If you are half black, why are you labeled black?
LikeAnOcean
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Particularly Barrack Obama. Everyone talks about him being black, but he's just as much white as he is black. What gives?
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Also, it's not as simple as half and half. EVERYONE of us is of mixed pedigree. There's no denying it. It's time to lose those labels as they are meaningless. It's time to just start judging people for who they are rather than what their label is.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
For a illustration of all this rent "Jeffersons blood" An excellent documentary of the offspring and relatives of Thomas Jefferson. Its interesting, in the movie they talk to the people who look white, who would be classified by most people as white. They are relatives of Thomas Jefferson. Then they talk to relatives who would be classified by people, as being black. They are also relatives of Thomas Jefferson. Yet the whites are angry over the skin color of their relatives. The whites dont want to be called black. Yet both sides come from the same lineage. They are the same. Its funny, yet really sad
Race is a social construct. It doesnt exist. Science shows us, genetically a black person and white person have 99.9 percent in common.
The differences come in races, as opposed to between races. Therefore, white racists have more genetically in common with blacks than they do with their fellow klansmen
I've asked before if anyone could supply a non-subjective definition of what "black" was (or white for that matter). Nobody could come up with anything.
I've heard about the one drop rule before, and to me that says that EVERYONE is black if that is the rule.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
I think it goes by what a person looks (skin tone), he looks black. so he's black, does'nt matter much about him being mixed. I'm mixed, my mothers white and my dads a dark skinned guy from spain. What am I? I'm a human, when people ask what I am, that's exactly what I tell them.
Of course sometimes they just want more, they'll insist, "but where is your family from?" I always respond, "earth"
Is that any different than offering admission to blacks in college?
-Enoch Powell
There are definitely social constructs we place on race, but race is more than simply a social contruct. It does exist. Stand a guy from asia, a Guy, from the Ukraine, and a guy from Sudan next to eachother in a line and its quite obvious. Is ther a such thing as a pure race? i would say absolutely not any anyone who claims to be 100% anything is seriously delusional and naive. But, there are definite physical characteristics which we classify as race. Do we as a society place waaaay to much emphasis on them? You betcha. Is that really fucking dumb? Again, yes. Are those differences more than just superficial? No. I don't know where you get your
numbers. It may be true that someone Black and someone white have 99.9 percent in common. I don't doubt that all. That .1 percent, however, are those superficial physical characteristics classified as race.
I would agree with you. Race can determine many aspects about one's life.
Nonetheless, I believe that if you took a child from Ethiopia and raised him in a white, middle class, American family and you didn't let him think he was different, he'd be just like everyone else.
Race can be determinative (word?) of some attributes, but in the end, it's all about raising and culture.
-Enoch Powell
You must be a nice guy to have a conversation with:D
But I agree with you, people call him black because he looks black, he doesn't look like a white guy. But I hope people can see past his skin colour, anyone's skin colour.
naděje umírá poslední
That's why I loved Chappelle's Show. Everyone received equal treatment and stereotypes were funny - not a serious point of contention.
-Enoch Powell
Nice sweeping generalisation.
naděje umírá poslední
Culturaly, perhaps. The fact of the matter remains that the child would still have a much higher concentration of melanin than anyone else in the family. THAT is the difference between race and culture. That fact still remains that despite that childs cultural upbringing, there are still, unfortunately, ALOT of people in this country, and the world who would call that child "N****r".
But, whites sometimes have a tendency to hold those skills and talents to a double-standard.
I have a white friend who used to work in a factory on the east coast. We were having a discussion about race and intelligence and he goes, "Once at the factory we had a black guy working there. We had to fire him because he just wasn't doing a very good job."
It turns out that no one was really helping him either. I can't think of a job where training wasn't somehow expected.
When I was working in lower mgmt at UPS, I once got a new employee who was black. My manager started asking me questions about this employee's performance from the get-go. She had never asked about the performance of the non-black employees.
And, of course, that black employee was held up to "typical" UPS standards, but that isn't to say that the other employees were. I see no reason to believe why my manager wasn't just looking for a reason to cut the black guy.
http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=272825
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Perhaps "white" people should start condemning him for denying his roots...
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Look, tell that to the Black guy in a sports car getting pulled over for no apparent reason. Tell it to the Korean shop owner consatntly getting harrased. Tell to the indiginous population of the United States. Tell it to the mexican guy whos family has been here for several generations.
Those "white" people have never been called "N****r, so perhaps they shouldn't condemn him for anything.
Was he making an accurate statement?
http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=272825
cos whites have no unifying cultural heritage. which is why i call myself irish and most other white americans do similar things. black implies a particular cultural upbringing. plus, when he was growing up, half meant tainted and was as good as all black. he was never purely white and thus never in the WASP camp.
Well, if I never called him that, can I condemn him for denying his white roots?
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
perhaps to an extent. but have a conversation with a black man who was raised in a predominantly white suburb. ask about his values and above all listen to his speech. then compare to a white guy who lives in the ghetto, ask about his values and listen to his speech. your environment when being raised has a far greater impact on who you grow up to be than your race.
define white cultural heritage then. what is the common background tying all white americans together? 95% of black people in america share a common cultural background of being brought here in chains to be slaves. the whites came from all over the world for a hundred different reasons. which is why there is no "white pride" becos there is nothing to unite them aside from their skin color. black americans have far more in common than just their skin color and were defined by it from birth. whites do not.
cmon now collin...without those....most of these forums/posts would simply collapse.
as to the initial Q, think it's been well covered. basically, appearances are everything.
Let's just breathe...
I am myself like you somehow
Besides, he gives ultimate credit and respect to his mother. He doesn't "deny any root".
(I'm discussing hypothetically here as I wouldn't label him anything or condemn him of anything).
So why is he considered black?
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
I don't know. I don't believe in cultural heritage.
My question is why do people who are mixed - and that includes every one of us - have to claim a race?
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
For the same reason the ethiopian child raised in the white family is. Because, sadly enough, ALOT of people in the country would take one, cursory glance at the man and call him "N****r".
The "Black" gene is stronger than the "white" gene, so as others here have already said quite simply, he looks Black. Also whether you believe in it or not, cultural heritage, not only exists, it is a very powerful thing. Perhaps even more powerful than melanin or hair texture. My guess, (and i'm not sure), is that aside from looking Black, he was probably raised on a Black street. on a Blacl block, in a black neighborhood with a Black CULTURAL background. Its quite simple, and there is absolutely NOTHING wrongwith it.
Dude, i'm not buying this N word bullshit. Only huge hicks would ever call someone that and they are few and far between.
There aren't as many racists out there as you think.
But, there are more in some places that you wouldn't expect like, I don't know, college admissions boards?
-Enoch Powell