I'm black, but I've always wondered, why do most biracial people (black/white) consider themselves black?

Question

They're not black; they're mixed. I have a friend who considers herself mixed and she always corrects people and tells them she's biracial.

You can look and tell when most people are mixed.

Get real professor_einstein.

No matter how many times they say it, they will always be mixed.

Answer 1

Speaking as a biracial person, I don't really consider myself black, I too consider myself biracial because I am.

On the outside however, people perceive me automatically as black, usually. And politically speaking, I am black. I think you're considered black if you have up to 1/8th black in you, maybe it's 1/16th. I can't really remember. An Internet search should help you out.

But I consider myself both black and white.

Curtis

Answer 2

I'm not sure, but maybe it is related to really old legal definitions. Obviously, biracial children have been around as long as whites and blacks have been living near each other.
Way back, there was some math about what made somebody legally black in the USA. I think it was anything 25% or higher. or something (at least one black grandparent), but I don't really know. This kind of mattered to people when you could actually own black people I guess. And before voting was allowed, etc.

Answer 3

This is a great question. I'm bi-racial (black and white) and I have always considered myself to be a bi-racial person...neither black nor white. I think some inter-racial people consider themselves black (or white) based on how the look AND on how they live or grew up. If you are bi-racial and live around black people, do all the same things they do, etc, then odds are you will call yourself black...and same thing the other way around. Also, if you are bi-racial and look more black than white or vice versa, you might decide which "group" you belong in. Personally, I don't want to pick a "group" because I'm neither. I fit into the "black category" in some ways and I fit into the "white category" in other ways. It's really up to the person to decide what you want to do...and I think that is a wonderful choice to have. Because of racism in the US being so terribly rampant, I think it's easier for bi-racial people to fit in with black people and just call themselves "black." That's very understandable, especially since many white people consider bi-racial people as "black" anyway. But some people don't say they are black...sometimes it's the same thing but the opposite way (and if a bi-racial person wants to be "white" it certainly helps if they look the part!)

Again, I decided that I will happily and willingly by both "white" and "black" just because that's truely what I am. Hope I explained this for you!!!

Answer 4

It's a white thing. Back in the old days, either you were white or you weren't. There was no in-between. Anything less than 'pure' white was not white.

This distinction is now left up to the individual to decide. Like when the form asks what color you are, you can put down anything you want and that's the way it will be. Or, you don't even have to answer that question if you don't want to. It is truly nobody's business anymore.

It is my hope that in the not too distant future, there will be so many inter-racial offspring that nobody will be 'white' anymore. (I'm white, mostly)

Answer 5

Because once you've got just a little black in you, you're considered black! You're supposed to start choosing "black" on the bubble sheets etc.

Some people also don't feel like explaining theat they are mixed so they just pick a race to say. Sometimes they pick the race that they relate to the most. Like Mariah Carey considers herself white because she grew up with her white mother. Halle Berry may consider herself black because...well I don't know why because her mother is white... but it is just personal preference! The best of both worlds I guess!

Answer 6

i imagine it varies counting on which area of the international you're in. In Latin u . s . a ., mixed people declare some thing yet Black by way of historic previous & politics of that region. In u . s . a ., people do the different no longer purely because they have under no circumstances been familiar as White or perhaps biracial, yet because diverse the African-American identity encompasses non-Black ancestry. Malcolm X replaced into a million/4 White , as replaced into W.E.B du Bois The historic previous & politics of u . s . a . created the racial distinct sorts you spot at present, and they don't look going to regulate incredibly, nor could they for my area

Answer 7

Dumb A**??
Have U eva On Any Test or application seen a biracial answer choice? Didnt think So. So we have 2 choose 1 or the other off top. Yea i said WE im MIXED B***H-and-WHAT??? Aint like black just so cool where everybody wanna b black but when u raised mostly round black people u gon consider yo self black u big DUMMY. Another thing why would you say you white & yo skin color dont look white u FUCKN HATTA???

Answer 8

Because they don't like to be called Oreo? I've wondered that too, but in most cases I think it's because you can tell that they are not 100% white, so they feel more comfortable in the black category. Also, depending on where you live, like where I grew up, all white ppl are perceived as lame or racist.

Answer 9

Because back in slavery and segregation too, they call them black because if you had "one drop of ***** blood then you a *****". It call the "one drop rule" and it suck ever since. I'm surprise no one knew the answer, but that's why it's like that. Even my mom believe the same thing that's what she has always told me, when I ask her that question. But mainly during slavery they would mix with black women to produce more slaves and it's been that way ever since.

Answer 10

i have biracial cousins it's not that they consider their race as black i think thats how society or the whites have made it they fell that if we are not white then we are a minority which is considered not of purity, but yes biracial it the correct term. They judge us but tan to be our color cause they slick love us!!!!!