UK Woman Puts Halle On Blast Over Mixed Daughter!

I Feel Proud To Call My Daughter Mixed-Race - So Should Halle Berry!

By Sonia Poulton
Last updated at 9:05 AM on 10th February 2011

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Hollywood actress Halle Berry is pulling out all the stops in her bid to win her increasingly bitter custody ­battle with her former partner Gabriel Aubry.

In recent photographs she looks gaunt, tired and tearful, while her adoration of her beautiful daughter Nahla is evident.

I understand what the Oscar-winning star is going through. Having experienced the war zone of a relationship breakdown, I can testify to the raw ­emotional pain that frequently accompanies it — particularly the agony of ­seeing your innocent child torn between two parents.

Sonia Poulton's own daughter, Shaye, is a similar racial mix to Nahla

It is a situation only the emotionally impervious could endure easily — and, as anyone who has witnessed one of Ms ­Berry’s emotive award speeches will ­testify, cold and hard-hearted she is not.

But that is where my compassion for her, as one mother to another, ends.

For earlier this week, Miss Berry announced that she considers her two-year-old daughter — the result of a three-year relationship with handsome white model Aubry — ‘to be black’.

Berry defiantly told an American black magazine: ‘I feel she’s black. I’m black and I’m her mother, and I believe in the one-drop theory.’

The ‘one-drop theory’ is a reference to laws passed in the American Deep South in the last century, which dictated that if a person had so much as ‘one drop’ of black blood, they could not be ­considered white.

Speaking about her daughter Nahla, Halle Berry told an American black magazine: 'I feel she's black. I'm black and I'm her mother'
There is so much wrong with Ms ­Berry’s statement that it’s difficult to know where to start, and I say this as the proud mother of a beautiful mixed-race daughter.

Her ill-judged, wildly inaccurate statement has made me so angry and must be challenged.

It’s no small mercy that little Nahla is too young to fully understand what her ­parents are putting her through.

'People have been driven into a state of fear where they are terrified they may offend someone unintentionally by not using the latest term to be deemed acceptable'

It’s bad enough that they are slugging it out in public, but the poor mite has been placed centre-stage in a pitched race battle that can only escalate.

My 13-year-old daughter, Shaye, is a similar racial mix to Nahla.

As a white British woman, I most certainly do not consider her to be black, any more than I consider her to be white. ­Neither does she. Nor does her Jamaican father, come to that.

My daughter is dual heritage and, like Ms Berry’s daughter, she is neither black nor white, but a glorious combination of the two. And both elements of her parentage, as far as her father and I are concerned, should be celebrated.

To refer to Shaye as ‘black’ — as so many parents of mixed-race children do — denies half of her DNA.


PC Dogma: As the white mother of a mixed-race child, Sonia's priority is not how others see her child, but how she views herself

Halle Berry is herself the result of a mixed-race relationship between her white mother and black father. She has ­previously confessed to having identity issues.

So why she would apparently deny her child true knowledge of her ­cultural make-up is beyond me.

You have only to look at Nahla to see her father’s input — those pale green eyes and the blonde highlights in her curly hair. His Caucasian genetic legacy is stamped all over her, and denying his child the chance to acknowledge this could lead to no end of problems in her later life.

These are sensitive issues but, given Britain’s growing mixed-race population, they require addressing.

The most recent figures from the Office of National Statistics revealed that one in ten children is the product of a mixed-race relationship — an increase of 75 per cent since the Nineties.

Britain is one of the fastest growing mixed-race populations in the world, fuelled
by the rise of inter-ethnic ­relationships, thanks to higher immigration.

And if we want to give the children of those parents a decent start in life we must address the issue of what being mixed race really means — no matter how uncomfortable it may make people feel.


Nahla with her father white model Gabriel Aubry

To deny that the issue of skin colour remains a hot potato is to delude ourselves. People are so prickly about it.

PC dogma has driven people into a state of fear where they are terrified they may offend someone unintentionally by not using the latest term to be deemed acceptable.

Few people wish for a return to the racially dire Seventies when mainstream language, courtesy of the likes of Alf ­Garnett and Jim Davidson, referred to black and mixed- race people in the most ­offensive and unpleasant ways.

Just recalling those times causes me to shudder, but the PC fall-out has resulted in all people of mixed race being referred to uniformly as black. Just to be safe.
It’s ludicrous because, like all banner descriptions, it fails to take account of the nuances of real life.

When Berry calls her daughter black, she refuses to acknowledge her child’s white inheritance. The combination of different cultures is crucial to young Nahla’s identity and should be honoured.

It is not something to be denied or feel ashamed of.

The issue of race in children remains particularly upsetting in matters of adoption, where white people, and even mixed- race couples, are prevented from adopting black or racially mixed children.

What type of mad world is it that we put supposed cultural considerations ahead of a child’s need to be raised in a loving, stable environment?

'The aim is, and always has been, that Shaye knows who she is and where she comes from and that she is loved unconditionally by both sides of the gene pool — black and white'

Even when a child to be adopted is a result of mixed-race ­parentage, often the assumption is that a black ­couple would ­better understand their needs. What hokum!

That Halle Berry, by virtue of her skin tone, believes she has the upper hand when it comes to raising her child is preposterous — but it’s one that ­certain cultural groups, with their own narrow agendas to promote, are only too ready to swoop in and hijack.

Defenders of Ms Berry claim that calling Nahla ‘black’ is a form of defence. They say that the world at large will view the child as black anyway, so they might as well refer to her as such. What curiously defeatist, racist and damaging logic.

