Originally Posted by pattypan
This suggests that you view all white people as the same. That's no different from a white person viewing all black people as the same. As for not expecting anything from or trusting: a black OR a white person should not automatically trust or have expectations of a stranger from their own background without good reason.
I DO view all white people the same when it comes to most things,( in a general sense), I've never claimed otherwise and don't care whether its different or the same as what a white person does or doesn't do(there are things that white people do that I think Black people SHOULD do more of). ; but that's not what I was alluding to, with that comment. I also was not alluding to any PERSONAL trust of strangers, like letting them borrow my car, though it's interesting that this is what you concluded from parsing my comments. I was being hyperbolic , to some extent, not necessarily literal.
I was alluding to a commonality of racial experience, therefore worldview, and therefore interests. A biracial person in America is more likely to have the same experience as a Black person in AMerica, than a bi racial person outside of AMerica,is. It's difficult to explain, but even when Blacks in AMerica are total and complete strangers, there is usually an understanding and a certain worldview regarding race and it's machinations, how they play out here. Sometimes words are not even necessary to communicate about these things. In my experience, most biracials from AMerica can and do participate in those conversations, and even INITIATE those conversations as well as non bi-racial Blacks. MOst AA's assume that about "biracials" until they prove otherwise, same as we do about "full blooded' Blacks.
I'll give u an example. There is an MTV show called Road Rules. Some years back they went through Australia by RV, and there was one Black dude on the show, named Kefla from B-ham,Alabama, and one 'mixed race" chick named PIggy, who was from the UK. Everyone else was white. Kefla got along with the whites on the RV, but missed being around the Black folks at home. Early on, he tried to engage in certain discussions with Piggy, when they were alone, about things he was observing about the group, just do some "Black bonding" if you will. . She looked at him like he was speaking another language. It was clear that she didn't view herself as Black ,a nd hadn't really lived a "Black experience". She was all about the white folks on the RV,lol. Once he peeped that about her, he stopped talking to her altogether, and she couldn't understand why disliked her and wanted to know why. He basically told her that he expected her to be able to engage with him or empathize with his experience to some degree, eventhough she was half white, why? because most American bi-racials WOULD have been able to, that's why. The American experience typically ensures that they are able to do so , that's why. Not so much , in other places.
THat's why I stated that I give AMERICAN bi-racials the benefit of the doubt, same as I give "full blooded", Black folks. Because in my experience they are not as likely to be a 'PIGGY', as BiRacials from places like the UK are. Does that mean that a bi-racial person can't turn out not to be deserving of that? Sure. Same as a "full blooded", Black can turn out not to be worthy of it. The default position, however, is that they(full blooded or biracials) will be worthy of it, and more often than not, they are, in my experience.
A biracial person will often be seen as black by members of society but rarely as white. To a certain extent you become what you are perceived as, even if that is incorrect.
That's been my point the whole time. In AMERICA bi racials are perceived and more importantly TREATED(funny how folks conveniently forget that in these theoretical discussions), as BLACK, by and large. OUtside of AMerica that is not the case. Because that's not the case, bi racials outside AMerica often DON'T view themselves as BLack because they are not LIVING a Black experience, because the whites in their country ALLOW them to LIVE some other experience. So as a practical matter, THEY are NOT Black, which is why I stated that I don't view them as Black, I view them like I view white people. I would not expect a white person to understand my experience in this country as a Black person (or really even be able to discuss it with cogency), no matter how 'well meaning" they are. It's not THEIR experience.
Correctness has nothing to do with it. It wasn't CORRECT when our ancestors were brought here as slaves as Mandika, Hausa, Mende, etc, and THEY were all lumped into the same group and told they were the SAME. They were not the same people, but because of their same Hellish EXPERIENCE, they BECAME he same people. That's how that works........
Ignoring people who are obviously biracial for a minute, people who clearly show as either "black" or "white" will always be considered so even if they know their family history is not quite so straightforward. If you face discrimination because of your ethnicity it doesn't matter if the discriminator has got it slightly wrong, it won't make you feel better.
Again, you're stating things that have been the theme of every post i've made in this thread, so I'm not sure what we're supposed to be disagreeing about........
What I'm getting at is that a lot more people are actually biracial that those that are considered to be. A biracial person is not twice as good as the next man but is not only half as good either.
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