The question asked in the above headline of Victor Davis Hanson’s recent post is a serious one. So, no, this is not a link to The Onion. Matt Barber joked about changing your race in his article, “Change Your Species, Race? Why Not?” And just last week Matt wrote this:
Liberals overplay their hand. It’s part of the deficiency. Whether real or perceived, if the pagan left can rationalize a sense of “progress” on some freedom-killing cause du jour, then it’ll push, push, push until it falls flat on its face.
Step aside, America. Give them room.
The truth is, almost nothing surprises me any longer. Oh, and hey all you “fiscal conservative” Republicans who are liberal on the social issues — good lucky trying to limit government in a country where race is not even fixed.
Here is the subtitle and first few paragraphs from VDH’s piece:
Among many careerists and politicians, tweaking one’s ethnic identity is becoming increasingly widespread.
Not long ago, the New York Times uncovered the artifact that Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush had once listed himself as “Hispanic” on a Florida voter-registration form.
Bush is married to a Mexican American. He lived for a number of years in South America and speaks Spanish fluently.
Maybe he has consciously assumed a Hispanic identity. Or perhaps he did not think there was much of a difference between “white” and “Hispanic.” Or, as he said, he simply checked the wrong box by accident.
Vijay Chokal-Ingam, whose family immigrated from India, and who is the brother of sitcom-actress Mindy Kaling, recently confessed that he, too, once changed his ethnic identity in frustration over not being admitted to medical school. The dark-skinned Chokal-Ingam shaved his head, used his middle name Jojo, and was admitted to Saint Louis Medical School as a minority African American. Was he or was he not “black”?
Bush and Chokal-Ingam are not the only ones who may be confused about ethnic identity or may believe such identity can be assumed or alleged instead of being innate.
Read more: VictorHanson.com
Image credit: BarbWire.com.
