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Here are a few pictures of every day African-American people from different areas represented. Just to give some examples of what the average African-American looks like, outside of their celebrities.
Despite what you guys see on TV,the majority of AA are not Beyonce's color.
Gabaray Sidebe,Gabrielle Union,Oprah can all pass for Nigerian.
Nobody would give them a second look if they were walking around Lagos.
That's true. Alot of people have a very warped notion of what most AA's are supposed to look like due to media influence. Beyonce and Alicia Keys types are so disproportionally represented, that even AA themselves end up believing that people who look like that are common, when the truth is they only make a tiny percentage of their population. Perception equals reality to many.
Here are a few pictures of every day African-American people from different areas represented. Just to give some examples of what the average African-American looks like, outside of their celebrities.
Can I ask you a question? You have a poll about whether African Americans look Nigerian. 84% of those who responded said "no". So why are you beating a dead horse?
What is your agenda, because it is clear that you have one? I have seen your postings elsewhere so I know you wish to project that there is more mixing in Latin America. So what because I don't see how that has helped those Latin Americans who have very visible African ancestry, but who have been the least successful of any group of descendants of enslaved Africans in entering the middle class. This being a taboo subject, but very obvious to us when we visit those countries.
You post pictures of people who are of majority African descent and who don't show visible non African ancestry. Does this mean that they can fit into a room with Africans, without being noticed? Not necessarily for a whole host of reasons that I told you, one being the fact that they will represented a "blended" African look.
I can ask another question which was asked elsewhere. Do white Americans look like a specific European nationality? Funny that almost every one who goes to Europe reports that white Americans standout. Why? Because most white Americans represent blended European ethnicities/nationalities.
You will note that even though white Americans typically have LESS non European ancestry than do African Americans have non African, and white Americans on average are more RECENT immigrants to the USA than are African Americans (most arriving in the 19th century, when most enslaved Africans arrived before 1775) they still have evolved away from looking like a specific European group.
When I see Jennifer Aniston I see a white American female, even though I am sure she is over 95% European ancestry.
SO WHY YOUR REFUSAL TO ADMIT THAT SO HAVE AFRICAN AMERICANS!!!!
You will be offended if when I say this, but your insistence on banging this topic makes me. You are not black, and obviously aren't embedded within a black community so you are not sensitive to how blacks look. You see a black person who doesn't show visible non African ancestry and so you then put them within a undifferentiated whole.
Antillano I can look at most of those pictures and know there aren't a bunch of Caribbean blacks. So if they fail that test, why will they look like Africans when the gap is even greater, as Caribbean blacks have undergone a similar transformation (discussed before) even if not to the fullest extent that AAs?
I will leave you with this. I went to Rio 20 years ago. A group of us became "beach friends" (both locals and tourists) on Copacabana Beach, and used to meet every day for a bit. A question came up about whether I looked "Brazilian". All the whites and light skinned people said "yes". All the blacks and dark skinned people said "no".
The reason. The whites saw a black (they will prefer to say dark mulato) and that is all they needed to see, and as you know Brazil is filled with blacks and other Afro descendants. The blacks/mulatos looked beyond that and looked at certain characteristics, including grooming, mannerism, etc. So they knew that I couldn't be Brazilian.
Moral of the story. The ability of some one to fit in seamlessly into another group is more than just the physical architecture of their body. Their look is impacted by their grooming, their mannerisms and their persona.
That's true. Alot of people have a very warped notion of what most AA's are supposed to look like due to media influence. Beyonce and Alicia Keys types are so disproportionally represented, that even AA themselves end up believing that people who look like that are common, when the truth is they only make a tiny percentage of their population. Perception equals reality to many.
OK thanks for making my point. I can put 100 people in front of you who don't show visible non African ancestry and to you they are an undifferentiated whole. So you must extend to the people who represent an extreme to make a point. I mean if you have to use those two to make your point!
Maybe you lack knowledge of blacks, and need to rely on media images, but most black people in the USA live in a segregated world where there lives revolve around blacks, outside of work and school (and often even there), so certainly do NOT need the media to tell them that no Beyoncé is NOT a typical black American, though she certainly fits into the RANGE of what black Americans look like.
Funny thing with Latin Americans. Non Hispanic blacks are either 100% NON BLENDED Africans, so we can walk into an Igbo village and no one will know. OR we are a bunch of confused mulattos who refuse to accept that we are mixed and run around as race warriors demanding that Beyoncé calls herself black.
