Are We Not the Sum of Our Par(en)ts?

Karen Crouse wrote a terrific profile on the coming of age of the tennis star James Blake in Wednesday's New York Times. Blake is a class act and his comeback story has been one of the highlights of this year's U.S. Open, both for Blake and for American tennis.

Just a day before The Times' William C. Rhoden did a more provocative column on Blake's future ("A Fairy-Tale Hero, but Does the Glass Slipper Fit?") and whether or not he could be the next Arthur Ashe, which means being not only a great champion, but also a great humanitarian. There were also one or two "can Blake become the first African-American man to ..." suppositions. There's just one problem with this and the hard-to-fill "next Arthur Ashe" label: James Blake isn't black. He's mixed race. James Blake's father, Thomas, was black and his mother, Betty, is white. James is both of his parents' child. The last time I looked in my trusty stylebook it said that race should only be mentioned in a story if it's pertinent. Obviously it is to Rhoden's column, so why does he (and every other article) leave out half of it? I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I wouldn't take kindly to anyone marginalizing one of my parents.

So it makes me wonder: If we are so obsessed with labels — which we clearly are — then can we at least label things properly? The reality is that we live in a world filled with millions of mixed-race people. And we live in a world where children desperately need — and yearn for — role models. And whether we like it or not, kids look up to athletes and actors. This is why Arthur Ashe, as Rhoden points out, felt that athletes, especially black ones, needed to use their prominence to push for social change. There are already plenty of role models who are black and there are plenty of role models who are white. Wouldn't Arthur Ashe have wanted superstars like James Blake (and Tiger Woods, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz and Halle Berry and the list goes on) to use their prominence to push for social change for racially mixed people?

There's no question that our history and — perhaps most of all — the dreaded political lobby groups (who don't want to lose their beloved census numbers or endanger their political constituencies that can be neatly labeled) play a huge role in where we are today. But it's time to start living in the 21st century and to start addressing the issues of today's children and today's demographics. I know enough mixed-race people (including my immediate family) to know that feeling like you "don't fit in anywhere" is a real issue for many of today's generation. What better way to combat this than to accurately present to them someone to look up to who is racially mixed — especially if that someone is James Blake?

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