why are people of mixed race ,always referred to as black?

Question

People like Barack Obama,Halley Berry and others that have black fathers and white mothers are always referred as being black.Couldn't they just as well be referred to as white.Seems odd to me.

Answer 1

In this society if u have an ounce of black in you most people consider u black. It's also based on appearance and skin tone. If they look "more black" then they "look white" people will call them black. If someone said that Halle Berry was white, people would probably have a hard time believing it.

Answer 2

Your statement is incorrect... they are often referred to as "mixed race." Please avoid "always" and "never" and "everyone" statements... try to qualify your observations with "often" or "frequently" or "some."

The reason that many people of mixed heritage as referred to as their minority race is because in many societies, the minority status takes precedence. Children were often considered to "follow the status of the mother" (since the identity of the father is often debatable) - ie, if the mother was a slave, her children would be as well, and the slaveholder could breed his own workforce. Also, regrettably, people are treated by their looks - ie, if you look at all black, you are black, even if only one of your ancestors was black.

But there is also a positive side to this: in American society, where white people remain the majority of the population, people are often eager to establish a more interesting and unique heritage for themselves, and are happy to emphasize their black heritage.

Answer 3

It stems from history where they absolutely would not be considered white and would be shunned once it came to light they had black blood.

Halle Berry could very well be full blooded black , hell, she's darker than Lena Horne (both parents black). Even mixed kids that could pass for white always referred to themselves as black. I don't know. I guess once it was learned they had a black parent they get treated like black people?

My son is half white and I'm not sure how he'd label himself. I would be offended if he said "I'm white" though and I cannot answer why. Must be learned I guess.

Answer 4

Your question goes back to the infamous "one-drop rule" (or "theory", if you google that you should find more detailed information), a particularly vile standard for measuring someone´s racial background. It was widely used in the 20th Century before the Civil Rights movement: the basic message was - if the person has any "black" ancestry at all in their family tree, then they were considered "black", hence the term "one drop". And as this takes place in a period when Afro-Americans had very few rights in comparison to white Americans of European origin (plus anti-miscegenation laws were practiced), someone´s racial background was of extreme importance when it came to how society, the legal system etc. treated them. It´s the same concept that Hitler employed too (if you know about the German Nazi regime and how Germans had to prove with long family trees that they had no Jewish ancestors in the last x-generations in order to marry/work etc. at the height of the persecution of the Jews, you can see the same mentality working, sadly) and concerns a certain society attempting to preserve what is perceived as racial/ethnic purity, one of the most bizarre and evil concepts in history, Bosnia or Rwanda are recent nasty examples. Although the advent of Civil Rights saw legal application being stamped out as unconstitutional in the USA, the after effects are still to be seen in people´s mentality, as your question shows, in the sense that the basic message nowadays is: the bottle is half-empty, but not half-full, ie: Mr. X/Mrs. Y is seen as "definitely black", but "somehow not quite white", which makes absolutely no sense of course. So yes, it´s very odd. Btw: if you ever get the chance, check out the movie/book "Rabbit-Proof Fence" - it´s about the same subject, but set in Australia and about a group girls of mixed European and Aborigine parents who are separated from their family for just that reason: it´s very sad, but the girls´ courage is inspiring.

Answer 5

hahah come on now. You would honestly look at me and say "that white girl over there" instead of black, or brown? It just doesnt make sense. Why dont we just use the term light.hahaha We need to just point people out by flavor. Like that vanilla girl, or chocolate or banana or french vanilla with a swirl.

Answer 6

I do believe this is a racial, and learned behavior, which will be very hard to steer from. I did hear a comedian make a joke about the racial thing that would actually work; everybody sleep with everybody, and after a few generations, there would be no racial problems, because we would all be the same.

Answer 7

I guess because dark skin, curly hair, and dark eyes are genetically dominant, they look black. But since they have said they are mixed-race, and since they also have white features and lighter skin, I think it dishonors both them and their white parents to refer to them simply as "black." You could as easily say that Barack Obama is "of African heritage" (he literally is!) and make a story out of that, if you want.

Answer 8

There is an old law that was created around slavery times that said that if a person has one drop of black blood in them, they are considered black. White folks never accepted bi-racial children.

Answer 9

I think this is a good question. Although I would be more interested in hearing what THEY consider themselves, or why they choose to align themselves more with one culture or another.

On my husband's side, ALL of the kids are mixed, with only 4 exceptions. We've got BlackMex and WhiteMex (I don't think you'd count PR/Mex!)

The WhiteMex kids are more white, although the boy appears to be going a bit wigger. But that's a kid thing, I think.

The BlackMex kids are a mixture - two of them look more black than Mexican, but to me they appear to be acultural, if that's a word. The others seem to identify most closely with the black side.

As far as how I think of them in that sense.....it kind of depends on how they look. The black genes seem to be more dominant, so I guess I think of them that way more than as Mexican.

Answer 10

It's just easier to generalize someone as black white or hispanic or asian etc, rather than specifying everyone's racially mixed history.

And no they're not considered white because they aren't white - they have black in them, therefore they're black. Technically, milano. But black just the same.