In a story the other day, the Globe noted just how diverse this year's major mayoral candidates are, i.e., not a single white guy in the bunch. But the story included this bit about Annissa Essaibi George:
Some residents have raised questions about her identity.
“People tend to be a person of color when it’s convenient,’' said Jacquetta Van Zandt to the councilor on Van Zandt’s Politics and Proseccopodcast [sic] during Black History Month. “How do you identify? And how do you show up in the world?â€
How dare the Globe quote somebody saying something like that, Essaibi George thunders today.
Since the Boston Globe has determined that I do not meet their self-established definition of a person of color, and reported that "some" are questioning who I am and how I show up, let me summarize: I'm a proud first generation Arab-Polish American and identify as a woman of color.
She continues that identifying as a person of color "does not mean I equate my life with, or discount, the struggles of other races and ethnicities. I'm open about how people project an identity of their choosing onto me - and that can be both a privilege and a burden." And while the Globe will be tut-tutting, she'll be out on the streets "as my authentic self," learning from Bostonians and leading the city forward.
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Comments
Good for her!!
By Anon
Wed, 05/12/2021 - 10:22pm
Go get em!!
This Whole Thread Has Gone Batshite
By John Costello
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 10:32am
I am watching the Jamaica Plain People's Front trying to outdo the People's Front of Jamaica Plain below on who has got the most POC street cred.
High comedy writ large.
Hummus Gang 4 life
By BannedFromTheRoxy
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 10:54am
Hummus Gang 4 life my friend
Naw
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 5:44pm
Watching Eiresatz Internet Tough Guy complain about parodies is even higher comedy.
Eiresatz?
By John Costello
Fri, 05/14/2021 - 6:28am
So, in a round of discussion on whether someone is POC or not, you categorize me owing to my ethnic origin? You are not a well person and I guess a racist.
i think the word is “ersatzâ€
By berkleealum
Fri, 05/14/2021 - 7:14am
or fake
Eiresatz
By John Costello
Fri, 05/14/2021 - 7:36am
It was a word coined by a writer at the Globe about 25 years ago to make fun of Irish Americans who think they know a lot about Ireland because their great grandmother was from County Mayo.
Think people who think the Quiet Man is a documentary and that Lucky Charms is produced in a bog in Westmeath or guys with Notre Dame tattoos who couldn't get into Massasoit.
Swrils was making fun of my heritage and a place I have been to more than I have been to Hartford. It is a fairly scummy thing to do.
I assume eiresatz is
By ENIGMUE
Fri, 05/14/2021 - 3:04pm
I assume eiresatz is pronounced the same/similar to ersatz? If so, that's a useful nuanced thing to keep in mind, in case I find myself in a similar bind.
Google wasn't helpful, but the link to the Hartford Courant (byline MA Turner) [had to read a cached version] used it like an Irish sell-out. So this word with German roots is nearly a slur for the Irish? Not used to learning stuff from the Uhub comments, thanks
Double Post
By ENIGMUE
Fri, 05/14/2021 - 3:05pm
Double Post
Racist much?
By ScottB
Fri, 05/14/2021 - 9:39am
Got any nasty comments about Jews or Arabs in your repertoire, too?
This is the same person who,
By Anonymous
Wed, 05/12/2021 - 10:26pm
This is the same person who, just two weeks ago, voted against a bill suggesting that cops should maybe give a warning before they tear gas and shoot ‘non-lethal’ rounds into a crowd.
She is no POC
By Jay
Wed, 05/12/2021 - 10:28pm
Arabs are white according to the US Census.
Add to that she's half white.
Add to that's she appears white.
Add to that she panders to a white voting base.
Add to that she lives in a white area with a white spouse.
Arabs are white without the
By BannedFromTheRoxy
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 6:08am
Arabs are white without the privilege of being white.
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/1/24/elsay...
They seem to do pretty well here...
By Jay
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 12:28am
But anyway..you think Annissa has no white privilege? I don't buy that at all. She looks white and until recently-presents as white. She's only half Arab and if she didn't tell us, we wouldn't know.
In the 'Boston of yore' shed probably identify as 'Annie George of Dorchester'. Now that it's advantageous to be POC there different methods of presenting oneself...These are things POC understand well-which is why Jessica Van Zandt, and Meghan Irons, and myself are saying it.
