White & Black Folks Fading Away

Me and my son Sean 1st & 2nd generation MR

Multiracial Americans Fastest Growing Demographic Group

Multiracial Americans have become the fastest growing demographic group, wielding an impact on minority growth that challenges traditional notions of race.

The number of multiracial people rose 3.4 percent last year to about 5.2 million, according to the latest census estimates. First given the option in 2000, Americans who check more than one box for race on census surveys have jumped by 33 percent and now make up 5 percent of the minority population — with millions more believed to be uncounted.

Demographers attributed the recent population growth to more social acceptance and slowing immigration. They cited in particular the high public profiles of Tiger Woods and President Barack Obama, a self-described "mutt," who are having an effect on those who might self-identify as multiracial.

Population figures as of July 2008 show that California, Texas, New York and Florida had the most multiracial people, due partly to higher numbers of second- and later-generation immigrants who are more likely to "marry out." Measured by percentages, Hawaii ranked first with nearly 1 in 5 residents who were multiracial, followed by Alaska and Oklahoma, both at roughly 4 percent.

Utah had the highest growth rate of multiracial people in 2008 compared to the previous year, a reflection of loosening social morals in a mostly white state.

"Multiracial unions have been happening for a very long time, but we are only now really coming to terms with saying it's OK," said Carolyn Liebler, a sociology professor at the University of Minnesota who specializes in family, race and ethnicity.

"I don't think we've nearly tapped the potential. Millions are yet to come out," she said.

In Middletown, N.J., Kayci Baldwin, 17, said she remembers how her black father and white mother often worried whether she would fit in with the other kids. While she at first struggled with her identity, Baldwin now actively embraces it, sponsoring support groups and a nationwide multiracial teen club of 1,000 that includes both Democrats and Republicans.

"I went to my high school prom last week with my date who is Ecuadoran-Nigerian, a friend who is Chinese-white and another friend who is part Dominican," she said. "While we are a group that was previously ignored in many ways, we now have an opportunity to fully identify and express ourselves."

The latest demographic change comes amid a debate on the role of race in America, complicating conventional notions of minority rights.

Under new federal rules, many K-12 schools next year will allow students for the first time to indicate if they are "two or more races." The move is expected to cause shifts in how test scores are categorized, potentially altering race disparities and funding for education programs.

Five justices of the Supreme Court have signaled they would like to end racial preferences in voting rights and employment cases — a majority that may not change even if Sonia Sotomayor is confirmed as the first Hispanic justice. Blacks and Hispanics, meanwhile, are touting a growing minority population and past discrimination in pushing for continued legal protections.

Left out of the discussion are multiracial people, who are counted as minorities but can be hard to define politically and socioeconomically. Demographers say that while some multiracial Americans may feel burdened or isolated by their identity, others quickly learn to navigate it and can flourish from their access to more racial networks.

"The significance of race as we know it in today's legal and government categories will be obsolete in less than 20 years," said William H. Frey, a demographer at Brookings Institution.
"The rise of mixed-race voters will dilute the racial identity politics that have become prevalent in past elections," he said.

Liebler noted a potential dilemma where a white student who is one-eighth Cherokee applies to college and seeks an admissions preference based on race and disadvantaged status. Should the college give the multiracial student the boost, if one-eighth of his family suffered a past racial harm but seven-eighths of his family were the perpetrators?

"It's a huge question for our legal system and our policies," she said. "Tomorrow we could have a legal case that challenges whether a multiracial person is a minority."

Census data also show:

• More than half of the multiracial population was younger than 20 years old, a reflection of declining social stigma as interracial marriages became less taboo.

• Interracial marriages increased threefold to 4.3 million since 2000, when Alabama became the last state to lift its unenforceable ban on interracial marriages. (The Supreme Court barred race-based restrictions on marriage in 1967.) About 1 in 13 marriages are mixed race, with the most prevalent being white-Hispanic, white-American Indian and white-Asian.

• Due to declining immigration because of legal restrictions and the lackluster economy, the growth rates of the Hispanic and Asian populations slowed last year to 3.2 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively, compared to multiracial people's 3.4 percent. The black population rose at a rate of about 1 percent; the white population only marginally increased.

Currently, census forms allow U.S. residents to check more than one box for their race. But there is no multiracial category, and survey responses can vary widely depending on whether a person considers Hispanic a race or ethnicity.

"It's all about awareness," said Susan Graham, founder and executive director of California-based Project Race, which advocates for a multiracial classification on government forms. "We want a part of the pie chart."

The 2008 census estimates used local records of births and deaths and tax records of people moving within the U.S. The figures for "white" refer to those whites who are not of Hispanic ethnicity. For purposes of defining interracial marriages, Hispanic is counted as a race.

Very interesting read. In the late 1970's, I read a novel, which I cannot remember the name, that was based on projections of the future. In that novel, by a certain time period, "there will be no more white or black people". There will only be multiracial people. This prophecy seems to be accelerating. Which is fine by me, since I have been of multiracial heritage all my life. Just like Tiger, Barack and many many more multiracial souls on this planet. This way, YOU look at life from more than just one perspective. Something more humans need to cultivate.

"Multiracial Is Good For The Planet",

Bobby Sharpe "Dragon, Book Of Shang"2 Bobby Sharpe's "Indigo Spiritz": You, The One & Only

Dragons Terrorizing Indonesians

Komodo Dragon goes Grizzly

Komodo Dragon Attacks Terrorize Indonesian Villages

KOMODO ISLAND, Indonesia — Komodo dragons have shark-like teeth and poisonous venom that can kill a person within hours of a bite. Yet villagers who have lived for generations alongside the world's largest lizard were not afraid — until the dragons started to attack.

The stories spread quickly across this smattering of tropical islands in southeastern Indonesia, the only place the endangered reptiles can still be found in the wild: Two people were killed since 2007 — a young boy and a fisherman — and others were badly wounded after being charged unprovoked.

Komodo dragon attacks are still rare, experts note. But fear is swirling through the fishing villages, along with questions on how best to live with the dragons in the future.

Main, a 46-year-old park ranger, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name, was doing paperwork when a dragon slithered up the stairs of his wooden hut in Komodo National Park and went for his ankles dangling beneath the desk. When the ranger tried to pry open the beast's powerful jaws, it locked its teeth into his hand.

"I thought I wouldn't survive... I've spent half my life working with Komodos and have never seen anything like it," said Main, pointing to his jagged gashes, sewn up with 55 stitches and still swollen three months later. "Luckily, my friends heard my screams and got me to hospital in time."

Komodos, which are popular at zoos in the United States to Europe, grow to be 10 feet long and 150 pounds. All of the estimated 2,500 left in the wild can be found within the 700-square-mile Komodo National Park, mostly on its two largest islands, Komodo and Rinca. The lizards on neighboring Padar were wiped out in the 1980s when hunters killed their main prey, deer.

Though poaching is illegal, the sheer size of the park — and a shortage of rangers — makes it almost impossible to patrol, said Heru Rudiharto, a biologist and reptile expert. Villagers say the dragons are hungry and more aggressive toward humans because their food is being poached, though park officials are quick to disagree.

The giant lizards have always been dangerous, said Rudiharto. However tame they may appear, lounging beneath trees and gazing at the sea from white-sand beaches, they are fast, strong and deadly.

The animals are believed to have descended from a larger lizard on Indonesia's main island Java or Australia around 30,000 years ago. They can reach speeds of up to 18 miles (nearly 30 kilometers) per hour, their legs winding around their low, square shoulders like egg beaters.

When they catch their prey, they carry out a frenzied biting spree that releases venom, according to a new study this month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The authors, who used surgically excised glands from a terminally ill dragon at the Singapore Zoo, dismissed the theory that prey die from blood poisoning caused by toxic bacteria in the lizard's mouth.

