Racial Categorization Infringes on Rights

Re “Connerly’s Trivial Pursuit,” editorial, July 14: The Times states that by wanting a colorblind government I am engaged in a “trivial pursuit.” It accuses me of having an “obsession” with my own racial heritage, noting its mixture and saying “so what ... most African Americans have multiracial forebears.”

Is The Times so blind that it cannot see what is implicit in that statement? Like so many others who profess to be enlightened about “race,” The Times unwittingly supports the infamous “one-drop” rule -- a remnant of slavery and Jim Crow. One drop of “black” blood makes you black, no matter what your other ancestry. End of discussion. Is there any group of Americans, other than those with some African ancestry, who have such little choice about their personal identity?

I couldn’t care less about the origin of my ancestors. But I am obsessed with others who try to tell me who I am, and who diminish my right to assert the fullness of my background when they try to pigeonhole me into a category of their choosing. Issues of race and identity are not “narrow” for most Americans, especially Californians. Until The Times gets it right, I guess we will have to use whatever “soapbox” we can find to be “repetitive” in reminding it of this fact.

Ward Connerly

Sacramento