[Kevin]

What does it mean to "respect" one's old country culture? I come from a lot of different European countries, but mostly I'm what they call "black dutch" -- which is about as "mixed" as one could possibly be. I have no idea what my ancestors were because apparantly (from what I've read about the black dutch), they were people who had interbred with other races, particularly indians and africans, but could pass for caucasian. In order to not be sent off on the trail of tears and similar trips, they claimed they were Caucasian on the censcus, listing themselves as "Black Dutch". Maybe they were what one might call "Whitewashed". Although, I can understand. All they had to do in order to not essentially be deported was lie about their ethnicity to some genocidal fuckwits. My point though is that for someone like me to pay appropriate homage to all of the dead people in my family and where they came from would be a 24/7 job.

I'm olive skinned to the point that everyone thinks I'm of Mediterranean, Latino, Arabic or of some descent like that. Honestly, I could be and most likely am.

Your race or the color of your skin may contribute to who you are, but it should not define you. Calling anyone whitewashed is about the most classless thing I can imagine. And as I said before, it's right up there with racial slurs in the book o' naughty words.