Thursday, October 21, 2004

• Walter Mosley on why he’s not “half white”

  CVK

  Las Vegas Mercury interviews writer Walter Mosley, best known for his series of detective novels about Ezekial "Easy" Rawlins. In 1995, the first book of the series, Devil in a Blue Dress, was made into a movie starring Denzel Washington. Mosley’s latest book is Little Scarlet.

  
  M: Easy's a character who often works as a middleman between the white world and the African-American world--negotiating that distance between them. You are of mixed race. Do you think of yourself as straddling that canyon as well, because of your heritage?

  
  Mosley: I don't think so. People say, "You're half white." No, I'm half Jewish. You don't know your history if you say I'm half white. Just look at Europe. Look at the Middle East, and you tell me. "White" means white Christians in Europe and America. The whole notion of race is ridiculous. There are no races; there are groups of people who get lumped together for a variety of reasons. All black people in America are multi-racial. It's very rare that you see somebody that's "black." Race is how one thinks of oneself and how one is thought of. I'm a black man in America. There's no question about that, and I don't have any choice about it. Do I have any kind of different cultures through language, genetics or family? Sure. But when I look in the mirror I'm Walter. I never go, "Look at that black man in the mirror." One would have to be crazy to do that.

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