The Study of Racialism

Yes, I was just thinking about this sort of thing, especially since I just got done reading the 'Race is a Nice Thing to Have' book. If you identify Black, that's fine, but if you identify white, you're called a supremacist or a racist. I don't think white is better than Black; I'm a realist. I'm a woman who hardly tans, raised in white protestant America, technically mulatto.

I can't go around calling myself 'human', or 'American' because then people say that's denying race because of my 'hidden racism'. 'European-American'? Okay, but what about my AA heritage? Sometimes I just say 'British Isles and French Creole' and laugh because it's so stupid that anyone even cares.

So online (where people can't see how obvious this is) I say 'white'. It's really the only place I have to do that.

I guess you have never heard of pride in the people that raised you. Just because some people have issues doesn't make the identity of Black bad. But it has to be a label you feel comfortable with. Just like any other.

What happens to the kid of two fully accepted and fully identified Blacks (say Vanessa Williams and enry Louis Gates Jr) who happens to get most all the genes for a European phenotype? Born in a Black community, raised by a Black family, etc. They are supposed to identify as White all of a sudden?

@ Salsassin,

HUH, what are you talking about?

An interesting site!
On further analysis, the definition of mulato is usually one black and one white parent but there are many mulatos (offspring) per definition who possess African characteristcs who may be seen as being mulato.

In my part of the country (Midwest) that I am located, people of Finnish ethnicity and other offspringmeld towards the Finnish phenotype as opposed to someone of non Finnish ethnicity. I reference this as I looked at the Jan Silva piece and there was a blend of both phenotypes as oppoed to one phenotype predominating. I cannot explain it but it is interesting. Mulatos from Latin backgrounds tend to meld towards a medium while those of ANglo-Saxon backgrounds tend towards an Afro one. Limited observation, of course.

A song from the past:
yo soy un negro fino
de piel normal, mi bemba no es negro, es bien colorao,
aunque tengo el color de blanco, negro morire!........
I do not recall the the rest of the words but it is the one i remember.

@ punjabtrini

punjabtrini
said: An interesting site!
On further analysis, the definition of mulato is usually one black and one white parent but there are many mulatos (offspring) per definition who possess African characteristcs who may be seen as being mulato.

In my part of the country (Midwest) that I am located, people of Finnish ethnicity and other offspringmeld towards the Finnish phenotype as opposed to someone of non Finnish ethnicity. I reference this as I looked at the Jan Silva piece and there was a blend of both phenotypes as oppoed to one phenotype predominating. I cannot explain it but it is interesting. Mulatos from Latin backgrounds tend to meld towards a medium while those of ANglo-Saxon backgrounds tend towards an Afro one. Limited observation, of course.


MP said: Part of the reason is that when mulattoes were forced to identify black under the ODR they where sent into the black race, and began intermarrying with blacks thus becoming more black again. Wherefore, I am going to assume that because in Latin American culture and Latino cultures the mixed race people intermarry among themselves a lot so the mixed race phenotype continue to be reinforced.

Consider Barack Obama. Born into a "white" family (Mom, maternal grandparents; deserted by African dad), raised in a non-black community in Hawaii, with a phenotype that most Americans would probably consider "black." Is he supposed to identify as "black" all of a sudden? Oh, wait! He did! What's wrong with doing it the other way around?

Now, I'm not saying it's justified, but I think the reason is because people assume that a person mixed with black and white who says they are white is ashamed of their blackness. While I'm sure that is the case sometimes, it is not always the case. On the flip side, I suppose some mulattos who ID as black do so because they are ashamed of their whiteness, but no one really questions the motives of a mixie identifying as black. Definitely double standards still exist!

Hmm, they never seem to be able to answer that one......

He also spent time in Indonesia. Was he then supposed to identify as Malay/Indonesian? lol

Every time Barack looked in the mirror as a boy or spoke his name aloud his "blackness" was reaffirmed. And even if he tried to deny his "blackness" any police office would have been happy to set him straight. And I doubt they would have said, "Pull over you mulatto you!!!"

You know, I've been on this earth for almost 30 years and I've never had a police officer "set me straight" about my "blackness".

In all seriousness, scare tactics such as these need to stop.

Off-topic post split to Police suspicion of or mistreatment of African Americans in the "Improving U.S. Society" forum.

He was raised in a multi ethnic community. Blacks were present. Furthermore, his exposure to Blacks in the US and marrying a Black woman led him to identify with the ethnicity.

There's an interesting conversation going on about the word mulatto, in case you're interested.

<a href="http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/mulattodebate/vpost?id=1335771">Click HERE to go THERE</a>

I agree. Everyone should define themselves as they wish, but I think this issue is very complex. For instance, I read about this man who is Egyptian, and identified himself as black, but when he came to the US, he felt forced to identify as white because here in the US, North Africans are classified as white(at least on paper) no matter what they look like.