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Just curious as to why people see me as black. My birth mother is full blood Irish and my birth father is full blood Lakota (Sioux) American Indian. I do not have any African features and there is no African blood anywhere in my family. Despite that people automatically assume I am african american and compare me to people like mariah carry, vanessa williams and halle berry. I was born with blond hair and blue eyes from my mother and now I have brown hair and blue green eyes. Once I tell people what I am they usually see it but most of the time they say I look black.
This is the first I've heard of a Native person being mistaken for Black. Is this a rare observation people have made, or has it happened enough times that it's a "thing"? Vanessa Williams and Halle Berry don't look typically Black; they seem to have somewhat European features, and Vanessa Williams has green eyes. So you apparently remind some people of those individuals, whose images have been in the media much, much more often than Native people are in the media, generally, so their first reaction is to think of a familiar image.
I know it might be seen as a violation of your privacy, but without seeing pics of you, it's something that is going to be pretty hard to judge.
That said, all of the women you mentioned are mixed-race black women with a lot of white ancestry. Vanessa Williams had genetic testing which showed she was about 50% European ancestry. Halle Berry has one white parent, and presumably her black parent had some white ancestry like most African Americans. Mariah Carey is half Irish, and her father was mixed as well, with some white and native American ancestry (since he was part Venezuelan). Thus people telling you that you look like those women means you looked mixed, not that you look black.
Just curious as to why people see me as black. My birth mother is full blood Irish and my birth father is full blood Lakota (Sioux) American Indian. I do not have any African features and there is no African blood anywhere in my family. Despite that people automatically assume I am african american and compare me to people like mariah carry, vanessa williams and halle berry. I was born with blond hair and blue eyes from my mother and now I have brown hair and blue green eyes. Once I tell people what I am they usually see it but most of the time they say I look black.
Everyone has African blood in their bloodline. That's a scientifically proven fact.
Maybe your looks might be such that someone mistakes you for being black (having African heritage), but Americans do not consider American Indians to be of African heritage, therefore, not black.
If someone alludes that you are black, tell them, "Actually I am not black at all, but Irish and Lakota."
Funny enough, even though I am 100% European (Scandinavian/German) and no Cherokee princess in the family history, Sioux people used to approach me and ask if I am half Native. Never get that from Navajos or Pueblos, though.
Everyone has African blood in their bloodline. That's a scientifically proven fact.
I think they were referring to the last several hundred or thousand generations. Obviously everyone has African origins, but that doesn't mean we can all get affirmative action.
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