As the white mother of a mixed-race child, my priority is not how others see my child, but how she views herself.

The aim is, and always has been, that Shaye knows who she is and where she comes from and that she is loved unconditionally by both sides of the gene pool — black and white.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...-daughter-Nahla-mixed-race.html#ixzz1Da1dEa9e

 

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Personally I think as the girl's mother Berry can call her daughter whatever she wants. And the same goes for her douche bag baby daddy even if they aren't in agreement. What I DO get tired of are people who are not related to the child telling others how they should be identified or what labels they should or shouldn't place on children that aren't their own.

If Ms.Poulton's daughter identifies as "mixed" or multiracial or whatever then fine. If that's how she raised her daughter to see herself, great. But I get really tired (and maybe it's just me but it seems whites tend do this far more frequently than others) of people telling others what they really are. I don't get how telling someone what they aren't is any more enlightened than telling someone what they are via the one drop rule.

 

This.

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she brought up alot of points and truths, its much different in the uk then the us, mixed race people arent denied identity like they are in the us, some people just dont want to let go of their hang ups

 

I never really understood white folks' obsession with "mixed race" and the reason is to "bring credit the the child's dual "heritage" nor do I understand how saying a child is "mixed race" tells them where they come from.

My people do shit I don't understand....and trust me when I tell you at times white folk boggle my mind.

My children are black...A black father, and a Japanese mother....


...I could give a shit about what some random chick in Britain thinks. Why is she concerned with another woman's child AND...is she some important woman in Britain that anyone would care what she thinks?

 

What actually is the identity of "mixed race"

 

Personally, and this is just my opinion, I don't really think that many whites are comfortable with bi-racial or multi-racial individuals who are part white identifying wholly or in large part with their ethnic side. I say this because many really don't seem to give a damn how multi-racial individuals who have no European ancestry identify themselves in the slightest.

But when the individual is part-white, suddenly they feel it's their business how that individual sees them-self and feel their opinion is relevant when it comes down to how the ethnic parent wants the child to identify them-self.

Which is one of the reasons you see many whites in America complaining about the one drop rule, as if they didn't create it and as if they don't enforce it in society by their treatment of those with visible African ancestry.

I'm not saying all whites who have a problem with it have blatant negative motives or are even doing it consciously. But when it comes to bias and race relations it's not like Divide & Conquer is a mentality that is new to many whites, not just in America but worldwide. It reminds me of how nervous many whites will get when they see blacks gathered in large groups as opposed to when they're alone or in much smaller groups. Or how when it became apparent Barack Obama was about to become President of the United States there were many Whites out there who seemed unnervingly insistent that he "wasn't really black".

To me it just seems like many would be more comfortable with "mixed" individuals not siding with or seeing themselves as "blacK" if it can be avoided.

 

Personally, referring to the writer of the article not wwbm members, I think people should just keep their opinions to themselves.

 

This. That's why I'm keep my opinion to myself. Why bought up to talking about this? It's getting annoying.

 

riiiight!

 

LOL if that were the case then you wouldn't have posted your opinion stating that people should keep their opinions to myself. You would have kept yours to yourself. What you meant to say was "I wish people would keep opinions I don't agree with to themselves"

that makes more sense.

Its like when people judge others but complain about how judgmental people are, all the while judging people to be judgmental.

ha!

My pet peeves...or and answer a question with "it depends" or some slim witted person going in and out of threads talking about "you can't say all" or "I wish you would use the word some"

.....LOL...don't mind me, I'm here for the Pizza.

 

The woman writing the article is my new hero for one reason. She's the only person I've ever heard not demand that someone make a choice about who they are when referring to race and not only speaks about it but lives it.
You guys need to grow up with people keeping opinions to themselves we're not that liberal and you know it. If your kids wanted to play with the kid who comes from a family who calls themselves meatball heads you'd be a little suspicious.
We all catergorize other people so stop acting annoyed about it. Its how we live our lives.
If there's anything we should be mad at is that in 2011 we still refer to people as being of different races when science has proven we're all part of the human derived from one common ancestor.

 

Yeah, you're probably right. LOL! Although I don't necessarily disagree with the writer of the article, nor do I necessarily agree, (actually I feel both ways about the writer and about Ms. Berry - making me undecided in general) I was referring to this particular topic of how people label their children.
But yup, we're all hypocrites really. Love giving opinions, hate listening to them. Hey, we're human after all. That's what makes forums so damn interesting...and stupid...and fun...and boring...and mean...and friendly....and rude....and inspirational....and useless.

 

Everyone wants to be understood but rarely do we take the time to understand others lol

 

Just like you keep your opinions to yourself? You're just plain silly Tam lol

 

I get it. You and Sin didn't agree with what she said and therefore it wasn't an opinion worth being stated. You can say she over stepped her bounds by talking about Berry and her daughter but the rule has always been if your a public figure which Berry is and you bring your kids into the public eye its fair game. We've be speculating about celebrity's children since the Kennedy days. Why should Berry or her kid get a pass? Because we're talking about racial classifications?

 

Nah I wouldn't want anyones unsolicited advise but like I said before in Halle's case she's open season. I guess I've already come to the conclusion that everyone has their own dumb opinions just don't try to inflict them on me. Like the idea that spanking your kids is wrong. Abuse is wrong but spanking is golden. That shit probably saved my life but now there's a severe penalty if you spank your kids. Its dumb.