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Some are black, but most look like black Americans. Just as Italians and Greeks are naturally darker than Russians or the Irish, Igbos and Yoruba people tend to be naturally lighter than Akans or Fons.
This is a Sicilian man...he is not mixed, they just look that way naturally.
Just as there are dark skinned Europeans, there are lighter skinned Africans.
Even Mandela isn't that dark:
That is true, and sad. The Western idea of beauty has taken over the world. Personally, I find dark skinned women to be beautiful.
Yes, but the reason is that Sicilians live, dunno, maybe 1000 or 2000 miles closer to the equator than Russians, and have done so for thousands of years. Pigmentation is mostly a function of solar radiation.
Yoruba, Igbo, Akan etc. live at the same latitudes, though, and always have. The only exception might be the Asante as they were fierce enemies of the Brits, thus less mixing. I assume you might find fewer lighter-skinned Asante for that reason than along the coast.
Mandela is indeed lighter-skinned, and judging from his looks he also had Bushmen among his ancestors. Bushmen, the most original Africans and humans in general still left, are rather light-skinned, not least because they live farther away from the equator, i.e. closer to the south pole.
Yeah, she is not exactly ugly, whoever she is But people looking like that tend to be or become arrogant...
Exactly. I am a leftist, and even I see this: the liberals preserve the One drop rule saying "well, that's history"...okay, and so is the rule that blacks can't be taught to read legally, should that also be preserved?
I agree 100%. I am a principled, consistent leftist...hence, I am a lonely one. And the whole "the klan would lynch you too" argument is lame. The klan would also lynch a Korean-American, does that mean the Korean-American is also black?
But no matter how much you use logic, consistency, and common sense to explain to some people, they just refuse to get it. In the end, although they would never admit it, I think many black liberals secretly want a return to Jim Crow so they have an enemy that is obvious once again. Times have changed, and ironically it's the progressives who have trouble understanding that.
You are the first leftist I've encountered that doesn't perpetuate One Drop Rule (ODR). You may even be the only leftist I've encountered who knew that ODR was declared unconstitutional decades ago by the Supreme Court.
ODR ensures that any offspring of an interracial couple automatically defaults to the minority race. This is to keep the white race "pure". It was all about white supremacy, obviously. Why any mixed person would adhere to this white supremacist "rule" defies logic. They are doing exactly what white supremacists want them to do. Brutally honest and independent reevaluations of which ideologies support white supremacy are in order.
The actor is considered black due to (known) genotype, not phenotype. He is known to have some African origin and does not hide this, therefore in popular culture he is considered black.
As for light eyes and blond hair being criteria of white people - my son was born with blond hair and blue eyes and yellow skin - and neither of his parents are white. Many "black" or "mixed" people fit this description.
Wentworth Miller is a "black" actor the way I get to claim I'm "Irish" on St. Patrick's day because a percentage of my ancestry - but not even close to a majority of it - comes from Ireland.
Wentworth's mom is Russian, Dutch and French. His dad is mixed with a bunch of stuff: African American, German, Cherokee, English and Jewish.
He himself identifies as mixed, able to (so he says) identify with both communities. But frankly he's about as black as George Zimmerman.
If they're Latino, yes. Latinos always "overreport" their whiteness. Blacks say they're mulatto, indios say they're mestizo, mulattos and mestizos say they're white.
No worse than mixed people downplaying whiteness, which is actually no longer en vogue in American pop culture.
For probably at least half of Americans, the tide has changed where everyone tries desperately to latch on to anything that separates them from "generic white."
Be it an Indian grandmother, a black great grandmother, or a Hispanic ancestor... or claiming that because you're Sicilian you're "not white."
I suspect it's on account of not wanting to be associate with the white guilt of the "oppressor class."
It makes NO SENSE to force people of mixed race to identify with ONE OR THE OTHER of their races.
Now - if they choose voluntarily to self identify with one or the other, that's fine. But THEY should decide, not other people.
This is generally my position. Within limits. A great great great grandfather who was an Indian may get you stares at the Pow Wow when you're otherwise white (or black!) self shows up saying you're trying to "explore your culture!"
And of course, you will get those people who will call any mixed race person identifying more with their white components than the "colored" components a sell out, self-hating, etc. This happens more than the reverse.
Is this blonde haired, blue eyed girl black or white?
What's this little girl - black, white, or Panamanian? Puerto Rican?
So much for that ridiculous "one drop rule."
I'd call them both "Americans" and drive on.
Well I'd ask her what she thinks. But many Panamanians are "black". But also Panamanian. You can be both. One of my friends is biracial - black and Panamanian. But looking at her you might not call her Latina. She is a shade between my sister and I. We have nearly the same complexion. Her foundation is my concealer. Her dad is about the same shade as mine is, but her first language was Spanish. Her Panamanian cousins look pretty much like my own extended family.
"Latina" is not a race. My friend identifies as black with Latin heritage.
ODR ensures that any offspring of an interracial couple automatically defaults to the minority race. This is to keep the white race "pure". It was all about white supremacy, obviously. Why any mixed person would adhere to this white supremacist "rule" defies logic. They are doing exactly what white supremacists want them to do. Brutally honest and independent reevaluations of which ideologies support white supremacy are in order.
Exactly.
But now many minorities are active participants - indeed, some of the most ardent advancers - of the one drop rule, because it is perceived as advancing political or social clout.
What it does is place a burden on mixed heritage and race people that shouldn't be there.
It makes NO SENSE to force people of mixed race to identify with ONE OR THE OTHER of their races.
Now - if they choose voluntarily to self identify with one or the other, that's fine. But THEY should decide, not other people.
That's all fine in theory, but society shapes who we are. Look at Karyn Parsons' daughter, for example. She extremely blond. She may identify with her mother's race, but if she tells people that she's black, she'll inevitably get those WTF looks, and that will probably put an end to that for her. Society will shape how she sees herself, not her genetic make-up. My best friend grew up in an all white family, and indeed, she was the only black person in my entire town (her father was not in the picture). Although visually she is black (although fairer skinned), she identifies far more with the white culture of our hometown than she does with black culture. But everybody has always seen her as black, so that's how she identifies. Halle Berry has said something very similar, that her single white mother raised her to identify with being black because that's how the world would see her.
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