Multiracial Americans surge in number, voice

Obama candidacy focuses new attention on their quest for understanding

Here's the link to the story at msnbc.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24542138

 

"Barack Obama is a black man. Period.

Why make him "multiracial"/"biracial" when he is set to win the nomination? If Obama was a peasant on the street or getting arrested or a deadbeat dead, nobody would be calling him "biracial", he'd be classified as what he really is and that's BLACK. "

You may view him as black.
The rest of the world would view him as black if he were a peasant in the street, but that doesn't mean he has to see himself as "black" or that he has to accept for himself what others force onto him.
There's a difference between knowing how other people see you and how you see yourself. I think that's what these "multiracial/biracial" people are looking for.

I have also noticed some of these folks try to use their "other" blood to try and distance themselves from blackness, though. I've seen the same thing with other mixed-non blacks too. Some seem to think it makes them better than everyone else because it gives the "best of both worlds" I call them fence straddlers because they want to partake of advantages given to whatever race while not wanting to be burden with the disadvantages of each.
The issue is definitely bigger than just them trying to distance themselves from blackness.

 

I do agree that no one would care to call him "bi-racial" if he wasn't on the cusp of the presidency...but again...things are complicated.



Latin America/Carribean can't compare to North America because Americans follow the rule of hypodescent and Latinos follow the rule of hyperdescent.

In Latin America...they base classification less on racial composition than on color while black Americans focus more on color...even if you're only 25% black...if you look "black" you're black. Of course buying into this one-drop rule succumbs to the slavery time mentality....all it takes is one drop to "taint" you....but whiteness can only be achieved by being purely white...(or at least not mixed w/anything that could be considered "black"). The positive of the one drop rule is that black Americans tend to unite more regardless of color because we all know that we aren't white no matter how light-skinned we may be. No matter how different we look....we are on the same team.


In other words- Latin Americans = see themselves as varying shades of white.

black Americans = see themselves as varying shades of black

I don't fault bi-racials for trying to represent their heritage...especially in the case of those that happen to be 1/2 black but were raised entirely by their white family (like Obama)....but I like Obama's view...that genetically he's 1/2 & 1/2 but to the world he's black...and will be treated as such.

As mixed up as black Americans are...we are much more "black" than Latinos who tend to be more thoroughly blended between Spanish, African and native American.

 

They will have a separate category in two years, and it's true their aim is to distance themselves from blacks unless it's something to their benefit. One of the problems with black/white biracials is they often look down on their own if they do not fit the profile phenotypically.

 

On the flip side-why shouldn't these people be allowed to identify with more than one race, specifically black? Just because things have been done one way in the past and continue to affect us today, doesn't mean we should just accept it. If there's going to be change, eventually someone is going to have to start going pass these boundaries that society/history has put upon them, don't you think?
I've still yet to hear anyone intelligibly define what "black" is anyway.
It's not as simple as skin color and features. We have enough black folks that could pass for "white" that are still very much "black".
Is it a shared history? Chances are that I have little in common with you-being recently from Africa(Ghana?)-even though your now American-are you?- and deal with the same shit that we U.S blacks going back generations have gone through. I'm sure you weren't descended from anyone who's crossed the Atlantic on a slave ship.
Is it Culture? What is "black culture" anyway? A lot of today's generation are trying to make Hip Hop the default black culture...
This just goes on and on...

Also, could you specify exactly what you mean by "identify"?

As far as white/asian kids...I grew up with them. A lot of them seem to believe they are the best mix of races. Want the white privilege without being seen as white and not wanting to be asian...because that's just not cool. They get the height of white folks, their asian features get whitened up which makes them "more" attractive while not becoming a "bland" white and still retaining some exotic mystique. A lot of them feel exempt from the issue of race all around-exempt from this white guilt and resentment that might be towards whites..Then they get around some people who will still identify them as asian and they feel the need to push the "irish, polish" or whatever hodge podge of white mix they are in your face.
I see the same thing with some blacks too, though. I get tired of brothas needing to point out the indian in them or whatever the hell it is that makes their hair wave a certain way...that shit is tired.
If you wanna be black, be black...don't be trying to be all proud of being black when you reppin the cherokee in your hair. *shakes head*

 

O.K, I can get with that definition of black. I might add that the significance of identifying yourself as black is not how you view yourself personally/intellectually, but how society will view you and how that will affect your options or the ability to see those options in life. aka the experience.
The reason I would add that is to avoid the cultural trappings of what is always attributed to being black.

There has been a(many?) study that tested a black group to see how they would perform on a set of test if they were reminded that they were black.
The way they did that was simple, they just added one of those race identification white,black, asian bubbles that you fill in. It showed that this same group of black college students performed worse when they had to fill that out than when they weren't reminded of their race at all. There could have been other reasons for the sudden performance leap, but I think the original conclusion makes sense.

How many black people have you known that have-at one point or another- wished that they were white? I went through my period before I hit 10 yrs old. I grew out of it thanks to my family support, but I've seen countless blacks who haven't. Way to many people associate black with negativeness. You'd have to be educated or experienced to confidently laugh away the bell curve bullshit away from doing any subconscious damage to your mind. Some people just have that shit just nipping at the back of their head. Anytime something gets difficult intellectually they start wondering if maybe what "they" said is true...at least to a certain extent.
Then, of course, you always have people reminding you that you are "black". And they usually don't mean that you have significant or predominant African descent. Add to that, the other blacks who are so quick to tell you that you aren't black if you do a certain activity or talk a certain way. From that, I think, it's a little easy to see how some might want to try and "escape" the black identity. Though, in doing so you really only make the problem worse. Your reason for trying to be other than black adds weight to the thought that black is bad while everyone else is telling you that you are black, so you end up leaving yourself open on both sides. This is all pretty much a restatement of what you just said just with a slightly different angle though.

