Taye Diggs doesn't mince words when he talks about the race of his son.
Remember when the great Michael Jackson sang “It don't matter if you're black or white"?
Of course you do. And admit it — you know you were impressed by the epic video that included those super-futuristic transformations.
Man, music vids just aren't the same these days. But I digress.
GIF from Michael Jackson's "Black or White" video.
Unless you happen to be someone who believes skin color is the one and only thing we should pay attention to, chances are you agree with MJ's lyrics.
But what if you're black and white? Or [insert any racial combination here]? What happens then?
Actor Taye Diggs, the author of "Mixed Me!" a children's book about a boy named Mike with parents of different races, recently had the opportunity to answer those questions.
Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images Entertainment.
The book is fictional, but it hits close to home for Diggs because of his own child's background. The mother of his 6-year-old son Walker, Idina Menzel, is white. (She's also the voice of Queen Elsa from "Frozen," but the parents who watched that movie on a seemingly endless loop, like me, already knew that.)
So, is Walker black or white?
Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images Entertainment.
It depends on who you ask.
During slavery, the one-drop rule defined individuals as either "colored" (aka black) or white. Simply put, if any traceable link of black ancestry could be found, that person was considered black.
Granted, back in the days of that idea's inception, people considered other fellow humans to be property, so we can take that for what it's worth.
But many people still subscribe to the one-drop rule today and believe that President Obama, Tiger Woods, and Halle Berry are black — regardless of how those people choose to identify.
That's not how Diggs sees it, however.
The Grio asked him how important it is for Walker to be raised in an environment where he doesn't have to choose between being black or white.
Here's what Diggs said:
"It's very important. When you do [choose], you risk disrespecting that one-half of who you are, and that's my fear. I don't want my son to be in a situation where he calls himself black and everyone thinks that he has a black mom and a black dad. And then when they see he has a white mother, they wonder what's going on."
The social media backlash was real.
When I reached an obviously frustrated Diggs for a quote, this is what he had to say:
"A person of mixed heritage should have the right to include his or her COMPLETE ethnic background when identifying themselves. Period."
In other words, Diggs doesn't feel that his little boy needs to align himself with one race — and he hopes that he will be just as proud of his African-American heritage as his Caucasian one.
Thankfully, many on social media came to his defense.
As a dad raising two mixed daughters, this hits very close to home for me as well — and I'm thankful Diggs started this important conversation.
Photo by Doyin Richards.
Frankly, I'm less concerned with how outsiders (police, teachers, people on social media, etc.) view my kids and more concerned with how they choose to identify themselves.
In a perfect world, they'll be grateful for being black, white, and Japanese instead of choosing one "team" while ignoring the rest.
The racial narrative is in desperate need of a rewrite. Seriously, if you think about it, aren't we all mixed with something?
In many ways, checking color boxes only helps to further divide us by focusing on our differences instead of our similarities. Life shouldn't be a schoolyard where we have to pick between Team Black, Team White, or whatever. It's should be a school where we teach our kids (and ourselves) to embrace and celebrate everything that makes us unique.
Diggs gets it. The message of "Mixed Me" is on point, and I like the chances of Walker growing up into a solid young man because of his upbringing.
But hey, if you don't want to listen to me, maybe the King of Pop and a young Macaulay Culkin will convince you instead.
GIF from Michael Jackson's "Black or White" video.
Hee hee.
A Generation Jones teenager poses in her room.Image via Wikmedia Commons
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An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
- YouTube youtube.com
Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.