Clarence Page, in the Tribune, reminded me of a phrase that I hadn't heard in a loooong time: "The one drop rule. Does anyone know any more about it than Page says here?

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invented by slave masters who wanted to have more slaves, is how it has been encouraged in modern times, particularly by black leaders who want to have more blacks in our ranks.

It is interesting how times have changed. Or have they?

If you had even on drop of Negro blood in your veins, then in the segregated South you were not considered "white".

Elizabeth Warren is at least 1/32 Cherokee, which is the same as the present chief of the tribe. If she wanted to, she could claim a privileged status when applying for government programs, but according to recent accounts she never did. Scott Brown, her opponent for Senate, had an ethics violation lodged against him. He said that complaint was as valid as Warren's claim to being an Indian. Since she is legally Indian (if she chooses to be), I think he misspoke badly with that sarcastic answer.

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Does anyone know any more about it than Page says here?

No, I don't, but I first heard that expression from my father when we were kids. He was quoting some hide-bound old Southerner he knew in an effort to explain the extreme prejudice against blacks on the part of some people in the U.S. In our family and in our part of the world (Ohio of the '50s) this scorn for another race and the belief that "one drop" constituted some kind of fatal flaw were considered despicable then and now. In fact, if all humans are each others' 7th cousins--don't know if that's a myth or a fact, but I've heard that repeatedly all my life--then we are all black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, etc. etc. Pick your fake racial designation.

I love it that Elizabeth Warren is 1/32 Cherokee. She is a brave, wise woman, and I hope she wins her election.

Wordmatic

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I love it that Elizabeth Warren is 1/32 Cherokee.

According to Rachel Madow, she is also at least the same amount part of another Indian tribe, which makes Brown's attack all the more ludicrous.

Speaking of racial mixtures, when I was in the Army the mail clerk was calling out names so people could claim their letters and packages. He came to one unpronouncable name with a strange mixture of consonants and vowels and gave his best translation. A soldier raised his hand for it and the clerk said, "Man, where did you get that name? Some eighteenth century gang-bang?"

The rule still seems, at least, somewhat in effect, doesn't it? I mean, President Obama is 1/2 white and 1/2 African American, and yet has anyone ever considered him white?