The Study of Racialism

mixedmom · Moderator Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 782 }

I had a conversation with my mother recently. She told me that she went to a salon to get her hair styled and even let the beautician dye it brown. My mother is a multiracial woman who identifies as African-American. Her hair is actually jet black and has the texture of cornsilk. There is a substantial amount of Native American ancestry on both sides of her family. My mother told me that the beautician informed her that her hair wasn't actually black because only Asian people or Native Americans have black hair. The beautician insisted that my mother's hair was dark brown. She talked my mother into trying a lighter brown coloring. The coloring only worked on the touch of grey that my mother has at her temples. The rest of her hair remained jet black as it was before. It's crazy that because of this sketchy information associated with a "black" label, this beautician wasn't able to see what was in plain view, right in front of her face, my mother's JET BLACK hair.

Dragon Horse · Posted: Mon 26 Feb 2007 00:45 Post subject:

That hair dresser was a little unimformed (to be polite)....my wife's hair (like many Japanese) is dark brown naturally. I would say a majority of Japanese kids have brown hair and typically it turns black as they get older (like by the time they are 4 or 5)...but some never turns all the way black. Rolling Eyes

mixedmom · Moderator Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 782 }

gemini072 · Moderator Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 2942 }

gemini072 · Moderator Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 2942 }

Salsassin · SuperWizard Joined: 04 Apr 2005 {Posts: 3515 }

Powell · Guru Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 2448 }

Mixedmom wrote:

gemini072 · Moderator Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 2942 }

William · Posted: Tue 27 Feb 2007 16:39 Post subject:

A.D. and Ty have raised good points. My friend, Tracy, who is Black identified, but looks entirely European, mentioned that people always think of her as White until she reveals that she is Black. She is, of course, entirely aware that she looks completely European, and that most of her ancestors were European. When she tells people she identifies as Black, they then say that they can see it in her, coming up with all sorts of sillinesses such as "African" lip size, nose width, hair texture, facial structure, etc., that never were noticed before, and that aren't there.

Frank mentioned something similar about Mark Shriver, who was regarded as White, until he revealed that he had more than 10-20% African admixture (a surprise even to him). Then people claimed they could see it all along. Of course, this amount of African ancestry wouldn't be visible, anyway.

mixedmom · Moderator Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 782 }

Perhaps I should have named this topic Label Induced Psychoses. Race labels truely do make people see what isn't there and NOT see what is there! It's crazy the way that these labels can actually alter a person's perception of reality about another person when they don't actually fit the preconceived notions for a particular "race".

quin79 · Regular User Joined: 14 Mar 2007 {Posts: 60 }

My mom is "black" and she has naturally jet black hair courtesy of my grandmother. The other day, my decided to perm her hair. The beautifican told her she didnt NEED to perm her hair. Thats what my mom wanted. But the beautican(she was black) had these beliefs.

sagascend · Moderator-at-Large Joined: 17 Jun 2006 {Posts: 2392 }

DChapman · Posted: Mon 19 Mar 2007 14:47 Post subject:

Dragon Horse · Posted: Mon 19 Mar 2007 15:09 Post subject: