People usually think I am of Latin origins, especially since I live in California. Actually though my mixture is Black and Caucasian and my parents are both from western Tennessee in the good old USA. My dad is very fair-skinned (as it's called) and my mom was also. So I am not technically what is called Mulatto where one parent is Black and the other is White. Because my last name is Lee and I work in technology people sometimes assume I am Chinese or Korean. The name Lee also has origins in England as well.

I have attempted to find out more about my grandparents and their races but there seems to be a lot of uncertain information. I have learned things from talking to family members at a few family reunions I have attended in Tennessee. Basically though we are talking about the southern U.S. and there was a lot of racial mixing occurring down there that was kept quiet because of being either taboo or illegal. By illegal I am talking about rape of Black female slaves and servants. Well whatever my true racial background is I am grateful that the genes have produced a lot of good looking people with good intelligence also, and artistic talent also.

I grew up in a primarily Black part of the south side of Chicago so I understand the the so-called Afro-American culture quite well. I am grateful that although I grew up primarily around Black people I was not taught to hate any race of people so I have been able to have friends of many races, especially over the last 35 years after I left Chicago.

There is a lot of false information and misconceptions spread about Black people in the U.S.. I want to use this opportunity to tell you, as an intelligent and educated person, that Black people are some of the most intelligent, creative and strong people on this planet. In my life I can hardly think of any Black person I have known that I didn't think was capable of high achievement in life.  As an example; I and both my brothers attended a college prep high school with an entrance exam on the south side of Chicago that was primarily aimed at producing future scientist, engineers, doctors and other highly skilled people. My graduating class was about 95% Black and contained over 400 people and many of them, including me and my brothers, did go on to become engineers, scientist, doctors and other highly-skilled workers.