help..wonderful white women/parents

You can classify 'em all you want but Amerikkka don't see them that way. Anybody who will take up your classification will wake up when Amerikkka serves him/her their nigga wake up moment, you can't fool a fool.

 

How far back do you go, or is it based on appearance? Fer example, if you've seen my pic in the photo thread, you'll notice I'm a tiny little blonde blue eyed white woman. My genetic heritage is primarily British, Scots and Welsh, but I also have ancestors who were Eskimo and Native American. So would you classify me as white because I look white, or include *all* my ancestors in assessing my race?

 

I wasn't saying that you said that I was stating that it is a problem b/c of those who bash them for those reasons.

Our 400 years has been a constant change. It was not simply not any set rule. The system went through many changes aswell starting with the way whites treated on another. I never said any of those have no relevance. They should certainly never be forgotten so those mistakes are not repeated. But the times change and that can be good thing and we must change with them especially for the betterment of people. People should have never been treated different from one another based on their race or ethnic group, gender, or class. People should have been able to come here all at their own free will and should have had the same privileges as one another and opportunities given towards them. People should have had the right to honor and have pride in the cultures they came from and belong too. Biracial identity is a step in obtaining that right.

 

One thing I have learned by native Americans it's not about race or how much of it or what you look like at all. It's all about your culture. They don't care if your as much as half native American. If the culture isn't your culture they are offended that you would claim it. But you can be 2% native and as long as native American culture is your actual culture they have no problem with you claiming it.

 

It's not about how others see you, it's about how you see yourself. Others don't make you who you are, you do.

 

So...why is it different with kids of mixed black/white heritage? If I can be 2% native American and claim the title if other Native Americans approve of my doing so (which they wouldnt unless I'd been raised within that culture, btw), why can't a child who is 50% black be called black?:?

 

I don't think there is any set rule nor do I think there should be. I think you should be entitled to identify yourself however you choose even if I didn't agree with it on a personal level.

Now my person opinion on how I personally would identify you is this. If you do not have a majority race I would not identify you by a monoracial race. If you do have a majority race but you have a grandparent or great grandparent you have a connection to that is monoracial and different from your majority I would identify you either as your majority race or as your multiracial make up depending on how you choose to identify yourself. If you have ancestors off in your tree somewhere that you have no connection to like for example I have 3x great grandmother that was mulatto on my mothers side and great grandmother on my fathers side that was mulatto according to the US census. I also have native American ancestors from a couple hundred years ago that were discovered on the census and my mothers fathers grandmother claimed to be part native American but I'm unable to find those ancestors through research. But I'm a white woman. I have a white phenotype, I grew up in a white culture with no connection to any other culture or family members who were not white. So I would never identify as anything but white. I consider myself a white woman with multiracial ancestors. So if that is the case with you I would also consider you white.

 

Is there a hard and fast rule on how far back the connection goes before it "fades away" so to speak? This seems rather complex.

 

I simply explained how I see many native Americans perceptions on the issue. I didn't say I thought it was right or wrong or give any personal opinion on the matter. I can actually see where they are coming from with the 2% but being culturally native. But personally I wouldn't think it's right to say someone that was as much as 50% wasn't that race all based on culture. A black/white American child for example may be totally culturally white (it happens) but I don't think that takes away from their cultural heritage which is also black. It's still theirs even if it's not something that has been apart of who they are. Kinda like a Korean/white child being raised by a white father and white mother in white culture. Korean culture may not be their culture but their still their cultural heritage.

And I didn't say one can not be called black. 50% black children are called black all the time. I just don't think being 50% black can make you monoracial black even if that is what you are called.

 

Shouldn't we be worrying about giving the White man his wake up call?

A Black identity should be more than bracing yourself from a wake up call or the cops. It shouldn't be something that someone resigns themselves to. Identity should be a positive articulation, if some don't want to be Black, that's their loss.

 

Well like I said I don't think there is any rule on any of it, just personal opinions that may vary. My personal opinion would be mostly towards the cultural perspective. Physical seems to only make a difference when they come in a package.

 

I so agree.

 

There's just as many problems, if not more, with your racial beliefs, as I've told you more than once. It's like an advocacy issue for you on here, and I understand why many are put off at this point.

 

LOL that's fine. You don't have to agree with me for me to agree with some of the things that you may say. None of this is personal for me atleast not with anyone who doesn't resort to straight up disrespect. I don't have to agree with others and they don't have to agree with me. But if they don't it doesn't mean I have hard feelings towards them or anything to that nature. You can't learn if you just get mad at others for having differences in opinions you know. I wouldn't even want everyone to agree with me. What a boring world this would be if we all shared the same opinions.

I'm not trying to advocate anything either. I just happen to like real discussions on real issues. This is one the prime issues that is apart of my own individual life.

