By Walter L. Hilliard III –
“I’m ethnic.”
Yup! That’s what super producer Quincy Jones daughter, Rashida “Identity Issues” Jones, told a White female Hollyweird reporter during an interview when the reporter complimented her on her tan.
As you may or may not know Quincy is Black but his ex-wife, the mother of Rashida, is the White Peggy Lipton, who starred in “The Mod Squad” in the 1960s and 70s.
Listen, the only reason so many so called biracial or multiracial people in America say “I’m bi-racial” (or “I’m ethnic,” which I really haven’t ever heard anyone else say), especially when they have a Black parent, is because they can’t “pass.” But some still try to pass as White, obviously. They don’t say they’re Black because American society teaches everyone that being Black is bad – nobody wants to be Black, so it’s no surprise that when you Google Rashida you see she only dates White men. There’s also pictures and reports that she had a nose job.
On the other hand, her sister, Kidada Jones, identifies as Black. Both sisters have commented in interviews that Kadida, who appears to be slightly darker than Rashida, discovered that she wanted to identify as Black because she was usually treated as being Black, or, as I say: “She was getting the Nigga Treatment” from Whites.
And this is the key — you may deny you’re Black all you want to but mainstream America is going to treat you as if you’re Black. To be discriminated against as if you’re Black, but deny it, is a set up for psychological issues. Look around, Black people come in all colors, including, as they say, “light bright and damn near White.” I don’t know any Black people who are 100 percent anything?
Come on Rashida, your daddy is Quincy Jones, and he’s really the only reason anyone other than your family cares about who you are. Your mom is wonderful, too, but it’s been awhile since she’s been on TV, as far as I know? And if you were to identify with your daddy’s race, it doesn’t negate your mother in any way. A Black man has the power to create a child of any color and a Black man created you. Quincy Jones soul and career is intertwined with Black culture; you’d think that would make you proud and want to be seen is his “light,” however, it’s obvious that even the greatest music producer in the history of the world, your father, still wasn’t enough for you to want to be Black – and even try to pass as White or, as you say, “ethnic.”
Whoa!!!
Kidada, props to you, you get it (at least she once did; now I notice she straightens her once curly hair). Your sister Rashida doesn’t, and that’s a shame. I will never understand how some Black people’s self-esteem is so low that they wouldn’t be happy to tell the world they’re Black – and the fact that America has so many issues with race makes me even prouder to be Black because who wants to be part of a group that doesn’t like or want them?
Well . . . Rashida does.
