Elizabeth Warren, Senator from Massachusetts, told the public a few days ago that she ran a DNA test, and it showed that she is partly Native American – between the fractions of 1/64 and 1/1024. That test and the subsequent announcement apparently were a retort to the multi-year taunting and mocking as “Pocahontas” by a mentally confused and morally corrupt politician called Who-Else.

I personally have no immediate feeling about whether a person has blood x in them. My father was Hakka Chinese, my mother Cantonese. I vaguely remember that Grandpa was adopted and he probably was never told who his biological parents were. Back in the old days it might be inappropriate to talk about these topics. So what am I genetically? Well, I grew up in Hong Kong, carried a Chinese name and looked Chinese. So I must be Chinese. That was fine with me. When I went to Hawaii, a US State, some people would talk to me in Japanese when I entered a gift shop. At first I was quite surprised, so I told them “Uh uh, dumb American here.” When I went to Japan on multiple trips, people always greeted me in Japanese at the beginning of a conversation. So again, trying to put on a self-deprecating smile, my response was “Uh uh, dumb American here.” Once or twice, some strangers asked me if my funny accent was Singaporean. You can guess my answer de rigueur.

I don’t mind being race x. I just wish I spoke their language so that we could talk more, and may even become friends.

Are You Indian?

She may be Indian, or perhaps not
I believe her
That matters not to me

Civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. was not Indian
Although he might be, or perhaps no, I am not sure
But I believe in his “dream”
A dream in which there is no racism
No race x, y and z
That matters to me

The great Beatle John Lennon
He was probably not Indian
Composed and sang the beautiful ballad “Imagine”
“Imagine there is no countries”
“Nothing to kill or die for”
No country x, y and z
That matters to me

Lacking Warren’s courage to declare her Indian heritage
Absent Lennon’s talent and sensitivity
Minus King’s eloquence with words
Though I too have a dream
I dream that in a thousand years
When I reincarnate as my own descendant
I will be six feet tall, shoulders broad, legs sinewy and arms strong
With dark brown skin, light turquoise eyes, flaming red hair and a square jaw
Looking like no breed x, y or z
But at the same time just like them, one and all

*** The End ***

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