But I'm A Cat Person

Ooh, hey, time for more Complex Race Stuff I’m Not Sure I Totally Conveyed Right.

The thing is, although genetically she’s half-and-half, Miranda doesn’t identify as “white” and “black” in perfectly equal amounts. She identifies as “black” or “mixed.” Partly because she would much rather be associated with her (black) mom than her (white) dad; partly because the world absolutely does not treat her like a white person, ever.

But right this second, Bianca is appealing to her blackness while trying to steer her into feeling a certain way, so she’s having a knee-jerk reaction of “nope, stop it, I reject your argument on every level I can.”

Patrick: !!

Poe: …

Bianca: Miranda, listen to yourself!

You’re talking about Patrick like he’s a thing you can own. When he’s a . . . a thinking being! Would you treat Poe like that? You can’t have made him black without thinking about this. Some white Masters might do it unconsciously, but —

Miranda: “But” . . . I’m black, so I have to think the way you want me to?

Well, gosh, sorry to let you down. But I’m just as much white as I am black, and, shockingly, capable of thinking this through for myself!

You can’t think of Beings as equal to humans. No matter what they look like. They’re more like computers with intuition. Or very smart pets! If the most caring thing my father had ever done for me was give me a normal dog, and that dog got lost, would you try to keep it?

What if I’d had the dog since I was nine? What if it was the only thing that looked out for me after my mother died?

You’re the one acting like you own him! I’m the one who has a right to him!