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And forty years ago, if you'd said all that to any other black person, he'd have replied, "So what? I don't care, and to a white man, you're still just like me."
The only reason being "mixed" matters now is because white people have begun making the distinction. Our failure is still that we're reacting to what white people do with us.
Maybe you're reacting that way. My post was in response to the ridiculous claim that Black People who say they're mixed aren't. It takes a level of arrogance beyond my comprehension to insist to a people that they do not know whether or not they are mixed. And I forgot to add in my other post that my moms maiden name is of Lower Saxon (Low German) origin.
And forty years ago, if you'd said all that to any other black person, he'd have replied, "So what? I don't care, and to a white man, you're still just like me."
The only reason being "mixed" matters now is because white people have begun making the distinction. Our failure is still that we're reacting to what white people do with us.
Well said my friend. Black people need to stop allowing Whites to define what their ideals are...PERIOD.
You could say the very same thing for vocal Black Democrats like Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson who like to perceived themselves as helping the black community when in reality their just exploiting the Black community for money. Most of the vocal Black Democrats I hear in the media refuse to criticize Barrack Obama on basically any issue because he is the 1st Black president. Most of these vocal Black Democrats don't hold Obama accountable for issues that really affect the Black community. To me that's a real example of being an "Uncle Tom". I will say that both political parties have their issues and are not perfect but to suggest that the Democrat party has been so great for Blacks and "if your Black you should be voting Democrat" is a bunch of crap. Blacks have been voting overwhelmingly Democrat for decades and how has that worked out for them in the grand scale of things?
Here is the rub. The Democrats will ignore me. The GOP will KILL me.
So who do you expect me to support. 85% of blacks are NOT on welfare so babbling about that is irrelevant to the lives of most blacks, and this is ALL we hear from the GOP.
My question to you would be what would voting GOP have done for blacks? How is living in GOP dominated Mississippi or Alabama helping blacks, because these are among the POOREST blacks living in the USA, a not insignificant % living in standards BELOW that of most people living in the Caribbean!
What makes you think I have contempt for African-Americans? I'm just telling them that they look black African for the most part, it's not my problem if some of them take offense to that. African-Americans are predominantly black in appearance, relatively homogenous, and don't look "mixed" outside of a few rare exceptions. Those are the real facts, which are corroborated by genetic testing.
I guess what makes us wonder about you is why this obsession with how black Americans look. Very few people think that they look like any particular African group. And we have explained to you why that is. The fact that black Americans across the spectrum of phenotype identify as "black" should suggest to you that they aren't interested in any identity other than that, regardless as to how mixed they may or may not be.
And in any case how is being more "mixed" working out for people of African descent who live in Latin America? Their relative socio economic position isn't better than black Americans, and most will think its WORSE!
So at the end of the day how mixed various Afrodescendant groups are is irrelevant when it is obvious that they have been scarred by both slavery and the post slavery eras. The difference is in some societies conversations about race are allowed, and in others it is meat with a hysterical response, which intimidates Afrodescendants to accept their position with minimal protest.
If anything, we Black Americans may be more mixed than we're aware of as the sampling size for DNA testing is never that large.
The samples tested are more likely to be from upper middle class and affluent blacks, because those who are poorer have better things to do with their money then spend it to check ancestry.
Given that the more affluent black families are, the more "mixed" they are likely to be I will suggest that the existing DNA samples might show a LESS mixed population.
I noted that the African DNA samples by Gates, likely to draw from w broader spectrum than the other DNA ancestral testing, has the highest levels of African ancestry. Whereas the other sites draw from those who spend money to check their ancestry, African DNA is likely to do more field testing.
So based on this your average black American has around 80% African ancestry. Clearly this is an average and that there are sizeable numbers who are more mixed, and others who are considerably less mixed.
At the end of the day Antillano is using his Latin American "color struck" ideology to analyze American blacks. At the end of the day there is a much larger pool of the black American population who are firmly middle class than is true for the black/dark mulatto populations of most of Latin America.
So who really cares which group is more or less mixed. What is important is the extent to which that group has escaped the trap that slavery and subsequent racism trapped many peoples of African descent throughout the Americas. I can't think of any Latin American nation which can claim to have done a good job with this.