Race as being a social construct just doesn't get talked about enough. It should be as everyday as breathing until it's firmly ingrained in our heads.
They didn't talk about this during black history month at any of the schools that I went to. We did talk about a lot of peanut butter, though. :roll:

"In the real world, society's views of your race are more relevant than YOUR personal "identification". "
I definitely agree with that.

On white/Asian mixes, I was pretty much surrounded by them. Seemed like every other kid was one. There were definitely a few black/Asian mixes as well, and they definitely identified with black. I honestly have to say though, that from what I've seen they can be accepted into the Asian community a little easier than a black who isn't recently mixed with Asian.
Well, I shouldn't say the general Asian community, more like the part of it that is directly related to the part they are. Most of the black/Asian mixes I knew were black/Filipino. When they would tell some1 of Filipino descent this, the barriers would usually be taken down quite a bit. If that person can also speak Tagalog...then all walls will be taken down. That is near guaranteed. I've seen a few times where a Filipino will even go up and ask someone of black/Asian descent if they were half Filipino. These are normally "FOB" types so maybe they just haven't been Americanized yet.

This is a bit winded, but I'll try and wrap it up quickly.

As far as non-black mixes being better off socially....Yeah to an extent. Specifically to the white/Asian mixes. The father is usually white and from what I've seen, not stripped of his whiteness for being married to an Asian woman. White father/Asian females seem to get a pass from a large enough part of society-in my case, the military society-than Black father/Asian mother mix. Well, maybe they are about the same because from what I've seen, The black father can still get in with the other black males.Their relationship is the same with white people since they are still black except for the cases where a white male is married-or at least hopes to- to an Asian also. They would still catch some flack from black women though not as much as someone married to a white woman.
The white male goes through some of this also with white women, but I've not seen it mean too much since white males tend to hold the power anyway. Since white males aren't really stripped of their power for marrying an Asian, they still have the clout to provide a certain viewpoint of life to their kids which can determine who their kids choose as friends.
These guys seem to raise their kids as regular white people. The kids don't turn out that way though, because they know they aren't white.

*Dang..this can get long. I'll share a little more and then I'm just gonna cut this off, I gotta get to work.*

The other side of my experience with white/black/Asian mixes has been hugely positive, though I'm not sure if its because they were mixed with Asian or because of the military. In any case, here's a quick "diagram"
White/Filipino kid meets white kid, they have things in common
--they become friends.
Black/Filipino kid meets black kid, they have things in common--
they become friends
Black/Filipino and white/Filipino kid meet and because they are both half Filipino or because their moms know each other-which is pretty much automatic within the military-they become friends...There are no barriers unless the fathers have something to do with it.
Now because they are friends, the black and white kid will pretty much be forced into dealing with each other.
The black and white kid probably wouldn't have even approached each other before that.
From what I've seen and been a part of, these people have been the most diverse and open group of people I have ever been involved with.
When my father got out of the military and I transferred back into the standard public school system, I was hugely struck by how segregated everybody else was.
Within the military, I pretty much hung out with the rest of the black kids, but I also hung out with all those Asian mixes which opened up the door to white people too. No stress at all. Contrast that with civilian life and....it just plain sucks.

That's way off topic, but yeah...I need to go get a book on writing conventions cause my shit looks like a wall of text, nothing like yours...icky!

 

Exactly Summit.

I liked your post. Sadly, my posts have been removed (I appearently upset many of the posters so greatly that I had to go, I guess).

But I agree with everything that you said.

So, white/Asian mixes don't identify as white? A lot of the Eurasian celebrities are pretty much perceived as white. But then again, celebrity isn't always the best indicator of reality.

What military are you located? I grew up around Andrews AFB in Maryland.

 

This is the best post ive ever read on here........good job my friend....well done

 

Just to add something.....i think interraciality, interracial dating and mixed marriages has convinced the public that slavery is gone and racism is practiced less than before.... But trust me, the mind of most black men i see are still in the state of stalery. From how some of these brothers view white women as being the epitome of beauty. How a woman is considered unattractive if she has no visible "caucasian"( aka americanized) features.....I like white women too, dont get me wrong, but i havent co opted the slave masters mentality, so i dont "lust" after white women more than i do on black women( or any women)

The reason i say brothers are in state of mental slavery is because you still have HIGH rape cases in America where the victim is white and the rapist is black......there are over 1 million black men in prison. Drugs in these AA community is a set up by the government. Little black boys are tired of living in the everlasting povety passed down from one generation to the next, so they sell drugs to feed themselves,,,and its not too long before they are sent to prison

There is no father in most black American homes.....there is self destruction among the black african/ametican male. So slavery has been modernized and modified to compliment todays soceity. The legal system can tear a family apart by keeping the inmates past their due date of releasement. White folks make money off of those bonds for each inmate.....

All i can say is ont be what the media(i.e white masses) say you should be,,,,be what you wanna be.

cheers