Team Aryan vs. Team Not-White

So, last night, while playing Wii Tennis with the dear Anne Marie, it was decided that Wii was racist. Or, perhaps, all of Nintendo, I don't know. We have yet to do research on other platforms.

Why did we decide this? Because the computer tennis players that we were matched with while playing doubles. Each time, I was paired with a person with a darker skin tone and Anne Marie who is a full-on caucasian, was paired with another whitey.

We named our teams: Team Aryan and Team Not White. It was very funny for us because we are very good friends (she was my bridesmaid, after all) and not all in the manner of hating each other.

What's cool, is that those few segregated tennis matches led us to interesting discussions about racism. I love having friends that I can talk so openly about this with. Like, when I find myself in discussions about race--

---Speaking of the word "race" by the way. I don't like that word. Because we're all part of the human race and no one should be defined by the color of their skin. But I looked it up on wikipedia and it is defined as "the categorization of humans into populations or groups on the basis of various sets of heritable characteristics."

So I guess it is legit. But I still don't like it. If you catch me saying race, it's because that's what we're discussing. We're discussing people based on looks, not on heritage. Because, yes, people all look very different.---

Like I was saying. In my experience, when a discussion of race arises, it usually comes down to black and white. (This has been happening around me lately at school.) But what about all those people who are neither black or white? There has been plenty of discrimination against Asians, Hispanics, Eastern Europeans, etc.

I guess I'm kind of weird, though. Because I'm both white and not white at the same time. I'm half-Filipino. Which, by the way, for anyone who says "that's not really Asian" --because that has been said to me before--the Philippines is totally in Asia which, yes, makes me Asian (or, at least, half-Asian).

But when I get around a bunch of Asians who embody more of the Asian culture than I do (speak the language, have obsession with food whose names I cannot pronounce, were born in Asia, etc) I feel like an outsider. Like I'm not part of the culture. Yes, I do feel a sense of belonging, but only a fringe belonging. Like when I met two other girls in the writing center who were both Pinoy. It was like, whoa! all these Filipina gals...and they started speaking Tagalog. (note to self: get Rosetta Stone in Tagalog.) But that didn't stop each of us from being delighted to have found Filipinas at school.

I mean, all this haphazard stream of consciousness to say, that while race is still a very touchy topic, it doesn't have to be. Yes, we all look very different. Isn't that BEAUTIFUL? I've started broaching the topic of race with a few friends that I feel comfortable enough to do so. I want to know what other people think. You know, the things that we're not supposed to say because, well, you just don't talk about race.

In my experience, with my friends, no one really thinks about color that much. We don't think of our white friends as being white and the same goes for any other color of skin. We just think of ourselves as being friends.

Oh, and by the way, after Anne Marie left, I played one more game of Wii. This time, I was paired with a white guy. So much for Team Not White!