"The long, jaded teeth are the primary weapons. They deliver these deep, deep wounds," said Bryan Fry of the University of Melbourne. "But the venom keeps it bleeding and further lowers the blood pressure, thus bringing the animal closer to unconsciousness."

Four people have been killed in the last 35 years (2009, 2007, 2000 and 1974) and at least eight injured in just over a decade. But park officials say these numbers aren't overly alarming given the steady stream of tourists and the 4,000 people who live in their midst.

"Any time there's an attack, it gets a lot of attention," Rudiharto said. "But that's just because this lizard is exotic, archaic, and can't be found anywhere but here."

Still, the recent attacks couldn't have come at a worse time.

The government is campaigning hard to get the park onto a new list of the Seven Wonders of Nature — a long shot, but an attempt to at least raise awareness. The park's rugged hills and savannahs are home to orange-footed scrub fowl, wild boar and small wild horses, and the surrounding coral reefs and bays harbor more than a dozen whale species, dolphins and sea turtles.

Claudio Ciofi, who works at the Department of Animal Biology and Genetics at the University of Florence in Italy, said if komodos are hungry, they may be attracted to villages by the smell of drying fish and cooking, and "encounters can become more frequent."

Villagers wish they knew the answer.

They say they've always lived peacefully with Komodos. A popular traditional legend tells of a man who once married a dragon "princess." Their twins, a human boy, Gerong, and a lizard girl, Orah, were separated at birth.

When Gerong grew up, the story goes, he met a fierce-looking beast in the forest. But just as he was about to spear it, his mother appeared, revealing to him that the two were brother and sister.

"How could the dragons get so aggressive?" Hajj Amin, 51, taking long slow drags off his clove cigarettes, as other village elders gathering beneath a wooden house on stilts nodded. Several dragons lingered nearby, drawn by the rancid smell of fish drying on bamboo mats beneath the blazing sun. Also strolling by were dozens of goats and chickens.

"They never used to attack us when we walked alone in the forest, or attack our children," Amin said. "We're all really worried about this."

"They never used to attack us when we walked alone in the forest, or attack our children," Amin said. "We're all really worried about this."

The dragons eat 80 percent of their weight and then go without food for several weeks. Amin and others say the dragons are hungry partly because of a 1994 policy that prohibits villagers from feeding them.

"We used to give them the bones and skin of deer," said the fisherman.

Villagers recently sought permission to feed wild boar to the Komodos several times a year, but park officials say that won't happen.

"If we let people feed them, they will just get lazy and lose their ability to hunt," said Jeri Imansyah, another reptile expert. "One day, that will kill them. "

The attack that first put villagers on alert occurred two years ago, when 8-year-old Mansyur was mauled to death while defecating in the bushes behind his wooden hut.

People have since asked for a 6-foot-high concrete wall to be built around their villages, but that idea, too, has been rejected. The head of the park, Tamen Sitorus, said: "It's a strange request. You can't build a fence like that inside a national park!"

Residents have made a makeshift barrier out of trees and broken branches, but they complain it's too easy for the animals to break through.

"We're so afraid now," said 11-year-old Riswan, recalling how just a few weeks ago students screamed when they spotted one of the giant lizards in a dusty field behind their school. "We thought it was going to get into our classroom. Eventually we were able to chase it up a hill by throwing rocks and yelling 'Hoohh Hoohh."

Then, just two months ago, 31-year-old fisherman Muhamad Anwar was killed when he stepped on a lizard in the grass as he was heading to a field to pick fruit from a sugar tree.

Even park rangers are nervous.

Gone are the days of goofing around with the lizards, poking their tails, hugging their backs and running in front of them, pretending they're being chased, said Muhamad Saleh, who has worked with the animals since 1987.

