How come Alicia Keys is ashamed to be half black?

Question

I never hear her talk about her being mixed.

Answer 1

maybe she doesn't consider it to be of any significance?
maybe she feels her talent speaks for itself?
maybe she does not wish to pander to racist morons?

Answer 2

Why do she have to be ashamed just because she never mentioned it?She is popular as a singer,song writer,&pionist.She is not some reporter doing a documentary on"Why people are ashamed of being mixed". Get a life!

Answer 3

Like the person said above, where do you get your information from? She's stated numerous times that she is proud to be mixed, she considered it as having the best of both worlds. As a mixed person myself, this isn't something I would go around blabbing about every second of my life. There are more important qualities about me than my skin color or my ethnic background. Perhaps she doesn't talk about it a lot because she'd rather focus on her amazing talents instead.

Answer 4

Alicia Keys is NOT HALF WHITE she is ITALIAN half Italian is not white half, she is half black half italian.
Who wouldn't be proud to be italian?

Italian Americans and Race
Race has long been a factor in Italian identity. After national unification in 1861, northern Italians racialized the South as a land of lazy, violent, criminal inferior people. "Africa begins at Rome," is an old adage still heard today in Italy.

Southern Italians' racial ambiguity has been championed by the Italian group Almamegretta, in their hit "Hannibal's Children :


That's why many Italians have dark skin
That's why many Italians have dark hair
That's why many Italians have dark eyes
That's why many Italians have dark skin

Some of Hannibal's blood remained in everybody's veins (2x)
Nobody can say I'm lying (2x)
If you know your history, you know where the color of the blood that runs in your veins comes from (2x)

Italian immigrants encountered a racist system based on socially marked categories of "white" and "black." Italians often found themselves in an in-between position of not quite black and not quite white, while always receiving the benefits of whiteness from the federal government. In wasn't until the 1930s and 1940s that Italian Americans began to assert a "white" identity, and sometimes with a vengeance.

This is an exteremly superfical recap of a complicated history that scholars, artists, and others are exploring with increased attention. Here are some sites, publicatiions, and films worth checking out:


Robert Orsi, "The Religious Boundaries of an Inbetween People: Street Feste and the Problem of the Dark-Skinned Other in Italian Harlem, 1920-1990," in Gods of the City: Religion and the American Urban Landscape.

Orsi's seminal article explores how "swarty" Italian Americans became white in racist America.

Thomas Guglielmo, White on Arrival: Italians, Race, Color, and Power in Chicago, 1890-1945

"Immigrating to the United States, Italians, like all others arriving on America's shores, were made to fill out a standardized immigration form. In the box for race, they faced two choices: North Italian or South Italian. On the line requesting information on color, they wrote simply "white." By World War II, the only option they had for race and color questions was "white." This identification is suggestive of the many ways in which Italians became white on arrival in the United States, as Thomas A. Guglielmo demonstrates in this prize-winning book. While many suffered from racial prejudice and discrimination, they were nonetheless viewed as white, with all the privileges this color classification bestowed, in the corridors of American power--from judges to journalists, from organized labor to politicians, from race scientists to realtors. "

Jennifer Guglielmo and Salvatore Salerno, eds. Are Italians White?: How Race is Made in America

"This collection of original essays asks the question - Are Italians White? Each piece carefully explores how, when and why whiteness became important to Italian Americans, and the significance of gender, class and nation to racial identity." Director Spike Lee wrote This book cuts to the heart of the similarities and the differences between Italian Americans and African Americans, which historically has been a volatile mix....I applaud this insightful scrutiny."

Answer 5

From what I know she isnt ashamed - I am in Australia and I have seen interviews of her talking about it - look at her hair in one of her earlier hits it was done in the more traditional hair styles.

Answer 6

Why does she have to talk about it? I'm half black and Asian and I never talk about it and its not that I am ashamed I just want people to see me and not what my race is.

Answer 7

don't you mean ashamed of being half white?? everyone obviously knows she is atleast partially black....but you gotta consider, her white momma raised her. i've never heard her play the race card pro-white or pro-black, where do u get this from??

Answer 8

She's not ashamed, and she shouldn't be, she looks good the way she is.

Answer 9

Alicia is dumb...it does not matter u are black or white

Recent study showed that People with black hair are preferred more than the others........so black is not bad may it me hair or skin

Answer 10

If she is its probably because there are that many discriminating people in the world