Gabrielle Union is NOT African looking. Don't know where you get that from. We can debate about Oprah, but to me she comes across like a black American woman. She stood out in Barbados, when she was interviewing Rihanna. She has that American build, maybe from what Americans eat.
The reality is that a black person from the Americas can be 100% African in ancestry, but will still not look like any specific African group because they are a diverse composition of several.
Oprah is a very negroid woman, who doesn't show any visible European ancestry (apparently she has none, but is 10% Native American). She apparently has diverse origins in Africa, apparently even extending into Zambia, which is some what unusual. Some of her ancestors evidently had a long walk to get to the Angola coast.
I've seen many girl in Ghana who look similar to Gabby Union so I dont know what you're talking about.....
That's true. Alot of people have a very warped notion of what most AA's are supposed to look like due to media influence. Beyonce and Alicia Keys types are so disproportionally represented, that even AA themselves end up believing that people who look like that are common, when the truth is they only make a tiny percentage of their population. Perception equals reality to many.
Lighter skinned black americans are definitely NOT rare or a tiny percentage. Nobody has stats on this but my honest estimation of the skin tones of black americans would be that:
- 40% of black americans are your dark brown skinned (like Lauryn Hill, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, India.Arie and like the woman in the bottom pic)
- 40% of black americans are "medium brown skinned" (like Trey Songz, Sanaa Lathan{pictured in top pic below}, Michelle Obama, Nelly)
- 20% of black americans are light skinned (like Chris Brown, Beyonce, Judge Joe Brown, Ciara, Queen Latifah)
I agree that the super pink/pale black people are not that common but your light brown Beyonce types are pretty common.
BTW: I've lived between downstate NY and the Midwest. Maybe when you go to parts of down south or maybe to Cali, the percentages change a bit but this is how i've seen it.
Lighter skinned black americans are definitely NOT rare or a tiny percentage. Nobody has stats on this but my honest estimation of the skin tones of black americans would be that:
- 40% of black americans are your dark brown skinned (like Lauryn Hill, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, India.Arie and like the woman in the bottom pic)
- 40% of black americans are "medium brown skinned" (like Trey Songz, Sanaa Lathan{pictured in top pic below}, Michelle Obama, Nelly)
- 20% of black americans are light skinned (like Chris Brown, Beyonce, Judge Joe Brown, Ciara, Queen Latifah)
I agree that the super pink/pale black people are not that common but your light brown Beyonce types are pretty common.
BTW: I've lived between downstate NY and the Midwest. Maybe when you go to parts of down south or maybe to Cali, the percentages change a bit but this is how i've seen it.
I would say that this is the MEDIAN black-american skin tone:
The percentages do vary I believe from place to place. In CA, there are certainly more than 20% light skinned blacks. Many of them in some areas like San Diego are mixed with Asian, predominantly Filipino and some with Latinos, mostly Mexican but a few Puerto Ricans as well. The terms "Blaxican" and "Blasian" are not unheard of here.
Lighter skinned black americans are definitely NOT rare or a tiny percentage. Nobody has stats on this but my honest estimation of the skin tones of black americans would be that:
- 40% of black americans are your dark brown skinned (like Lauryn Hill, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, India.Arie and like the woman in the bottom pic)
- 40% of black americans are "medium brown skinned" (like Trey Songz, Sanaa Lathan{pictured in top pic below}, Michelle Obama, Nelly)
- 20% of black americans are light skinned (like Chris Brown, Beyonce, Judge Joe Brown, Ciara, Queen Latifah)
I agree that the super pink/pale black people are not that common but your light brown Beyonce types are pretty common.
BTW: I've lived between downstate NY and the Midwest. Maybe when you go to parts of down south or maybe to Cali, the percentages change a bit but this is how i've seen it.
I would say that this is the MEDIAN black-american skin tone:
The percentages do vary I believe from place to place. In CA, there are certainly more than 20% light skinned blacks. Many of them in some areas like San Diego are mixed with Asian, predominantly Filipino and some with Latinos, mostly Mexican but a few Puerto Ricans as well. The terms "Blaxican" and "Blasian" are not unheard of here.
I agree. I don't even know if there is a generalized black American look. There is not a singular black American population either. Those originating from the South East are different from the Central South (AL,MS) and different again from places like TX and LA.
The mix of slaves was different with Igbos being preferred in Virginia, and other regions preferring Congo people, and yet others, those from Upper Guinea. Then there is the ancient mixing between the Africans and Irish which occurred in VA and MD when both were subordinated and the racial polarization hadn't fully developed
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