 

My own children will not only face racial discrimination b/c they are half black but they will also face racial discrimination for being Hispanic although they are not Hispanic. Their last name is Hispanic though so that is how the police will perceive them in some cases.
I've already had an experience with the police coming into my home going through my stuff, threatening to take me to jail, accusing my husband of having a warrant on him and being illegal all b/c he has a Hispanic last name. I was 9 months pregnat with highblood pressure already and we were living in a mobile home community that was majority Hispanic when the police decided to do a raid to "arrest supposedly illegal Hispanics". My husband was at work at the time. He has never been arrested, jailed, or anything to that nature. Good thing he wasn't there that night or he would have had to experience something he shouldn't have to all b/c discrimination over his name. He called the following day after it was reported on the news they arrested people. No telling how many were like my husband and completely innocent and was told "we mistaked you for someone else, we don't have a warrant for you". Such BS.

 

First, I agree with Yrma that's it's ironic to see a White person spending so much time attempting to explain why her definition of "race" is appropriate. I also find a lot of inconsistency in your position, but that's not the essence of my comment.

Acknowledging ethnicity is one thing, but to say that it's a "pride" thing suggests that there is an importance attached to races. The fact is the word pride implies superiority, which I find disturbing. This logically means that people should choose to define themselves by races out a sense of recognizing the "better" racial aspects of their background. Otherwise, what's the point in saying that it's about pride. I see no pride associated with race, only as a description that society chooses to impose on the person.

I believe that race has ABSOLUTELY NO INFLUENCE on who you are as person, unless you are a black person in America. Then, you are defined by your blackness, whether you are dope dealer or the President of the United States. For black Americans race can be a source of motivation because you understand how much you must overcome to have a measure of equality freely given to others by virtue of their race.

Both of my children are the products of two races, Black/Asian and Black/Spanish. I will always refer to my children as black as they have features that identify them with the Black race. It's much more important for me that they understand how they will be viewed by society and deal with those realities, in spite of any ethic description. For me, anything else is a disservice and creates a false sense that they might get "credit" for being part of another race. Of course they understand that their parents are of different races, but it's irrelevant. I care much more for their psychological well being and instilling in them the knowledge that they can't forget their blackness, because society certainly won't forget it.

In fact, arguably, people who choose to identify themselves as "bi-racial" could be subjected to more disdain, if part of the identification is with the White race. Many White Americans would find such associations to be offensive because they see something different. But, this is the state of racial politics in the United States today. So, I choose to be a realist.

 

I can agree or disagree with a number of points raised here. This whole line of thought is problematic, but what do I know, I don't have children and can afford to be pedantic.
I don't have a personal issue with you, but are you really being honest with yourself about this not being a form advocacy? I mean, unprovoked you brought up the census, which just happens to be one of the forefront issues in this debate. I promised myself I wouldn't get in these type of discussions with you, but by god, you had to bring that shit up...

ok, now I'm done...

 

Thread shut down. This said it all

 

In the US having pride in ones race runs along the same lines as having pride in ones ethnicity b/c different ethnic groups have mixed and evolved into American racial groups. The majority of my ancestors were Scot Irish and while much of their culture has been passed down the culture today is not the same as the Scot Irish of today so that can't exactly embrace and relate to the Scot Irish of Ireland. On top of that just in the white group we also have Dutch, British, Italian, Spanish, Welsh, and maybe more but there is so many I forget them all. All these European cultures and more came together in the US and made regional cultures. So having pride in white culture simply means having pride in your individual families European American culture. Just like have black pride tends to mean having pride in African American culture (which like European American encompasses pre colonial African cultures from many places in which evolved in the US especially with the forced assimilation to white culture and also has influenced from black hispanics and black caribbean culture). It can also mean having pride in any features you may inherited from your European ancestors. And having pride in something doesn't mean you feel that something is superior to something else. Having pride is pretty much having love for it b/c it's apart of you not b/c it's better than something or someone else. If my child wins an award for example I have pride in my child, not b/c I feel they are better but b/c it's a proud accomplishment. I have pride in my Scottish ancestors for their fight for their country from the British. But it doesn't mean I think they are better than. They are not.

Just curious how do the mothers of your children feel? Do they only identify them as black too? One thing I'm thankful for is my husband does agree with me that my children are biracial not only black. He comes from a multiracial family himself that does identify biracial and so did his bestfriend growing up so maybe that gives him more insight into understanding the biracial identity.

R U saying that white are offended when biracial claim to be half white? LOL UM yeah I've yet to ever hear that one. What kind of white people is it exactly that you are surrounding yourself with?
My children have features that identify them with their black father and their white mother.

My race def has an influence on who I am. The greater bit of my culture comes from white people, how could it not. My physical appearance is also very much apart of who I am.