Passing for Black?

[Number23]

'Passing for Black?'
http://www.theroot.com/views/passing-black?auto=true

A new study posits that black-white biracial adults are increasingly choosing, like President Obama, to emphasize their blackness. But in this country, "black" has always been a mongrel affair.

A new study in the December 2010 issue of Social Psychology Quarterly, entitled "Passing as Black: Racial Identity Work Among Biracial Americans," is likely to rekindle the debate by providing evidence that black-white biracial adults are increasingly choosing, like Obama, to emphasize their blackness and downplay their white ancestry. In what the study calls "a striking reverse pattern of passing," a majority of respondents reported that they "pass" as black.

History, of course, is full of Anatole Broyard stories of mixed-race blacks who have personally profited by camouflaging their racial makeup and pretending to be white. What is novel today, according to the study, is that "multiracial individuals now feel more free to experiment with their identity and many express pride in their blackness and take steps to accent attributes that they consider black."

Money Quote: "But what the advocates for biracial self-identification, as well as the authors of this study, fail to grasp is precisely what I have always been so proud of Obama for recognizing and exemplifying: Blackness in America is by definition a mongrel affair. Biracial blacks do not have to "pass" as black; they just are black."

I think that this will come as very little surprise to most black Americans, most of whom have almost as much "other" blood flowing through our veins as we do black blood.

Considering the number of bi-racial people in AAIG and the number of people in interracial marriages, I thought this was interesting.

[FrenchieCat]

1. I want to be identified as Black,

cause I'm proud of being Black....

[firedupdem]

2. Amen

I notice those that want to try and diss, always call the president half white. He defines himself as Black or African American.

[FrenchieCat]

3. I thiink that he's half White when it is convenient........

for whomever.

I remember, unfortunately, during election 2008, that was one of the ways some were selling voting for Obama to others...."Well, he is half White, you know?"......

That's what is so sad with our society.....
we have yet a long way to go, IMO. :(

[Number23]

4. I don't get that either

Folks RUSHING to "remind" everyone that the president is half white as if a) anyone has forgotten that and b) that somehow makes his characterization of himself as black "untrue" or a "misrepresentation."

It's interesting that the folks who do this the most often are usually the most racially clueless people on the damn planet. Perhaps they should spend a bit more time trying to educate themselves on this country's racial history and worry a bit less how this president and other biracial people identify themselves.

Obama considers himself a black man. Even his white mother identified him as a black man. That should be enough for everybody.

[mstinamotorcity]

5. I have always thought of my self

as a black woman. What I know. My Grandfather was Caucasian and Cherokee. He appeared Caucasian.He was an exclusive tailor for the Wealthy in New York, by way of Virginia. My grandmother was as dark as the sweetest berry ripened by the sun. My mother was born with fair features of her father. Her brothers were born with features of their mother. When I look in the mirror I see all those things. The other set of Grandparents are African American with one Grandparent latino and African American. So there are some gaps in Caucasian Written History. I did not know there were latinos in Mississippi in those days. When I look in the mirror, I see this also. My father was dark.And I have the features of my mother. The only child who resembles her in more ways than my late brother and my living sisters. I am not as fair as my mother for coffee of my father mellowed my tone. I love being BLACK!!!!!I don't deny my other Heritage. But I embrace the beauty of my mirror existence that is shown everyday. My world that embraced me was full of color,but the BLACKNESS is what showed me the Greatest in Spirit,Truth,and most of all LOVE!!!

[Number23]

7. Wow!

My world that embraced me was full of color,but the BLACKNESS is what showed me the Greatest in Spirit,Truth,and most of all LOVE!!!

I LOVE that. That is absolutely beautiful. And for the record, I couldn't agree more. :fistbump:

[mstinamotorcity]

9. Thank you

If my words warm your spirit, I one day hope they will ignite a fire. A fire of knowledge and knowing and loving one's self. When I see beautiful it is in the least of things. Like the eyes of the Father with a 400 dollar paycheck happy to bring pizza and soda for his three kids on Friday night.And kids screaming with joy at their treat!! Or when I see someone who escorts their grandmother to the bank at the first of the month. Or the teacher who has taken part of her small paycheck to buy pencils and paper for those who don't have. Or the neighbor who sent Ms.JoAnn those green tomatoes out of her garden, because she loves them fried. or the friend that cooks dinner for another friend and their family every night for a month because their friend had a month long illness.Beautiful is the values of humanity that is turned into action.It is layered in dedication,determination,compassion,sincerity,and and a heart's desire to exhibit beauty in its most rarest of forms. Peace.:hi: :hi:

[Brewman_Jax]

6. Fact of life

in a society with a racial caste system. Regardless of one's actual ancestry, if society decides that you look black, then you're black. There's no half-black/part-black option. Oprah is still black, regardless of her money; Tiger Woods is still black, regardless of his golfing skill; Barack Obama is still black, no matter how many white people want to say that he's "half-white".


P.S. Bob Barr is black, in spite of the skin bleaching.

[Number23]

8. "Tiger Woods is still black regardless of his golfing skill"

Errrr... did anyone else just hear a high pitched scream coming from somewhere around Jupiter Island, Florida???

[Brewman_Jax]

10. I heard that

I thought that was his mother wailing on him for making a mess of his personal life. :hide:

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Karenina]

12. STOP IT! ALL OF YOU!!! He self identifies as

CABLINASIAN. And that indeed is what he is. Shall we deal wit dat? :evilgrin:

[Number23]

13. Girl,

I just had a vision of what MY girls will consider themselves when they grow up! :wow:

Aussie Americans? Black American Aussies?? Australian African Americans?? African Australian Americans? Lord, have mercy! I cannot WAIT to find out! :)

[kwassa]

14. you've created a new category

but I am sure there are others out there.

don't fret.

there are many new categories.

Speaking as a teacher in the DC suburbs, where we have kids from 90 different nations as a matter of course, I also get both interracial and intercultural kids of every conceivable combination. Kids who are clearly Asian with Jewish names. A set of parents where one is Middle Eastern and the other East Asian, and neither speak English well. A school where I did my student teaching where African-Americans were a minority of the black kids in the school, fewer than the Caribbean and African immigrants.

I've had several years of kids from west African countries that speak only French when they arrive first at our school.

[Number23]

15. Whatsup, kwassa!

Long time no see! :hug: Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you and your beautiful family.

Speaking as a teacher in the DC suburbs, where we have kids from 90 different nations as a matter of course,

Why did I have no idea that you were a teacher?? I love that and I tell you, trying to teach my 4 year old her ABC's, I have gained a tremendous amount of respect for teachers recently. (She's so much better with numbers than letters. If you have any tips/ideas, I'd love to have them!)

Oh, I remember the DC international scene. One of the few things about DC that I did love. :) I'll never forget the time I was in a car accident with three other people. The man from Syria hit the woman from Ethiopia who hit the man from Manila who hit me. I thought that summed up the typical DC experience about as good as you can get. :spray: