Oct
24
Why are people from mixed race parents (African American and Caucasian) most often referred to as black?
Filed Under Other - Cultures & Groups
Jon M asked:
I was just reading an article on Barack Obama’s possible presidential candidacy in which it mentions that his father is “Kenyan” and his mother is “white”, yet describes him as a “black man”. Why is that?
I was just reading an article on Barack Obama’s possible presidential candidacy in which it mentions that his father is “Kenyan” and his mother is “white”, yet describes him as a “black man”. Why is that?
Here is the article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061118/ap_on_el_pr/obama2008
The reason I say “most often” is that it seems that I’ve seen this occur before. For instance, Frederick Douglass is referred to as “Black”, but came from mixed race family, etc.
Comments
14 Responses to “Why are people from mixed race parents (African American and Caucasian) most often referred to as black?”
Good point. Same with Colin Powell and Tiger Woods.
I think white people divide the world in “lilly white” and everything else.
Michael
because Black is a dominate gene.
You’re right. I think it’s just so they are identified as a minority. We’re supposed to respond differently to minorities.
Some may say it is the way they look. Mr. Obama looks black so people think of him as a black man. If someone looks ‘more’ white, then some would see them as being white.
Maybe we should ask people of mixed races what they would like to be thought of as.
How we see them and how they see themselves may be two different things.
Good question. Probably his skin color. Ethnicity and race are two different things. And actually, nowadays, it is hard to find anyone who is “pure” anything. But, white America seems to like to categorize things and if you don’t look white then you’re going in the category that isn’t the white part.
Because of the antiquated, rascist “one drop” rule, which states that a person is Black if they have any Black ancestors at all.
“The one-drop theory (or one-drop rule) is a historical colloquial term for the standard, found throughout the United States of America, that holds that a person with even a tiny portion of non-white ancestry (”one drop of non-white blood”) should be classified as “colored”, especially for the purposes of racial profiling and laws forbidding *********** marriage.”
For example, Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Prime Minister of Sweden is, according to the one-drop rule, clasified as Black. His paternal great-great-grandfather was a Mulatto from New York.
Some biracial and multiracial people today are fighting the custom of referring to themselves as Black, preferring to use a biracial or multiracial category. Others who may identify more strongly with the Black parent prefer to categorize themselves as Black.
It’s because of the history of racism in this country. The terms and language we use were created by people who believed whites and blacks were not equals. If black people are thought of as less than white people, then a person that is “half-black” will still be considered less than a full white person.
It’s a horrible thing, but I believe that is where it comes from. And it shows you how hard it is to get rid of racism.
When the Spanish settled the Americas (north and south), they thought of it differently. They had white Spanish people, black people, native American (or native south american) people, and then they had special names for mixes of each group. That’s where mulatto comes from. If a person is mulatto it means that they have white and black parents. When you name all the combinations, it makes them no better or worse than each other, just descriptive.
It is totally based on skin color, features and hair. He physically identifies with blacks and when he goes out into the world without even opening his mouth he is already put into the category of black. A good number of mixed race children (especially those who are black/white come out looking black) like black people more than they look like white people. They are accepted by that group of people. White people are not looking at Barack Obama and thinking he is one of us. If he said he was white people would think he is crazy. He has more features that look black than white. So do the others you mentioned. Tiger woods has a very diverse ethnic mix so he must just identify with black people more.
people always tell me that the white government always considered anyone that has one ounce of black in them black. my mother is african american and my father is italian. for some reason chosen by my chromosomes i am one shade darker than my dad. thus i appear white or latin. so people refer to me as white. all my records say my race is white. i have asked people what to refer to myself as and they say it is my choice. but in my own opinion i consider myself “other”. i feel that what my race is doesn’t matter. i think for a long time it was thought bad for someone to have african american heritage. (think about the civil rights movements, years of oppression, and slavery. anyone with black descent was looked down upon in those times and to some people in the world they still are. so modern blacks like to celebrate their heritage and anyone who has some sort of black or african descent in their blood they speak of them to show that they are proud of their race.
the link above is my picture
Those who say this is a matter of WHITE racism, listen up. Whites didn’t come up with the phrase, “No cream in the coffee!” It wasn’t a white person who declared New Orleans was going to come back as Chocolate Town. And I know a wedding where the father of an Hispanic groom had to be taken OUT OF THE WEDDING by hotel security because he was so violently opposed to his son marrying a ‘white’ girl. It’s a matter of culture rather than appearance, and there are certain advantages to declaring yourself a member of a minority group.
Because they are.
this is a caucasian question coz for them they dont accept anything thats not 100% white….and thats why the do in most cases reject mixed kids…and thus those kids get accepted by the black community though they are not black…
Some people are shallow and only judge on outward appearance.