Article

2004-02-24

Mozambique-born Teresa Heinz Kerry: âIâm an African Americanâ

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Posted by ColoradoConservative 2004-02-24 2:06:42 PM|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Good to see that the Kerrys are living up to their common people theme. At what point will panicked Democrats start exhibiting serious buyer's remorse?

Posted by Right on 2004-2-24 2:14:32 PM|| 2004-2-24 2:14:32 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 Well, if Clinton was the first "black" president, I guess she was just staking her claim to be the first African (non-hyphenated) American First Lady.

Posted by Steve 2004-2-24 2:27:45 PM|| 2004-2-24 2:27:45 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 'Tis a bit early to be playing the race card, isn't it?

Posted by Raj 2004-2-24 2:46:14 PM|| [http://angrycyclist.blogspot.com] 2004-2-24 2:46:14 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 It all depends on what your definition of 'is' is.....

Posted by CrazyFool 2004-2-24 2:54:50 PM|| 2004-2-24 2:54:50 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 Methinks the 'hyphen', 'no hyphen' argument is so much BS. Google "African American" and you'll get almost 5 million responses. Some have hyphens and some do not but all seem to speak of black Americans of African heritage.
But what do you call a white or Arab native of the African continent who immigrates to America?
Students in Omaha were disciplined last month for nominating a white student from South Africa as their school's "Distinguished African American Student Award". (Note the lack of hyphen.)
My suggestion to Teresa: "if you're not satisfied with being just a plain ole American then call yourself a Mozambican and let it go at that".

Posted by GK 2004-2-24 3:14:09 PM|| 2004-2-24 3:14:09 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 One of our former fellows (now a wonderful colleague and friend) joked that he too was an "African American", since he was born in South Africa. Of course, he was white and Jewish, so he wasn't exactly what people had in mind when they use the phrase.

By the way, Jewish white South Africans are abandoning the country in droves, and have been doing so in the last decade. They got caught in the middle during the civil war and now find it rather uncomfortable there. Many go to Britain but a fair number come to the U.S.

Posted by Steve White 2004-2-24 3:20:54 PM|| 2004-2-24 3:20:54 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 From the Guardian, Jan. 25th:

The daughter of a prominent Portuguese doctor, Heinz Kerry, nÃ©e Maria Teresa Thierstein Simoes-Ferreira, grew up in Mozambique. She attended a school run by British nuns, and later studied Romance languages at senior school in South Africa, where she became involved in the nascent anti-apartheid movement of the late 1950s. At university in Geneva, she was a classmate of Kofi Annan at the city's School of Interpreters. Now fluent in five languages, she graduated and went to New York to become an interpreter at the United Nations, before marrying Heinz in 1966.

Posted by Steve White 2004-2-24 3:23:40 PM|| 2004-2-24 3:23:40 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 Sista be doin' it fo' herself!
So even if you were part of the European colonial power structure, you can be proud of your African heritage? Might want to ask the Angolans if they consider the Portugese that ran the place for awhile as "Africans". I seem to remember a bit of trouble between the two groups a few years back.

Posted by tu3031 2004-2-24 4:18:53 PM|| 2004-2-24 4:18:53 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 Ah! So she's really a Portuguese-Colonial-African-American. The mo' hyphens, the mo' better.

Posted by eLarson 2004-2-24 4:18:53 PM|| 2004-2-24 4:18:53 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 What she is is a potential embarrasment and liability for Kerry.

Posted by ColoradoConservative 2004-2-24 4:23:06 PM|| 2004-2-24 4:23:06 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 Maria Teresa Thierstein Simoes-Ferreira You have to admit that it's a beautiful name. I wish us redneck types did more of that.

Posted by Shipman 2004-2-24 6:25:36 PM|| 2004-2-24 6:25:36 PM|| Front Page Top

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