Swiss-born artist Saba Djamila, formerly known as Djamila Lininger Strauss, was born to a German mother and Algerian father. As a result of her travels and extended stays with Rastafarians in Jamaica and the Tuaregs in Timbuktu, she developed a keen interest in interracial bonding.
This subject is the theme of her paintings on display through Jan. 31 at the Baobab Cultural Center. She further witnessed the complexity of interracial love when her white daughter married a black Jamaican. Would her grandchildren be black, white, sambo (quarter-white), mulatto (half white), quadroon (three-quarters white), or mestizo (seven-eighths white)? Would Santa be the white or black grandpa?
Interracial issues add to the complexity of family dynamics during the holidays. Interracial adoptions have increased the prevalence of such challenges. Close to 2 million children in the United States are of a different race than one or both parents.
Nonetheless, interracial coupling remains a thorny issue. Society's unforgiving attitude toward integrated families is manifested in stereotypes steeped in trite insinuations of the homeboy hooking up with the naive blonde; the accomplished black male being snatched by a white female; or the over-educated black female resigned to love the available white male.
These issues go as far back as Frederick Douglass whose second wife, Helen Pitts, was a white woman. Douglass' humorous response to the criticism was, "My first wife was the color of my mother, and my second wife, the color of my father."
Douglass also said: "The colored people of this country have, I think, made a great mistake, of late, in saying so much of race and color as a basis of their claims to justice, and as the chief motive of their efforts and action. I have always attached more importance to manhood than to mere identity with any variety of the human family..."
The Baobab exhibit features works from a series titled "Fruits of Love,"inspired by Djamila's casual observation of how, from her daughter's and son-in-law's struggle with their identities, emerged a certain resignation to unconditional love, understanding and tolerance.
As families unite during the holidays, the challenges of interracial bonding must be met with an absolute resolve to transcend color. We hope Djamila's works inspire integrated families to revel in the promise of tolerance.