I guess what makes us wonder about you is why this obsession with how black Americans look. Very few people think that they look like any particular African group. And we have explained to you why that is. The fact that black Americans across the spectrum of phenotype identify as "black" should suggest to you that they aren't interested in any identity other than that, regardless as to how mixed they may or may not be.
And in any case how is being more "mixed" working out for people of African descent who live in Latin America? Their relative socio economic position isn't better than black Americans, and most will think its WORSE!
So at the end of the day how mixed various Afrodescendant groups are is irrelevant when it is obvious that they have been scarred by both slavery and the post slavery eras. The difference is in some societies conversations about race are allowed, and in others it is meat with a hysterical response, which intimidates Afrodescendants to accept their position with minimal protest.
I agree with most of what you said, I disagree with the part I've put in bold font. It may intimidate some African American people, but not me.
I agree with most of what you said, I disagree with the part I've put in bold font. It may intimidate some African American people, but not me.
African Americans are definitely an Afro descendant population who did organize against racism and bias that they faced, and indeed in the Caribbean people drew inspiration from that struggle to confront the more subtle skin colorism which was quite wide spread in the 60s.
In Latin America there is a mythology that racism and colorism isn't a problem. They cite the high degree of "mixing", despite the fact that the darkest people are almost uniformly poor, and under represented in the media.
There is the claim every one is "equal", and that those who dispute that are "importing American racism". As such there has been far less attempt to challenge racism in Latin America, though this is changing. This because those who do speak out are subject to extreme pressure.
As an AA my family is mixed..and was always taught it...HOWEVER..I have had 2 West African friends (a Temne from Sierra Leone and a Fulani from Nigeria say I look Fula)...My Nigerian friend nicknamed me "Fulani Man!" because I remind him of some-
one he knows from his village..and that I did not need to do an ancestor blood test because he can tell I am Fulani.
I told them I was mixed the Sierra Leone guy said " With YOU it does not show" and if I went to S.L. as long as I did not open my mouth I could pass. In Southern Spain, they asked me what part of Algeria???? I was from???...
AAs are mixed but that does not always means it shows..in my experience...If Africans want to claim me fine, if Arabs want
to claim me fine..If Latins want to claim me fine..If Europeans want to claim me fine...I don't expect Euro-Americans to claim me..In the Bahamas sometimes I passed sometimes I didn't...
The samples tested are more likely to be from upper middle class and affluent blacks, because those who are poorer have better things to do with their money then spend it to check ancestry.
Given that the more affluent black families are, the more "mixed" they are likely to be I will suggest that the existing DNA samples might show a LESS mixed population.
I noted that the African DNA samples by Gates, likely to draw from w broader spectrum than the other DNA ancestral testing, has the highest levels of African ancestry. Whereas the other sites draw from those who spend money to check their ancestry, African DNA is likely to do more field testing.
So based on this your average black American has around 80% African ancestry. Clearly this is an average and that there are sizeable numbers who are more mixed, and others who are considerably less mixed.
At the end of the day Antillano is using his Latin American "color struck" ideology to analyze American blacks. At the end of the day there is a much larger pool of the black American population who are firmly middle class than is true for the black/dark mulatto populations of most of Latin America.
So who really cares which group is more or less mixed. What is important is the extent to which that group has escaped the trap that slavery and subsequent racism trapped many peoples of African descent throughout the Americas. I can't think of any Latin American nation which can claim to have done a good job with this.
As an AA my family is mixed..and was always taught it...HOWEVER..I have had 2 West African friends (a Temne from Sierra Leone and a Fulani from Nigeria say I look Fula)...My Nigerian friend nicknamed me "Fulani Man!" because I remind him of some-
one he knows from his village..and that I did not need to do an ancestor blood test because he can tell I am Fulani.
I told them I was mixed the Sierra Leone guy said " With YOU it does not show" and if I went to S.L. as long as I did not open my mouth I could pass. In Southern Spain, they asked me what part of Algeria???? I was from???...
AAs are mixed but that does not always means it shows..in my experience...If Africans want to claim me fine, if Arabs want
to claim me fine..If Latins want to claim me fine..If Europeans want to claim me fine...I don't expect Euro-Americans to claim me..In the Bahamas sometimes I passed sometimes I didn't...
Fulani people are of ancient sub Saharan African/Middle Eastern ancestry. So if you look like a Fulani, then you look "mixed" by West African standards.
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