Middle eastern immigrants
By BannedFromTheRoxy
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 10:13am
Middle eastern immigrants have a long history of being forced to assimilate and not embrace their culture after migrating to the states . Such as changing their Arabic sounding names similar to what east Asians did.
Sorry that you feel you’re a gatekeeper of sorts
Diversity is a palate of colors not just black and white
So she is clearly the daughter
By anon
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 3:04pm
of a man born in Africa, but not African enough. Continental drift takes a really really long time. Your target seems to move as you see fit. Would you be more comfortable saying her father has roots in Gondwanaland? My family is originally from Pangea.
Tunisa
By This Guy
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 8:01am
According to her website and other online sources, her father is from Tunisia. Tunisia is in Africa. Where is the ambiguity?
Dave Matthews is from South Africa
By tachometer
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 1:24pm
South Africa is in Africa. Where is the ambiguity?
Theresa Heinz Kerry was born in Mozambique
By GeeJimmy
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 3:18pm
Mozambique is in Africa. Where's the ambiguity?
oooh i want to play
By berkleealum
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 3:39pm
Hugo Weaving.
Margaret Mitchell
By John Costello
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 4:04pm
The woman who wrote the opinion legalizing same sex marriage in Massachusetts is from South Africa.
Margaret Marshall
By cw in boston
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 7:02pm
n/t.
BIPOC for a reason...
By anon
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 6:11am
There's a lot that's truly disgusting above.
Ah, or could it be that some
By dvg
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 7:36am
Ah, or could it be that some people are more POC than others? It's complicated.
That's right, dvg.
By mplo
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 9:28am
Nowadays, more and more people here in the United States are bi-racial, or of mixed races--whatever one might care to call it.
How to label a person who is
By Refugee
Fri, 05/14/2021 - 8:16am
How to label a person who is not quite a POC? Person of Tint?
What?
By anon
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 8:24am
"Add to that she lives in a white area with a white spouse."
So, to be a person of color, you have to live in person of color area and have a person of color spouse? Can there be any white people in that area? Can the spouse have any white blood?
Culture
By Jay
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 9:55am
For 1-shes technically and legally WHITE, despite what she's selling.
For 2-theres something called culture shes culturally in white spaces, affirming her whiteness.
Legally White?
By BostonDog
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 1:33pm
There is no legal definition of who is what race. No "technical" definition either.
*US Census has entered the chat*
By Jay
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 3:35pm
I guess we just make up demographic data on the fly?
That's self reported
By BostonDog
Fri, 05/14/2021 - 6:24am
They are asking how you personally identity. There is no wrong answer.
David Ortiz.
By Refugee
Fri, 05/14/2021 - 8:17am
David Ortiz.
Ah, yes, the premiere source
By anon
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 12:54pm
Ah, yes, the premiere source on race in America - the US Census.
Also, Arabs range from blonde hair and blue eyes to quite dark skin. She looks pretty Arab to me. Maybe try learning what actual arabs look like first.
Going by the Census "definitions"
By Waquiot
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 1:46pm
Would Jon Santiago be a white candidate, as "Hispanic" is not considered by the Census Bureau to be a race?
And I hate to get into what Cape Verdeans do when they get that Census form, but check out the large number of "other" found in Brockton. Would this affect how people view John Barros' place in the all important race debate?
On your last point, does living with a white spouse in a white area mean that Michelle Wu has somehow become white?
Or we could just look at these candidates on their merits, and probably elect Kim Janey because, well, that's the Menino origin story.
Getting past the preliminary election
By Robert Winters
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 12:24am
Perhaps I have been living under a rock for the last few decades, but I thought the Boston mayoral election was all about finishing in the top two in the preliminary election so that you could advance to the November ballot.
Wouldn't the best strategy for finishing in the top two be to be characterized as different in some way from the other candidates?
It's her knee-jerk attack on the press that bothers me
By CopleyScott17
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 6:25am
The Globe quoted, by name, someone who questioned the candidate's background. There's nothing inappropriate about that. I don't care how she "identifies," but I'm not going to support someone who either can't comprehend a news article or is comfortable lying about its content.
Leave Annissa alone
By Jamarhl Crawford
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 6:46am
Here's the thing... her Father is from Tunisia... Tunisia is in Africa
What is all this emphasis on "He's an Arab" and I think I can hear some of you saying A-rab... SMH.
In my book her Father is an African. We come in all shades, hair textures, languages, religions and cultures... this American and particularly Boston small town flat world view is telling.
Do you consider Egyptians to be African too?
