seems that mix race is the "in" thing these days. I was reading an article in the guardian a few weeks back about how mix race people are the best looking people and they are the face of the future. It was a poll of all different people and people had to pick out who they thought was the best looking, and the mix race people came out on top particularly oriental and european mixed people ie model devon aoki (sp).

Like mesmerized has mentioned many times on here before. The white majority like to see black people with them as it further illustrates to them how they believe they are the superior race and everyone wants to be with them. I think this is the reason you hear so many, white people say "you lot are okay but I cant stand them asians, they dont ever want to mix with anyone". It burns white people in this country that asians stick together, marry their own, retain their own names not 1 name for in the house and another for school!! (africans you kno what im talkin about!). It lessens their superiority complex so I think this is the main reason why they dont like asians.

A mix-race person makes white people feel more comfortable around them, as they not too black/asian. But at the same time white liberals feel as if they are getting a slice of multi-culturalism and they can tick the boxes to say to themselves im not racist cos I read books by black/asian people! People like Courttia Newland who is an excellent writer, I doubt will ever become a bestseller in this country as he is too black.

Blackbutterfly: I want to be careful and not have this turn into a Hate campaign against Bi racial people fullstop.... I did however think it was very interesting the reasons the Asian author raised why certain writers are pushed more heaviliy than Black writers and somI wondered if this phenomenon goes beyond the media too..and into the workplace, social setting and education etc..

I had an experience whilst completing a proffession course, where people were at pains to push the beige agenda as the the ONLY way forward and forcible shut me down when I tried to give OUR perspective on things...I felt they just found it way too uncomfortable to confront.

I am not sure if mixed race and leaning have anything to do with it. I mean whom would we want telling our story a mixed race African as Shabazz who admits to having a mother whom was half white OR

Condi Rice who grew up when we were oppressed before the civils rights struggle, had her schoolmates firebombed, and saw the education ills of Africa America, yet chose to run to the party where the segregationists fled after the CV struggle as well as an UNinvolvement in anything directly African American.

Or JC Watts another "full blooded" African

Sometimes full blooded ethnicity is a moot point. We can and have been sold out by our full blooded brothers and sisters before whom will spin the story for their benefit. How many of our full blooded brothers and sisters have mates and children of other races? So they at that point cannot speak from a truly African American standpoint. Oh they can try but at that point you logically can't. Your main thing is to get along with every one and compromise, even if you love the mate of another race, you have to compromise some of your ethnicity, well one of you has to, or the relationship will not work, and using a Real Brother percentage, 99.9% of the time it is the African compromising on his or hers.

I think for us to go forward, we are sometimes going to have to look past the percentage of race that a person is and look at what they are truly saying and judge if it is coming from an African diaspora viewpoint.

That said, I think that the mixed race thing is more of an issue carrying over from the former UK, portuguese, and spanish colonies, where a "drop of white" made you better, while in the US, no matter what color you skin tone was a "drop of African" tainted you for life as an African.

Safety: thats a good and fair point..however thats not quite the issue here in the UK, all i can say is that appears from where I'm standing, that people who can demostrate 'white' heritage are getting the opportunities to voice feelings and thoughts as if they representated everyone...

eg.. if there's a radio debate for example, the mixed race person is often used as the offsetter to either marginalise legitimate argument or to oppose that argument... I once heard it being done with precision against Toyin from Ligali on LBC radio.. What he was making the case for the use of the term African over the word BLACK...

The presenter drew in a mixed race person to totally flip and attempt to undermine the legitimate point Toyin was making...carefully talking over Toyin..whilst allowing the offsetter to talk what essentially nonsense... Its a tactic that is used time and time again...when the White liberal whell out mixed race poster girls and boys to push their weak agenda...

So whilst i naturally take your point, what i think is happening goes far deeper than the messenger, its about those airing and facilitating the message..what is the damage they are doingby stifling legitimate concerns...

Mix race people are used in modelling campaigns particularly when they have a group shot ie 4 people and one of them will always be mixed, you kno they put there to have a bit of colour just not too much tho.

My cousin wanted her first child to do some modelling and tried to sign her to some mainstream agencies, she was asked on numerous occasions if her child was mixed, and was told they only sign up mix race children not black ones.

It doesn't really bother me that white people are promoting mixed people over unmixed minorities. Seeing as howthey are taught to promote and only validate "Europeanness" from the moment they enter this world to the timeof their death, I would be more surprised if they didn't . What bothers me is how some of our own people will step over another black person to promote a mixed race person just because that person is half white. That really saddens me.

And frankly, I don't know why Indians are even bothering to complain. Those people are so white struck that half of their famous Bollywoodfilm stars are half white. They will not even giveminor roles to their own dark skinned people, yet they'll gladly make a half white person famous. :?

Sometimes we have our ownselves to blame.

**This isn't a thread to discuss inter-racial couples, or how many you see at the supermarket.

All off topic posts will be removed**