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Fact #5
I think I am officially "colored."
You see, my parents had me at the Confederate Memorial Hospital and, in keeping with the theme of the hospital's name, whoever filled out my birth certificate listed my parents' race as "colored."
In the mid-1970s.
And they didn't change it when they corrected the spelling of my name on the birth certificate.
The more I think about it, you probably have to be born here to love this distinguished region of the U.S. the way I do.
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Do you remember/have you ever met Sandy, who was in the program a few years back? She and her sibs were all born in Louisiana. Her older brother was "colored," her older sister was "Negro," and she was "Black" according to the official documents.
Now I'm wondering if that's still on the forms. I don't remember listing anything for my kids... and what would I list? (Spouse calls them "vaguely brown.")
I do remember Sandy! I asked the bearded one a few days ago what happened to her (we were counting, of course, the number of blacks in the program) and he said, "Oh, she probably got married."
?
Somewhere he got the distinct impression that marriage was her first priority, but I kept asking him, even if it was, why would that stop her from finishing the program????
I figured it had more to do w/the fact that she was a fulltime teacher.
I think she moved back to LA, actually. I know not her marital status, just her hilarious solution to one boyfriend problem. Said boyfriend told her she needed to lose a few pounds, and she replied, "I just lost 180. Goodbye." I loves me some Sandy.
Speaking of birth certificates.
When I was born at Riverside Negro Hospital, my race was put down as "Negro'.
Years later, during the Black Revolution/"Black is Beautiful" era, my Mother had it changed to "Black."
And yes,I still have my ORIGINAL birth certificate from the hospital with my itty-bitty footy-prints, and I still have the Bureau of Vital Statistics showing my race change from "Negro" to "Black."
My, my.
The things this country has put its citizens through, especially her black citizens.
Sigh.
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