Sunday, July 13, 2008

Introductions

My name is Jason Klanderud. 

At first glance, what's up with that last name?  It means 'Eagle's Claw', or so I am told.  My great, great grandparents lived in the town of Klanderud near the Sweden/Norway border.  A river passing through the town is said to split into a tributary resembling, you guessed it, an eagle's claw.

As the story goes, my great, great grandparents were forced to leave their homeland area, ironically, because they were interracially married: one was Swedish, the other Norwegian.

Coming to America, they settled near one of the thousand lakes of Minnesota.

That was my father's side, more on that later, as for my mother her story is no less interesting.

After the Civil War, the Union pushed Native American peoples west.  One such aggressive move was known as the 'Trail of Tears'.  My great, great Seminole/Cherokee grandmother was 12 years old at the time, rounded up by the Union soldiers and set to march off toward Oklahoma and any point west.

She was able to wander from the main group, though, and was lost somewhere in Mississippi.

Eventually, she married a young Methodist traveling evangelist and they made the circuit from Mississippi round up through Missouri, all the way to Ohio and back again.  The minister was also of Native American and African American descent.  They had 5 children, one of them my great grandfather, Homer Hunter.

Homer became a mason living in and constructing much of the town of Piqua, Ohio.  He later had an African American partner who was an architect.  

Homer married very young a wife of Cherokee and African American descent.  We all called her 'Sugar Pie'.  They had 2 children, a son who was lost in a drowning accident at age 12, and a daughter, Virginia.


Grandma Hunter/Brown

Virginia married a would be doctor,  African American/German/Native American Howard Brown.  Howard played football in his youth, served in WWII as an Army medic and returned to a still very segregated United States - wanting to pursue medical school, but was only able to reach the position of the local mailman in Sidney, Ohio.

Howard and Virginia had 5 children and attended the local 'black' Baptist Church.  

They both had accomplished something remarkable for their time:  my mother's parents were one of the very first to defy housing segregation during the civil rights movement.

Howard and Virginia moved to an all white suburb on the edge of town - the 'black' community saw this daring moved as 'uppity' and 'trying to be white'.  The 'white' community saw it as a possible threat to their suburban solidarity.


Grandpa Brown

Howard was welcomed to the neighborhood by someone putting a burning paper bag full of dog feces on his front porch.  Upon stomping it out, he got the message from his new neighbors.  My mother says that this was the only time she ever remembers seeing him break down and cry.

Needless to say, Howard and Virginia's children grew up with a varied perspective of race and culture.  My mother, Judy, their oldest daughter, from what I gather was supposed to go on to 'better the black race'.  Instead, she dated and married the possibly most whitest, white man, my father, Vernon.


My Dad and Mom Married 1975

My Dad and Mom Engaged 1975

They married and bore me the next year, I was a bicentennial baby of 1976.  I am the oldest of 4 with 3 younger sisters.  


As far as my cousins go, I have on my mother's side of the family a mixture of (obviously) Native American and African American, also married in, German and Haitian.  On my father's side, again, Scandinavian, and also married in Japanese.


Me, my cousin and siblings

I hope this brief sketch of my multi-racial, multi-heritage background lays out some of the rationale for my part in this discussion.  Questions such as 'Who am I?' and at times, 'What am I?' have come up quite frequently throughout my life.

As being the primary contributor to this blog, my desire is to go beyond just asking the questions 'What racial mix are you?', or 'What problems do you face from others by being of mixed-race?'  There is so much more to the discussion.

I will endeavor to explore the more positive aspects of being a multi-racial person in a world that is increasingly changing it's borders, and socially getting smaller, more crowded.  I will go into the darker issues as well - anyone of mixed-race heritage knows that these issues are extreme for many of us.

I will also lay out what I see as the oncoming as well as persistent challenges that we all face now and in the nearer future.  

Questions like: 
'Are multi-racial people to be considered a racial group all their own?', 
'Are multi-racial people able to find unity through our unique characteristics and experiences?', and 'What is the future of Mixed-Race people, if not only for America, but obviously, our relatives connected throughout the world?'

Look forward to weekly posts for discussion.

Jason Klanderud

4 comments:

Xander said...

You're a talented storyteller, Jason... in the region of Nigeria where my paternal family originate, reciting yourancestral stories is part of tradition and seen as a skill of oratory; I'm sure your ancestors would be proud you've immortalised them!

One thing I've noticed with your extended family which is similar to mine, is that several of your relatives have married outside of their race or nationalities...

This is quite common with a number of my mixed friends- they all seem to have mixed relatives like me!

Wonder if it's just an example of birds flocking together?

Anonymous said...

I found your blog in a facebook group I joined called "displaced hybrid kids who just don't belong anywhere" (I thought it was funny) and it came at a interesting time for me. I've just been accepted to Law school in california and was really confused about choosing my racial origin on the application. My father, who I've met a handful of times, is an African-Iranian from an old port city in southern iran. He came to the u.s. and got together with my mom who is german, french, and spanish, third-generation American.
Now throughout my life I have identified as a bi-racial woman of color. But my social circle has always been full of people of all racial identities and ethnicities. I fit in with the mis-fits.
When I was a teenager and I felt the sting of alienation whether I was with Black americans or white americans or the few Iranians I ever came across (i don't speak the language or look iranian at all), I decided I would just let go of ever having a social group based on my racial heritage...My social group and my personal identity grew from ideas and one of these ideas was that it is a lie to think that the way I look should influence the way I live and the choices I make....However, every few years this idea seems more and more self-indulgent and even naive. As Americans we are trained by the media and mass-culture to group and herd together and distinguish ourselves as "in" certain groups and "out" of others. I think its almost innate, but pop-culture harnessed this and allows it divide us as Americans. Marketing in particular preys on the racial identities that are supposed to dictate our tastes in products and entertainment.
I guess I just feel frustrated that so many of us buy into this garbage. I wish people wouldn't ask me where I was from before they even knew my name. I immediately feel on the spot and alienated. I just wish this country could be more like the melting pot it is supposed to be. I hope when I have kids it will be different!
Thank you for sharing your story and opening up some solidarity and discussion!

Anonymous said...

I agree that Jason is a very strong storyteller!

Regarding extended family, you are right that it's common to find others who similarly marry across cultural lines. I believe that it has to do with a general open-mindedness that is present in that family structure to begin with that carries forward.

Those of us who are in mixed or blended families recognize that there is alot to celebrate about the added richness of our mixed cultural pasts that we can pass down to our kids, and that makes it easy for us to gravitate to others who share this perspective.

We created a community that would love to include your voices and spirit. It's called BLUR and you can find it at:

www.blurdigital.com

Hope you'll have a look and let us know what you think......

Motorradbrillen said...

perfect , thanks for info