My fascination with "caucasian's" who appear oriental began with the birth of my daughter Tina, who made her entrance owning the blondest of hair, slanted eyes and high cheek bones. I used to enjoy calling her my little blonde-haired Chinaman.

As far as my ex-wife was concerned, it was fairly evident that she possessed at least a smidgeon of oriental ancestry. I, on the other hand, was purely Caucasian, though I could claim a touch of Turkish lineage (still Caucasian even if Asiatic).

When I first saw Warner Oland in Shanghai Express I was blown away by his natural oriental look, which made me wonder if he, a Swede, could have been like my daughter part Russian. Because there was no available information about the subject, through the years my ignorance slowly drove me to obsession.

Finally, after more than a decade of looking, I found The Charlie Chan Family website and the answer. He had inherited his oriental appearance through his Russian mother. Voila, the Tina connection just as I'd suspected.

They say that intellectual curiosity is a wonderful asset. Boulderdash! I'd rather be an ignoramus, but unfortunately I can't. Nonetheless, I must thank the website for putting my obsessiveness to rest.

Actually, that obsessiveness was caused, not by my daughter and wife's vague oriental appearance, but rather because of my wonderment over the racial stupidity Americans.

There is a Victorian racial concept that's alive and well in this country that only an idiot or an American can believe. If a person possesses a mere 1% of negro blood than he/she must be considered a negro/African-American/black/ person-of-color (this plethora of names is the flip-side of that stupidity and is called political correctness).

Consequently, Tiger Woods, who is more Caucasian, Oriental and American Indian than black is considered black, unless, of course, he's playing golf in Thailand, where he's considered Thai.

This 1% nonsense is ridiculous of course because approximately 20% of Europe has negroid blood coursing through its veins.

Italy is well-known for its African connection, but then Ireland, unbeknownst to the racially ignorant, also manifests the same racial characteristics as Sicily, Naples and Calabria.

Warner Oland's appearance made me wonder why the same 1% standard didn't apply for these Europeans as well as the Russians, Ukranians, the dark Irish and English (part of my ancestry). My dark English anscestors were just considered dark white people and the Russians weren't given any thought beyond the fact that they were Russian. Boris Yeltsin was half Mongol for God's sake and all one read about it was an occasional reference to his Tatar heritage that was tucked away in the end of some NY Times article.

I don't know how the reader thinks about the subject but I love the idea of racial mixing. It seems to be the most creative act a human being can perform.

If two people merge from the same racial groups, one can fairly accurately predict what their children will look and generally be like. With two people of different and sometimes opposite racial groups, one never knows.

Just think of some of the physical manifestations of such matings: Yul Brynner, Halle Berry, Mariah Cary, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodrigues, J-Lo, Tony Parker, Elvis Presley, Beyonce, Alexander Dumas, Beethoven, Colin Powell, Barak Obama, Dolly Parton, Lenin, Yeltzin, the Agha Khan, Yannick Noah, Desi Arnaz, Anthony Quinn and so many more.

I daresay am willing to say that such pairings create some of the most handsome/beautiful children of all. Just look at the preponderance of mixtures gracing the runways of fashion shows and in the entertainment industry. For that matter, all I have to do is look at my daughter.

I know that I am part Choctaw, thanks to my paternal grandmother from Mississippi but you'd never know it from looking at me.

It's ironic because I am third generation on both sides of my family to live in Texas, where there have been a lot more American Indian possibilites for intermingling.

Can I explain this unfortunate obsession that others have?

No. I prefer not to dwell on it since there are so many other, and more interesting, things that we can be enjoying plus why stop people dead in their tracks who don't realize my heritage!?!?

Virginia