Passing for Who You Really Are

7 The Multiracial Movement 7 Self-Identity 7 Ethnic Choice Should be required reading for "blacks," academicians, "white" liberals and especially Latinos. - William Javier Nelson, sociologist and author of _The Racial Definition Handbook_. She reminds you of H.L. Menken, driving intellectual midgets into frenzies of outrage, a spectacle that entertains her fans. - Frank W. Sweet, author of the series _Paths Not Taken_. No spokesperson of the movement to abolish government sponsorship of the "race" notion has been more eloquent than A.D. Powell. And none has been more harshly criticized. It is not that she in error or that she does not describe reality. To the contrary, she writes with crystalline precision and merciless accuracy. But she writes of Things Best Left Unsaid in America. Powell aims her barbs at liberals of all complexions who preach the one-drop rule. She is the nemesis of those who advocate the uniquely American notion that there is no such thing as a White per-son with African ancestry-that such a person is, at best, a "light-skinned Black." Powell believes that the one-drop rule ignores sci-ence, crushes tolerance, and mocks the American Dream. And yet it is preached by Liberals, and its enforcement is demanded by most Black leaders. She argues that coercing someone's ethnic choice is tyranny. This collection of essays on multiracialism originally appeared in Interracial Voice magazine.