Teresa Heinz Kerry: 'I'm an African American'

Newsmax ^ | 2/24/03 | Newsmax

[paltz]

Teresa Heinz Kerry: 'I'm an African American'

First lady-wannabe Teresa Heinz Kerry sometimes describes herself as an "African American," even though she grew up amidst segregated privilege in colonial Mozambique.

"My roots are African," she told a reporter in 1995. "The birds I remember, the fruits I ate, the trees I climbed, they're African."

Throughout the 1990s, Heinz Kerry referred to herself as "African American," the Baltimore Sun revealed on Tuesday. And when her use of the term set off a firestorm of controversy in 1993, she defended the claim.

"African-hyphen-American belongs to blacks," Heinz Kerry's spokesman told reporters, insisting that it was proper for his boss to call herself African American as long as no hyphen was used or intended.

The one-time Republican's depiction of herself as African rankles some who knew Heinz Kerry in the days when her father ran a medical clinic in Mozambique.

Some say the wealthy "African American" has snubbed blacks in her homeland, because she has done next to nothing with her vast Heinz Foods fortune to improve living conditions there.

"We are proud she is a daughter of the land," Neo Simbine, 75, a retired black nurse who worked with Heinz Kerry's father, told the Sun. "But you have to live what you say. If she really loves Mozambique and has lots of money, why doesn't she build us a hospital?"

Heinz Kerry's fortune is equal to nearly a quarter of Mozambique's annual Gross Domestic Product.

But aside from a contribution to her homeland's Save the Children Fund, the woman who repeatedly invokes her Mozambican roots has limited her generosity.

A spokeswoman for the Heinz Foundation said the prospective first lady would give more if she were more confident the money would be managed properly.

[Lunatic Fringe]

If she really loves Mozambique and has lots of money, why doesn't she build us a hospital?

Interesting question... but why don't *you* build yourself a hospital?

[MrB]

Psssst... Tuh Ray Zuh....

It IS about skin color.

[sauropod]

Those that must have labels to define themselves will occasionally be hoist on their own petards...

[Revolting cat!]

Let's get absurd! She should of known that the term belongs only to, ahem, "Negroes", just as the term "Asian" belongs to the "Orientals". Geography, common sense have nothing to do with political correctness!

[conserv13]

She is more African than most 'African Americans' over here.
That doesn't make her black or mean she has soul or is superbad.

[Constitution Day]

"African-hyphen-American belongs to blacks,"...

Says who?
My wife is an African-American.

[SerpentDove]

>>"African-hyphen-American belongs to blacks," Heinz Kerry's spokesman told reporters, insisting that it was proper for his boss to call herself African American as long as no hyphen was used or intended<<

What a load of hooey.

[sinclair]

Well if that is the case, shouldn't that put her on the preferential list to government assistance for starting a business? You know, the "minority" set asides. Some people just have all the luck.

[anniegetyourgun]

I hope this spoiled brat is taken to task by the black community in America. In fact, I hope she repeats it....in a black church.

[fuzzthatwuz]

"Teresa Heinz Kerry: 'I'm an African American'"

Can hardly wait for her equally phoney husband to declare that he is an Hispanic of Jewish lineage who converted to Catholicism, but is now considering Islam as a life force. That should pretty much cover it, right John?

[Fresh Wind]

"African American" is now different from "African-American"?

[marty60]

DUMocrats is not an idle term. Bill Gates and his wife have helped more than this "African-American"

[Varda]

"'I'm an African American' "

Why yes she is. That's why some in the Pittsburgh area call her "The African Queen".

[maggief]

You forgot gay. ; )

[Guillermo]

Ha, funny.

[bmwcyle]

So What, I'm the Easter Bunny

[calljack]

What about that white guy from south africa who entered the Africian american contest in some high school before they found out he was a white africian american. Why isn't that ok??

[the invisib1e hand]

aahh...oo, ok. i see it. technically, she is. but, hey, so would any apartheid-pushing white transplant from Southie who decided to make America his home be 'African-American' by the same logic.

these people are reaaaaaaaally stretching it.

[Bluntpoint]

I'm sure she is not the only hyphenated American that Kerry is stooping.