Sunday, January 25, 2015

"Grew up believing she was white until..."

"Lacey Schwartz, 37, only learned the truth about her birth – and her heritage – when she was 18 years old, while she was applying to college and was identified by one of the institutions as being black."
After hearing back from the college, Ms Schwartz immediately confronted her mother and learned that she was conceived while her mom was having an affair with a black man named Rodney.

'I come from a long line of New York Jews,' Ms Schwartz explained in the film. 'I grew up in a world of synagogue, Hebrew school and bar mitzvahs, so it never occurred to me that I was [different].'

She noted: 'I wasn't pretending to be something I wasn't. I actually grew up believing I was white.'
#Deflated...?

19 comments:

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I feel Ms. Hälfte-Schwartz's pain.

It wasn't until I was 18 that I learned that I am half an alien from another galaxy sent to observe the ways of your people.

Maybe someday a movie?

Rabel said...

She's adjusting well to her new truth.

Must be a family tradition.

AllenS said...

Seems to me that her heritage was fairly obvious right away.

ricpic said...

I had an uncle Schwartz. Nat Schwartz. And he was on the swarthy side. He used to say something. Very unusual, if you remember your aunts and uncles who mumbled along never saying anything, anything memorable that is. Anyway, in the very orthodox liberal surroundings in which I was raised there were things you were never supposed to say. One of them was to never criticize a schvartz. But Nat, when the usual BS was going around about how put upon the schvartzes were and how you weren't supposed to notice their effing boom boxes and their effing vibrancy, Nat said "What about me? A quiet orderly person. Why should I have to endure their noise? Why can't they ever modify their behavior to conform to my standards?" Made me think. Startling really, the first time you think beyond the box you're raised in. So thanks, Nat Schwartz. Even though you were a little schvartzy yourself.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

The best thing about that marriage is how confounded the old ladies will be when they try to say that the babies are beautiful because they are mixed race.

Rabel said...

The babies, bless their little hearts, will be Black Hispanic Jewish Baptists.

Rabel said...

That's assuming that Mama don't cheat on Daddy like Grandma did.

Fr Martin Fox said...

So what?

I have met a lot of folks over the years, all shades, and I would be curious to know their story, just because...life is interesting.

I get the fact that "your pa ain't your pa" is a trauma. But the race thing?

Rabel said...

The race thing is interesting because of the denials despite appearances.

edutcher said...

Wasn't she played by Steve Martin in the movie?

Trooper York said...

Wasn't the fact that her name was Shvartze a dead give away? Just sayn'

Rabel said...

Also, this -

"When Ms Schwartz applied to Georgetown University as an undergraduate student she left the box regarding racial identity blank.

'The only box I had known was white,' she said, 'so I just didn't check anything and based off a photograph, I was accepted as a black student.'

- doesn't ring true. Does Georgetown apply Affirmative Action preferences based on appearance?

Rabel said...

Papa and Mama were having a little argument about their sex life. Papa pointed out how good their lives were otherwise and while walking away he said to Mama "hava nagila" in an effort to make peace.

Mama misunderstood. And here we are.

ken in tx said...

Trooper York said it, Schwartz? I call shenanigans.

William said...

I had my DNA tested and genealogy traced just recently. Some of my Irish ancestors were more Anglo Saxon then they let on, and my German ancestors were part Jewish.. My great grandmother, the one who came from Germany, was the illegitimate daughter of an illiterate housemaid. I suspect she worked in a Jewish household. That's what happened with Karl Marx's maid.. Something like that probably happened with my Irish ancestors. Sally Hemmings wasn't the only domestic servant who ever gave full service......Well, here's to hybrid vigor. They say when you cross breed two strains, the most vigorous ones prevail. I'm much healthier than the average Hapsburg.......If you trace your ancestry back far enough, you're bound to find a few wild cards.

AllenS said...

William, I too have had my DNA tested. I find the info to be extremely interesting. Did you use Ancestry.com? If so, after a while they'll let you know who you are related to, if that person had their DNA tested.

I've met a lot of cousins that I never would have met if it wasn't for the testing.

Unknown said...

Pigmentation obsession has hit exhaustion levels.

William said...

@allen: Yes, I used Ancestry.com and also the DNA test. I think the DNA test is probably more accurate. We're all descended from bastards.

AllenS said...

My cousin talked me into taking a YDNA test with Family Tree. That was the first DNA test that I took, and it was going to tell me father to son information only since the beginning.

When the first matches showed up, nobody had my last name. It was only after figuring out what happened that I was able to determine that we were related through a common male ancester 1,000 to 1,500 years ago or more.

Very few had last names back then.

There's been a lot of screwing going on.