I was speaking to a friend the other day, and we stared arguing about barack obama. my friend said that he doesnt know why people keep calling him black, he aint black, he is mixed race.

he believes that barack should stopcalling himself a black man and that the media should stop saying that he could become the first 'black president'. According to him obama is mixed race/biracial, therefore he cannot represent or speak for black people.

we both have contrasting views on mixed race people. My friend strongly questions their allegiance to the black race, whereas I believe that black is black and advocate the one drop rule.

i do admit that some mixed race people (especially those in britain) do not see themselves as black and despise the black blood running through their veins, but overall I do see most mixed race/biracial people as part of our race.



i just wanted to know what the members of the board think abouth mixed race people.

I think people on the board are confused and inconsistent.

Mostly people demonise and hate mixed race most of the time and almost appear unanimous that mixed isn't black because of the very one-drop rule you mention... but when it comes to the idea of mixed people having their own race categorys and sites or things of their own... everybody throws hissy fits as if they're traitors and it won't be good for black folk. When mixed folk date white blacks here act shocked lol or call them traitors even. Traitors to whom?

I do not agree that biracial people are black. They are no more so than they are white and one drop rule upholds the notion that white is pure and everything else is contaminated black...I don't subscribe. Why is Mariah or people as white as her with visible blue veins even near considered "black". Have we gone blind? Also from experience people raised by white parents have a white idealogical background and thinking that is vastly at odds with most black people. To deny this is determined willful ignorance imo. We know that mixed couples don't last and we know that it's usually black men with white women vastly outnumbering the reverse so effectively it's white women bring up the majority of mixed kids alone. Kids who some argue are "black". Bollox

A biracial or mixed race person is precisely that. And that's not black. The sooner we realise this and move on the better. For them in the most part but for us too.

**THREAD MOINTORED IN CASE IT GOES OFF INTO THE I.R. TERRITORY**

I think Watcher summed it up well, while I don't really mind if a mixed race person feels THEY PERSONALLY identify with black more it gets a bit fustrating when evey tom dick and harry pushes it on them ala Tiger Woods, again the idea of accepting every thing in the Black Community when other communites are quick to turf any thing and everything, I hope I need not to mention the Jade Goody fart that pissed me off to the max...

My view on mixed race people is two-fold.As with most things, I don't believe there is a one size fits all approach to this. When I see a mixed race person from the UK, South AFrica, Brazil, or a few other places, I consider them mixed race and don't view them any differently than I view a white person. Don't expect anything from them or trust them(unless they show and prove). In those places, mixed race people tend to have vastly different experiences than Black people, because the systems in those places allow/encourage them to.

When I come across a mixed race person from America, I consider them tobe Black and treat them as such, until they give me a reason not to,(and more often than not, they too consider themselves Black and rep that).Commonality of experience(be it chosen or forced),is a crucial element. A mixed race person in America, is SOMETIMES, more likely to have the same kinds of attitudes about whites as a collecitive(regardless of what their momma/daddy is)/be hip to racial dynamics than some full blooded Black folks from all Black countries who can sometimes be very unhip to such matters, and see race as trivial in comparison to classs/tribe/education level, ad nauseam.

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I also admit that I am very confused most of the time about mixed race people. I dont know how i should view them.

Sometimes you get the ones that are overtly pro black (e.g miss dynamite, mario van peebles, alicia keys), those are the ones that dont call themselves mixed, but see themselves as black and they rep black. And then, you get the ones that are the complete opposite, who dontlike orhang around with any blacks or biracials and they consider themselves to be white with a tan (I cant think of any in the media spotlight, but there are plenty of them around where I live)

and then you have a few that are somewhere in the middle. those are the ones that piss me off the most. Why dont they just pick a bloody side?

As a collective, mixed race peopleare the most confusing people on the face of the earth. (i dont mean to cause any offense to any mixed race person out there)

Deciding how we identify mixed-race people will always be a problem mainly because scientifically there is no such thing as race. We are all part of the human race. White tribes invented race so that they could commit evil acts in the past to steal wealth and keep it for themselves. We are now all in a state of confusion because high level race mixing is relatively recent and doesn't really fit into the western concept of race definition. It would be easier if we were in south America and everybody was labelled according to skin colour but I don't think this is a good system at all.

I don't think mixed-race people should ever pick a side because its unfair to ask them to ignore one side (or in some cases more) of themselves in order to fit in with a particular group. It will also be hard for mixed people to ever be their own individual race because there are so many combinations and degrees of mixtures that this would be impossible to do. Unless the whole world comes to an agreement that there's no such thing as race, just billions of people from the same species where some look a bit similar than others, like cats, then we will always have a problem when it comes to mixed-race people. This of course, will never happen.

In my experience some mixed race people identify strongly as "mixed Race"; while some identify as Black. What troubles me is the some mixed race people who do not identify as blackare in their politics pro white (which will alwys be anti-black...they cant have their cake and eat it) and are attempting to claim black history makers (mixed ppl who positively identify as black) as politicaly "theirs". Its a ridiculous tug of war and some clarity needs to privided by hig ranking mixed race ppl in the community. The Mixed community is split on this issue, and leadership should be provided. My guess is that the pro white brigade are in the minority and the heavy slap of white racism will soon have them reeling back into the black community.

Time will tell.

Gmahomny posts is on point...

"Mixed race" people are black until proven other wise in the U.S. because we already come in different shades. Trying to decipherrace of parents just confuses an already confusing system, although some die hards will try. Its alsobeneficial for "mixed" people to identify as black cause it gives them a social support system they wouldnt get as identifing themselves as something else.

BTW mixed race is an offensive term in the U.S.

If you havequestions about the allegaince of Mr. ObamaI suggest you check out the church he attends...niceone.gif

Black Flash wrote: It is my opinion that if we look at our history of mixed race people, then we can easily learn how to deal with them. It is quite simple. They are "Black" or "African" if they want to be. By this I mean that they wholy identify with the endeavors and collectively uplift of our people. If they have the ideology of others in their mentality, then that person is a Trojan horse.

It is how many misguided Africans try to include Arabs just because at one time West Asia was resident of some of our most ancient classical Black civilizations, and so Arabs are naturally mixed people of African descent. However, these cultures were destroyed by Whites and half-breeds who infiltrated Black civilizations but still had an Indo-European mentality. When the White and Arab man first came to West Africa, many of us distrusted them. People such as the Yoruba called them "peeled men" because of their white skin. H