Bi-racial friends: "White" or "Black"?

Question

I have a bi-racial friend, and I usually think of him as "black." He, however, has said that a lot of people have thought of him as more "white." What are the key characteristics that make one think of a bi-racial person as "black" or "white" (besides just how dark their skin is)? I know what I think, but I'm just wondering what others think.

I just thought of something I should have added. I'm sure a lot of people are going to say, "I think of him/her as just a friend, not "black" OR "white." They might also say, "I just think of him or her as bi-racial, and not one or the other." So, let me rephrase the question: IF you had to think of them as one or the other, what would it be, and why?

In response to some of the comments people have already made, I think of my friend as "black," and he's well-aware of it.

Answer 1

It ultimately depends on what the friends preference is, & what he identifies most with. Neither race would be completely accurate because he isnt only white, and he isnt only black. Many believe that if u have black in you, its the most dominant race, therefore, you are called black. I believe that it's whatever you choose to identify as. I have many multi-racial friends who always check OTHER when asked what race they are on paperwork. And then i have multi-racial friends who say they are black. I have one multi-racial friend who says she's white, & that's because she was raised around her white father, grew up in a white neighborhood and more identifies with white culture.

Answer 2

i would ask them if they felt more black or white. really it's based on the skin tone. i know some really light colored bi-racial friends who look white but they "act"(not to stereotype but to make a point) like a black person to most people so they tell me their black. Other are darker and everyone sees them as black. To me they are both black and white and it shouldn't matter to differentiate. I mean I'm light colored too, but I'm not bi-racial. I'm just light colored.

Answer 3

I guess he doesn't act like the stereotype by the way he dresses or speaks. Physically, I mean Blacks that don't have admixture in them come in different shades and have different features so it's hard to say. Someone like Halle Berry is considered Black because she looks Black, where as Derek Jetter (sp) looks more Caucasian as far as skin color.

Answer 4

I was think the same thing last night.....I know a woman who is Latino who lives as a white woman and even refused to use her fathers last name, my little sis has a best friend who live as a white girl....shes bi-racial.....but pale with straight hair.

So I was thinking what is the true definition of "White" there are people from Germany, Ireland, Russia, Latin America, Mexico, Iran, Iraq who migrate to America and have the option of being "white"............and many choose to live as "white"....as long as the color matches what is considered Caucasian, its a go!.....is Caucasian a option?......is the definition of Caucasian "pale skin" only........but if you are born with a slight or dark tint to your skin your forced to be sub-categorized?....Latin, Black, Africa, Mexican, Arabic, Italian and so on.........

People with pale skin are not sub-categorized.......so what is white?????
Its funny to me a Latino woman can live as white in society and is fully accepted (even pardoned for crimes) all of her ancestors from Mexico....my great grand dad is Germany and grand farther half Iris...but society sub-categorizes me as a Ni88er, because I'm a beautiful brown...........go figure!

Answer 5

you can't really think of him 100% white or 100% black because hes not either. So why to try to fit in a category. He's bi-racial, nothing more..nothing less

Answer 6

My husband has a friend who is not bi-racial. He is black. But my husband calls him the whitest man he's ever known because he listens to country music and elton john. He goes to a southern baptist church every sunday and "talks" white "dances" white.

Its all in stereotyping I guess.

by the way my hubby's friend is not offended by this, he agrees with his friends.

Answer 7

I am biracial. I identify myself as being black though I do not deny my mixed heritage. I just seem to have more friends who are black than white and lean more towards my Jamaican culture. From my experience, my white friends think of me as a black person and most of my black friends think of me as either black or mixed.

Answer 8

A mulatto (also mulato) is a person of mixed ancestry with an African and a European parent (half black and half white), the offspring of two mulatto parents, or a person with a mixture of African/European ancestry

Answer 9

I consider mixed-race people brown, neither black nor white.

Answer 10

Too many people get caught up with skin color. If it was not a problem.....you would not be asking the question.