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I am a season ticketholder for the Jacksonville Jaguars. During the first year, I received a call from their marketing office. The lady asked if I had any kids between the ages of 10 and 15. I replied that yes, indeed, I have twin sons, age 12.

She offered them a chance to participate in a focus group regarding mascot ideas, and for their participation, they would receive either $40 cash or a Jaguars wristwatch. I thought that was a great idea and said yes.

She need some statistical data and asked the kids names, birth dates, grade, sex, and race. I rattled off all the info and then when I got to "race", I stated "human". She chuckled aloud for a moment, then asked again, "what is their race?" I replied, there is only ONE race, the HUMAN race. Silence greeted that reply. She asked a third time, and again I gave her the same answer.

Finally she said, "Sir I really need to know what race your kids are for our demographic survey".

I asked her what her race was, and she promptly said "African-American". I told her that my children were a "garden variety of anglo/spanish/malay/filipino and God knows what else", and I bet she didn't have a box for that on her survey.

She chuckled again and said "I guess I am a garden variety mixture as well. I will put down 'other' for your kids, and I won't ask that question to any other participants. Thanks, you really helped me to see how foolish it is to classify people."

I asked her what her race was, and she promptly said "African-American"

I would have told her that African-American is not a race.

I guess she's one of the dimwitted that calls every black person "African-American", even those who have never set foot in Africa or America.