Thanks for asking. Yeah, all that…

My family takes great pride in the fact that we're descended from a Spanish bigshot who arrived in the Louisiana territory back in the 1700's. As they see it, that's almost like being descended from folks who came over on the Mayflower! What they don't like to talk about, though, is that -- like most early settlers to that region -- they came over as young single men and coupled up with the African and Indigenous women who were already there. For several generations, there were few to no white women in the colony. That's where the Creoles come from.

Over the generations, as more white women became available (many were sex workers and petty thieves, sent over from the women's prisons across the pond), some Creoles managed to whiten themselves enough so they could pass. These became known as "passant-blanc Creoles." That's my branch of the family. Others remained part of the African and Indigenous communities. That's my brown cousins who I never met till I searched them out in my 20's.

Creoles of all colors took pride in our historical roots. It's kind of like being in the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. But when the Depression hit and gov't relief was available only to white folks, the passant-blancs ditched their Creole identity, often becoming racist bigots in the bargain. My brother -- who, like me and my father (RIP) looks somewhat Indigenous -- flies a confederate forking flag. My father punished me for crushing on a slightly darker Creole classmate. It's a sorry story, similar to how the Irish and Italians became white.

So I'm white because my family thinks we're white and because most people who see me think I'm white. I don't have any say in the matter. My family worked hard for their white identity and they don't understand why I'm so queasy about it.

I wish we could all just be people. But I've seen enough to know that we got a long way to go till that. So I'll just grit my teeth and check that darned box. For Science and Justice.