"Not any more," he says, carrying a 6-foot-long stick wherever he goes for protection. Then, repeating a famous line by Indonesia's most renowned poet, he adds: "I want to live for another thousand of years."

What is there to say, "these are NOT your domesticated house pets" to be played with and harrassed. After all these years, I guess the lizards have had enough.

"Indonesian Animals Rule, Even Komodo Dragons",

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Brazilians, Anacondas, Alligators Flee

Brazilians flee flooding, stay in cow pens

BACABAL, Brazil – Brazilians huddled in cow pens converted into emergency shelters Friday, as swollen rivers continue to rise and northern Brazil's worst floods in decades boosted the number of homeless to nearly 300,000. The death toll rose to 39, and coffins started popping out of the soaked earth.

More than 1,000 people forced from their homes were crammed into a sprawling complex of stables and wooden shacks that hosts the annual August cattle fair in this city of 95,000 surrounded by small farms and jungle.

Up to six people were staying in each pen, sleeping in hammocks, mattresses and on the floor. They cooked government handouts of rice and beans over open wood fires, many with the TVs they toted with them stacked among their belongings.

Others stayed in shacks normally used to sell trinkets and cattle products during the annual fair. The pigs, chickens and dogs they brought with them roamed a concrete courtyard where children kicked around balls.

Local health officials acknowledged sanitary conditions were deplorable and could lead to outbreaks of disease, but those staying in the stables said they worried conditions could be worse elsewhere if they are forced to go.

Luz Gomes said a cow pen felt like a safe temporary home for her three children, with her neighbors living in the stall next door after all were evacuated by flatbed truck as floodwaters swept through their poor neighborhood of wooden shacks and mud-brick houses.

"We've gotten used to being here, I've got my family by my side, we know this place and we don't know what we'd find in another shelter," said Gomes, while cradling her baby son.

None thought about returning home anytime soon as unusually heavy rains continued Friday, extending two months of rainfall across 10 of Brazil's 26 states. Three times the size of Alaska, the affected area stretches from the normally wet rainforest to coastal states known for lengthy droughts.

In Belterra, about 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) from Bacabal, the rains washed earth from a cemetery, dislodging four coffins that later washed up on riverbanks and sending an unknown number floating down the Tapajos River that feeds into the Amazon.

"The current was so strong that it dragged them away," said city official Edicley Dias.

Meteorologists blame the heavy rain on an Atlantic Ocean weather system that typically moves on by April — and they forecast weeks more of the same. And fleeing presented its own perils: In the same newly formed rivers that flood victims waded through or plied with canoes there swam anacondas, rattlesnakes and legless, rodent-eating "worm lizards," whose bite is excruciating.

Alligators also were seen swimming through many flooded cities and towns, and scorpions congregated on the same high ground as people escaping the rising water. No injuries to people from wild animals were reported.

Rivers still were rising in the hardest-hit state of Maranhao, where Bacabal is located. The surging torrents wrecked bridges and made it too dangerous for relief workers to take boats onto some waterways. Mudslides were stranding trucks, preventing them from delivering food and supplies to places cut off from civilization.

"They are stuck and waiting until we can clear the roads, which for some highways could be in a week if alternative routes aren't found," said Abner Ferreira, civil defense spokesman for Maranhao.

Cleide Soede dos Santos, camped out at the fairgrounds, said her devastated neighborhood would probably take months to rebuild once waters recede.

"Our houses are falling down, and on my street there are houses that were completely destroyed because the river's flow was so strong," she said.

Ferreira said authorities were trying to improve conditions: "We are doing the best we can to find sanitary shelters so that people can live in adequate places."

The flooding in northern Brazil is the worst in 20 years, and experts have warned river levels including the Amazon could hit records not seen since 1953 by June.

Needless to say, this is another natural disaster that these people have no control over. They are having to deal with some incredible circumstances. Once again, the weather patterns and climatic conditions are under going global changes. YOU need to pay attention!

"Global Neighbor Brazil,"

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