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I'm taking a racial studies class and want to gather some data but on top of that I'm extremely curious, I'm American but I'm half Afro Brazilian and half German American. When in both countries(meaning brazil and germany) and I say i'm half black half white it's usually accepted. It's a pretty common thing for people from other countries to think that Americans follow the one drop rule/don't accept people being multiracial(my dominican friends especially say this). Any who, just wanted to know if that was true or not, what race do you guys consider a "mulatto" to be.
Thanks.
I answered "Mixed race aka biracial"... but honestly I'd say both that and "Black" based on cultural norms. For example on average African Americans have 25% European DNA. So does that mean "Black" starts at 25% white but 75% African people? Also someone like Henry Louis Gates Jr is 50/50 DNA wise, but he and others typically consider him "Black". If you talked with him about his DNA or someone else, and that it's 50/50 then one might consider him biracial but "Black" would still apply.
In that context I think if you look African at all (even if very light skinned) you are considered Black by many (if not most)... I think this includes many African Americans themselves... Being "Black" or "African American" is more than just a racial term, but a culture and something people within that culture own with pride. I've heard many light skinned African Americans be upset when other "Black" people don't consider them "Black", or at least not as "Black" as them (while conversely all involved would probably call them "Black" compared to a very white person).
Basically I don't think the above perceptions that seem pretty widespread here in the US stands in opposition to the concept of someone being multi-racial. By DNA all "Black" people are multi-racial (again 25% white on average), so they seem to be two separate concepts that overlap to some extent.
I'm taking a racial studies class and want to gather some data but on top of that I'm extremely curious, I'm American but I'm half Afro Brazilian and half German American. When in both countries(meaning brazil and germany) and I say i'm half black half white it's usually accepted. It's a pretty common thing for people from other countries to think that Americans follow the one drop rule/don't accept people being multiracial(my dominican friends especially say this). Any who, just wanted to know if that was true or not, what race do you guys consider a "mulatto" to be.
Thanks.
The vast majority of African Americans are of mixed race because most of them have some amount of European ancestry too. But if both parents are "black" then they generally don't consider themselves such. If they have one white parents and one black parent, it seems only then do most people consider themselves of "mixed" race. But depending on the individual, it varies on which side they identify most with. I've read in articles that people who are half white/black often feel like they never really "fit" in with either group. There was an article by an actress who is half white, half black (I think it was Rashida Jones) but she looks more white, while her sister looks more black. She wrote that she identifies more as white, while her sister considers herself more black. But she also said she struggled to get roles as an actress because she was "too ethnic" looking for white roles, but not ethnic enough looking for black roles.
Some mixed people don't look ambiguous but rather look more to one side, could be closer to the white or the black. If they look white or black enough to 'pass' for either of the two, chances are high I would think of them as either white or black, unless they make it clear they have no racial hangups about their mixed reality and they identify as mixed. A mixed person can look mostly black, but if they say they are mixed I take their word and see them/refer to them as mixed.
The other exceptions that I make is with the mixed people that look highly admixed. I naturally see them as mixed, but if they make it clear that they identify as either white or black, then I will call them that. However, this doesn't mean I stop seeing them as mixed, just that whenever I refer to them I will call them how they want to be called.
The underlining premise is that I'm a nobody to judge anyone else on their identity preferences. We are not just the product of our ancestry and our history, we are also the product of our upbringing and our personal experiences. A mixed person is more likely to identify as mixed if they had good experiences with all the races, but if in their early years one of the races gave them a harder time it doesn't takes a rocket scientist to figure out they might identify with only one group. Also, it may not even be the result of resentments, some people simply grow up more with one group than another and its only natural they will feel closer and identify with that group.
Lastly, people need to get rid of the notion that if a mixed person says they are mixed, that they are attempting to deny their white or black side. To me that's a ridiculous proposition because a mixed person that identify's as mixed is actually recognizing and giving respect to all the groups that makes them who they are. Its the ones that choose one side over the other with whom denial or self-hate issues are at play and, like I previously said, even there you have to be careful with judging prior to getting all the facts because the person may not have any of those issues at all.
I guess the bottom line is to not be too quick to judge prior to getting a hold of most of the facts.
I consider them to be whatever they think they are. I've noticed most half black/half white people in the U.S. tend to identify as black, but some identify as white, and some just say "mixed".
It depends on the father. Based on the father is their race.
Care to explain this?
It certainly doesn't makes sense to me. The overwhelming majority of mixed people actually have European paternal lineages. Does that means that most mixed people are white?
Even many people that are overwhelmigly black and look as if they were fully or almost fully black have European paternal lineages, which points to a white initial father. If the race depends on the father, then European men can only produce whites and all of their male descendants can only produce whites, and that is simply not true. A person can be 90% African and still have a European paternal lineage.
Dr Henry Louis Gates Jr belongs to the R1b1b2a1a2f paternal haplogroup (paternal lineage) and check where that originated. By your definition, Louis Gates is white even though he's mixed and identifies as black.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cryptic
I use what ever race they self identify as. For example, President Obama self identifies as black, so I consider him to be black.
Though whether he is black or white, I would never consider voting for him .
In other words, using whatever is better suited to achieve their goal at the time.
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