Tiger Woods on race (1 Viewer)

st dude

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The critical and fundamental point is that ethnic background and/or composition should NOT make a difference. It does NOT make a difference to me. The bottom line is that I am an American...and proud of it!

Seems pretty well said to me. Why cant it be that simple for everyone?





http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/2396/tigerrace.html?20081

Woods has African and Asian heritage which explains why he was only kind of half offended at what Kelly Tilghman said, I guess. :D
 
there are some that dont want it to be this easy or they would have no "job"

Tiger has another job - he claimed once that he is asian and not african-american - others of late say he cant make that distinction - if he looks african american then he is, despite what he or his family say.
 
I thought he was mostly filipino, thats why he chooses not the be some black spokesperson or whatever.
 
Tiger is Black, he can call himself whatever he wants, all I know is that we both can't go to Klan rallys and that makes you non-white. H. Ward (steelers wr) is Korean-mixed with black and he is black. I do agree with his statement though we are all american, like myself I don't consider myself an African-American just an American PERIOD. Now if some on this board and u.s. can look at OBAMA as an AMERICAN than his skin color then maybe we could have a better america then we have now.


Saints Master has spoken.........................................
 
there are some that dont want it to be this easy or they would have no "job"

Tiger has another job - he claimed once that he is asian and not african-american - others of late say he cant make that distinction - if he looks african american then he is, despite what he or his family say.

I think your statement says a lot about what he is trying to say. Why do I have to be anything other than American and I agree with him. If people would stop trying to make him something instead of just letting him be American, then the world would be a much better place. But like you said too, some people don't want that and will do anything to cause diversity.
 
He's taking the Michael Jordan approach. The only color that really matters is green...
 
Tiger is Black, he can call himself whatever he wants, all I know is that we both can't go to Klan rallys and that makes you non-white. H. Ward (steelers wr) is Korean-mixed with black and he is black. I do agree with his statement though we are all american, like myself I don't consider myself an African-American just an American PERIOD. Now if some on this board and u.s. can look at OBAMA as an AMERICAN than his skin color then maybe we could have a better america then we have now.


Saints Master has spoken.........................................

I believe that TIger has the right to refer to himself by whatever he wants. Most people wouldn't mistake him for a black guy. He's got more asian features than anything, which is fitting, since his mom is 3/4 asian and his dad 1/4. And if you think the Klan only targets blacks, you have a screw loose. Hate never needs a reason.
 
Race is largely a sociological construct, not genetic - or even melatonin content. If Tiger Woods doesn't feel black, then he isn't. I don't know him from Adam, but if he doesn't have a shared cultural experience with other black Americans, then why should his skin pigmentation put him in with that group?
 
Yeah. Everything's so easy. We should all just be fair.

Simple people love simple answers.

Woods is remarkably better than anybody on the ******* planet at what he does. So was Jordan. Of course distinguishing characteristics don't matter. These people are completely distinguishable from everybody else on the ******* earth by about two orders of magnitude.

But for the rank and file, ummmm, not so much. Even as Americans, we still struggle with what I call, with a nod to the late sportswriter Jimmy Cannon, tribalism. (Gets people's hackles up less than when you call it racism.) Folks like what they see in the mirror, so they like what looks like what they see in the mirror. What makes us better is when we don't fall so much in love with ourselves, and thus moreso for what looks like us than what doesn't.

It remains an unfinished job today. In this, my beloved country, we do a good job on some things. But deep, hateful racial prejudice was still institutionalized in large parts of this country not so long ago. It's better than it was, but it's not even close to fixed. Based on the head start so many of us get, the playing field's hardly even all across the board, and more work needs to be done. If you don't think white Americans aren't still enjoying the benefits of a 350-year running start, you're a fool or a liar.

We can (and should) be proud to be an American, as Tiger is, and you can understand that the best way for all of us to advance is for everyone to recognized that we'll all alike inside, and even on the outside far more alike than we are different. And we should say it all the time.

But let's not pretend that all of a sudden a goal and a platitude is the current reality.

These wonderful equality shibboleths end up being used as shields by cowards who can't admit that things aren't perfect and they might yet be called on to admit that their success is based more on heritage, and less on achievement, than they've been bragging on, or that their lack of success (something we also call "failure") is something other than their own fault. There's still a lot of damage left undone. I'd like to think that those who were close enough to see the crime of abandonment by so much society after Katrina would have taken some pause and reflected, but maybe I was hoping too much.
 
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She's more African-American than many that consider themselves African-American.
 
Yeah. Everything's so easy. We should all just be fair.

Simple people love simple answers.

Woods is remarkably better than anybody on the ******* planet at what he does. So was Jordan. Of course distinguishing characteristics don't matter. These people are completely distinguishable from everybody else on the ******* earth by about two orders of magnitude.

But for the rank and file, ummmm, not so much. Even as Americans, we still struggle with what I call, with a nod to the late sportswriter Jimmy Cannon, tribalism. (Gets people's hackles up less than when you call it racism.) Folks like what they see in the mirror, so they like what looks like what they see in the mirror. What makes us better is when we don't fall so much in love with ourselves, and thus moreso for what looks like us than what doesn't.

It remains an unfinished job today. In this, my beloved country, we do a good job on some things. But deep, hateful racial prejudice was still institutionalized in large parts of this country not so long ago. It's better than it was, but it's not even close to fixed. Based on the head start so many of us get, the playing field's hardly even all across the board, and more work needs to be done. If you don't think white Americans aren't still enjoying the benefits of a 350-year running start, you're a fool or a liar.

We can (and should) be proud to be an American, as Tiger is, and you can understand that the best way for all of us to advance is for everyone to recognized that we'll all alike inside, and even on the outside far more alike than we are different. And we should say it all the time.

But let's not pretend that all of a sudden a goal and a platitude is the current reality.

These wonderful equality shibboleths end up being used as shields by cowards who can't admit that things aren't perfect and they might yet be called on to admit that their success is based more on heritage, and less on achievement, than they've been bragging on, or that their lack of success (something we also call "failure") is something other than their own fault. There's still a lot of damage left undone. I'd like to think that those who were close enough to see the crime of abandonment by so much society after Katrina would have taken some pause and reflected, but maybe I was hoping too much.

:worthy:
 
I think that those with mixed ethnicity would have the best perspective on what Tiger's view is. IMO, unless you are like him and mixed then your's is a more theoretical perspective.

He grew up in California, and it is a little different there in terms of ethnicity since so many are represented in large percentages, and so many are mixed, not unlike my native Hawaii.

People that grow up in those environments can be somewhat different in view of their background as compared to growing up in the south, where it is much more polarized.

The guy is more Asian than African, in view of that fact that his mom is full Thai and his dad was mixed mostly black, with native American and white. It is hard to label yourself using the demographic categories found on most applications: white, black, hispanic, pacific islander. I know for sure that mixed people don't see themselves in those narrow ways. And because of this don't look to or are less looking to label others as well. Look up the word Hapa online, there are a lot of resources out there that deal with the fact of being mixed ethnicity.
 

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