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The mixed race people I know best are called cousins.
But I think until very recently the American norm has been to consider a person who is a mixture of black African and white European as Black. I can recall people who looked as white as I do - pale skin and with sharp, small features, who were known to have some black African ancestry were still considered black.
That's double BALONEY. Before slavery ended and the white man was getting black women pregnant.
That's what the white man wanted so he wouldn't have that responsibility.
1/2 of both equals bi anyway you look at it.
In Dominican Republic the population averages slightly more European than African in the admixture, plus an extra bit of Amerindian blood. Both the European and Amerindian inputs in Dominicans is much greater than in African Americans, but the European input is slightly less than in Brazilians. Reconstructing the Population Genetic History of the Caribbean
In all genetic studies done on African Americans they average overwhelmingly African (greater than 70% African input in the average DNA), and the most recent genetic study shows that African Americana are much more similar to the non-Hispanic Caribbean (Barbadoes, Haiti -see the second study linked here for the Haitian sample-) than to the Hispanic Caribbean (Dominican Republic, Cuba -see the second study for the Cuban sample-, and Puerto Rico). Unravelling the hidden ancestry of America admixed populations
Then we have to take into consideration that the populations mentioned tend to be genetically much more homogenous in the sense that the average fits much closer to the average person than it does with African Americans. The reason for this is that most African Americans are overwhelmingly black and much of the non-black genes are found overwhelmingly among the more admixed minority of African Americans. In essence, when we are talking about people that have significant European input in their DNA and look very admixed, only a minority of African Americans actually fit the mold so to speak. Look at the overlap between the areas where most African American live and the areas where African American admixtures are overwhelmingly African by a long shot.
Due to those reasons, I don't consider African Americans to be mulattoes as a group, but rather a black group with a large mulatto minority. Dominicans are almost textbook mulattoes due to their almost evenly split average while Brazilians lean more to the European side, but are still close to the middle to be a mulatto group.
African Americans as a group fit better with other black groups such as Barbadians and Haitians, and it would make more sense for African Americans to mention countries such as Haiti, Bahamas, Jamaica; Barbados, Saint Lucia, etc when using comparable populations. Not even Trinidad & Tobago is relevant for African Americans (or for anyone when you think about it, perhaps Guyana has the closest thing to the population groups and the admixtures that dominate in Trinidad & Tobago; but generally they are not comparable to any other Caribbean islands or American country as far as this topic is concerned).
With that said, the USA is a very big country and African Americans don't on average look the same everywhere in the country. While it's true that most live in the south and most African American communities there are composed of overwhelmingly black individuals, there are pockets in the south and much more extensive outside the south where the average African American is not an overwhelmingly black individual, but rather a highly admixed one. In those pockets there may well be some correlation in admixture levels between the average African American and the average Brazilian or Dominican. When it comes to those pockets it makes sense to mention Brazil or Dominican Republic as comparable populations. But overall, those pockets are exceptions and not the rule, as the genetic studies have shown.
Many Genetic test was realized in Brazil with diverse results....
For example this test of Pena has big bias... one study in Pelotas with 3500 samples with many markers, the european component has 85%, in Curitiba one test with 350 people, the average european contribution is 86%, Salvador is other hand is 50% african and 40% european with more than 1500 samples... also Brazil is much less mixed than other Latin American countries expect Argentina and Uruguay, South Brazil is the less mixed.
In Brazil all genetic test is between 61% to 77% of European Contribution. IMO is about 65 ~ 67%. North About 50%, Northeast 60%, Center and Southeast about 65% and South 85%.
Also I'm from Curitiba, and I'm only of European descent. Mostly German (some part maybe with Poland and Danes input) and Italian (slight Portuguese).
African genes are dominate so they are genetically more African than Caucasian. People I know from mixed marriages are "culturally" either white or black. A sister and brother I went to school with in the 70's were culturally different from each other. He hung out with and dated all whites and she hung out with and dated blacks. As a matter of fact I was surprised to learn that they were brother and sister. IMO I think today there is more youth culture that is neither black or white ,thank God. Some trendy ad agency will come up with a name for it if they haven't already.
African genes are dominate so they are genetically more African than Caucasian. People I know from mixed marriages are "culturally" either white or black. A sister and brother I went to school with in the 70's were culturally different from each other. He hung out with and dated all whites and she hung out with and dated blacks. As a matter of fact I was surprised to learn that they were brother and sister. IMO I think today there is more youth culture that is neither black or white ,thank God. Some trendy ad agency will come up with a name for it if they haven't already.
I think that will be happening more and more, and the "youth culture that is neither black or white" won't be so by a matter of skin color, but of attitude. To some extent, that's an economic factor--kids raised in environments in which color has not been a factor. It still kind of amazes me to hear a dark-skinned girl with a Valley Girl accent, but that's the way the future has to be.
I realize that my generation--the last born and raised in segregation--will need to die off so that those kids can put their own policies into place. I hope this "bi-racial" thing is merely transitional to that--an effect of us old people being unable not to think in some kind of racial terms--because inventing a third "race" is not progress.
African genes are dominate so they are genetically more African than Caucasian.
No they are not. All "racial" traits are co-dominant. You get 50% of your genes from each parent irrespective of race.
All the bi-racial people I have come across clearly resemble the white parent that begot them. Some of them come out "Mexican" or just otherwise racially ambiguous, not resembling black people at all. Some come out klan-robe white, e.g disco queen Donna Summer's first daughter:
I think this is a myth that's related to the one-drop rule. It is so obviously not true that the people who repeat it likely have an agenda.
No they are not. All "racial" traits are co-dominant. You get 50% of your genes from each parent irrespective of race.
All the bi-racial people I have come across clearly resemble the white parent that begot them. Some of them come out "Mexican" or just otherwise racially ambiguous, not resembling black people at all. Some come out klan-robe white, e.g disco queen Donna Summer's first daughter:
I think this is a myth that's related to the one-drop rule. It is so obviously not true that the people who repeat it likely have an agenda.
At the time Donna Summer's daughter was born, in the America she was born into, there was no question that she was "black." And even today, she cannot claim to be "white;" she may be able to claim anything else, but America will still not accept someone with her features claiming "white."
No they are not. All "racial" traits are co-dominant. You get 50% of your genes from each parent irrespective of race.
All the bi-racial people I have come across clearly resemble the white parent that begot them. Some of them come out "Mexican" or just otherwise racially ambiguous, not resembling black people at all. Some come out klan-robe white, e.g disco queen Donna Summer's first daughter:
I think this is a myth that's related to the one-drop rule. It is so obviously not true that the people who repeat it likely have an agenda.
Genes and DNA are not really the same thing. Even if you get 50% of your genes from a white parent ,that white parent may carry a gene for dark skin and curly hair. Most black people would make no mistake about that baby being "black," curly hair, thick lips, wide nose, brown eyes, high cheek bones, round forehead, are all dominate traits from Africa. There are people ( Africans) in Africa who resemble that baby.
Last edited by thriftylefty; 11-05-2015 at 10:23 AM..
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