By CopleyScott17
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 9:41am
I mean, as long as we're getting distracted by things that are beside the point.
Mo Sallah
By John Costello
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 10:34am
Plays in the African Cup of Nations with Egypt.
Plays against Sadio Mane from Senegal.
Yet both are on the same team in Liverpool.
Makes you think.
As far as I'm concerned, Mo Salah is one color
By Waquiot
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 4:55pm
Red!
Same with Mane.
Same with Becker.
Same with Alexander-Arnold.
Same with Shaquiri.
Same with the whole squad.
Yes. Egypt is a part of Africa
By anon
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 8:41pm
whether you like it or not. So is Morocco. So is Libya. So is Tunisia. So is South Africa. If someone comes from these counties, they are African. If you want to talk color or people, then talk color. But if you are talking about continents or countries, many nations and lot of different looking people are from Africa.
Egypt is mostly a part of
By Refugee
Fri, 05/14/2021 - 8:22am
Egypt is [i]mostly[/i] a part of Africa. Sinai looks like it should be considered part of Asia. And the occupied territories which formerly were known as part of Egypt, now look like they should be considered part of New York City.
She missed one
By Will LaTulippe
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 7:44am
Arab-Polish-bootlicker.
I just hope that she never identifies as "mayor."
How others see you
By anon
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 7:45am
Regardless of how you identify, how you are treated in the world is based on how others perceive you. Nobody would look at her and think she was anything but white and she would be granted all the benefits of “white privelidge. “ She is trying to have it both ways.
Not everybody with pale skin is "white"
By adamg
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 9:43am
She can benefit from white privilege in some cases and yet still be discriminated against in others.
Speaking from personal experience as a white guy who grew up with a different religion than most people: There are haters everywhere and you can be discriminated against, even bullied, because of who you are, no matter how pale your skin and they will never accept you. I think that's what she was trying to say in that statement, not that she's trying to pretend she's lived the same life as a Campbell or Janey.
Now, as somebody mentioned above, being so thin skinned she's blasting the Globe for reporting what some people in the community are saying, that's another matter.
Your “race is your faceâ€
By anon
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 11:11am
Your “race is your face†though. It’s not how you identify. You can identify as a minority and still be “white†example, white Latinx folk. You can’t just say you are a person of color when the world sees you as white but you can identify as part of an ethnic minority
Bull$#!+
By ScottB
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 12:56pm
There are literally millennia of history of discrimination against white people who are Jewish. A century ago, plenty of "white" people faced discrimination because they were Irish or Italian.
Even today, anti-Semitism remains a problem, and Arabs face discrimination for being perceived as being Muslim.
And can we stop with the cultural appropriation which is inherent in the word "Latinx?"
Speaking from personal
By anon
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 12:38pm
That's intersectionality for you, babey! The point here is that she doesn't experience racism. Not all discrimination is racism! (even anti-Semitism isn't racism, it's it's own complicated, nasty beast) She (and you) can have people biased against her for tons of things, some totally unreasonable and even some other forms of -isms, but her claiming she is SOOO POC as some way to claim she experiences racism is wrong, because until now everything about her presentation was white as fuq.
Intersectionality
By adamg
Fri, 05/14/2021 - 12:30am
OK, I'll grant you antisemitism isn't the same exact thing as racism, although when you get down to them being, basically, hatred of the other, it's not really any different. Telling Ayanna Pressley to go back where she came from (and they don't mean Chicago) is pretty darn similar to telling Jews to shut up and support Republicans because Republicans supposedly support the Jews' homeland (with the implication being if you don't support Republicans, you can go back to Israel, and never mind the vast majority of Jews in the US are Americans, not Israelis).
because until now everything about her presentation was white as fuq.
She's been calling herself a person of color for awhile now (it came up two years ago, after Mejia and Arroyo won seats and suddenly the council had a non-white majority, if you included her). I admit I haven't followed her closely enough to know how that plays out, but it's not new; it's just nobody seemed to get exercised over it until now.
What do you think when you
By Anon
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 11:31am
What do you think when you see her name in print?
Annissa , have never in my life heard it before. I do not even know how to pronounce it. It is Arabic and Latin American combined according to what I can find. Surely not a traditional name from England.
Essaibi , another name I have never seen in my life and seems to not be very present online.
I do not see her presenting as a traditional European based person at all based off of her names. I highly doubt she would have been a contender in the 80's for traditional white Bostonian of the year.
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