CurlTalk - View Single Post - Biracial and Multiracial black people: Are those considered a race?

KinkyKeeper · 08-08-2009, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xyz

Quote:

Originally Posted by KinkyKeeper

And how I see this is there are a lot of things Black and part Black people couldn't do 50 years ago, and we have moved past most of them. So I find it so bewildering how now that we can have the opportunity to accept our non-Black heritages (something they were told they couldn't just as much as they were told they couldn't sit at that counter) it is seen as a betrayal or something to the people who fought for our rights (which to me seems obvious one of which was the right to consider yourself Non-Black if you want) when almost nothing is. Are you still picking cotton, sitting on the back of the bus, coming in through the back of buildings? Unless you are still doing things, how is it more honoring to those heros to accept some of the rights they fought for and not others?

I understand that because of their struggle, I have more liberties to call myself whatever I want. But it is because of their struggle that I use that right to call myself black. They set an example for me that progress is made by facing the things that people tell you are ugly about you and embracing them.

I do agree with this. This is why I choose to continue to embrace the word nappy (and Mulatto) as well as my nappy texture. It's never the label or phenotype which many people get confused about and try to hide from their blackness by other labels or skin bleaching/hair straightening (which is apparently common in some countries). As Dumbledore would say "Fear of a word only increases fear of the thing itself".

I certainly didn't mean to imply that
calling myself Multiracial is about "not facing my Blackness" and I think that's another crux of our disagreement. I think of it as accepting who I am, just like the people who choose the label Black, if accepting who I am does have societal repercussions that shouldn't be mine or anybody's responsiblity.

And FOR ME, accepting Multiracial, once I evaluated and added up my life experiences, IS accepting the thing about myself people have told me is ugliest (or my Mixedness worsened the blow for whatever reason if they were hating on my Blackness). And I imagine it's the same for others.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xyx

That stereotypically black female image that people have in their mind, I love when people destroy that image by looking every which way a human being can possibly look. Because "black" comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors and I want the world to recognize that so that they can get that the concept of race is outdated and nonsensical, not just the labeling.

I do hear what you are saying. "If someone sees the person they have been talking to is that angry Black woman but they didn't know it and they were interacting with that person this whole time" they might have to rethink their racism. I disagree becuase I don't think that "The Angry Black Woman" stereotype is about looks/labels, it's about the racism. And racism exists beyond phenotypes. I have known people who just mentally attributed Mixed people's (or Black people for that matter) "goodness" to their Whiteness. I once heard someone trying to estimate how much White blood Michelle Obama had in her and ending up the result that it must be a lot becuase of how educated she is and she in no way identifies as Multiracial or Non-Black or looks "non-Black". But of course the instant she acts up (if she does so) she is back to being an "Angry Black woman". People have all kind of crazy ideas and stereotypes associated with what being Black or part Black means (in some countries it's about being poor, not skin color) I can't allow it to stop me from being who I am and calling myself so. It's certainly tempting to be able to say "I'm Black" when people attribute my hair growth to my mixedness and see their jaw drop but that's their ignorance and I shouldn't have to pander to it. And that's where I am coming from.

Again I don't think the burden should be put on people's identity to erase racism, just like there are people who expect Biracials are going to bridge the gap between Whites and Blacks. I don't put that burden on them, they are just who they are. If people choose to see them and realize it's possible to be Black AND White simultaneously than that's cool and thus realize race doesn't exist, if they choose to dedicate their lives to using their duality to mediate between Blacks and Whites, that's their choice. But it shouldn't be what their identity is for, their identity is who they are.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xyz

Just like in the "Intimidating black people" thread, some people will accept the concept of white privilege and some people will insist that because a black man banged on their car window and scared them, there is significant racist against white people and white privilege can't be their main focus. In a similar way in this thread, even if we talk until we are blue in the face about the plight of black people and how disunity amongst the race hurts our attempts to lessen our plight, individuals are still going to insist on their own individual problems or the problems of a smaller group. It is of course, everyone's right to see the world how they want, I just think if we spend a little more time looking at who really suffers in the world, it's usually the poorest, darkest, most marginalized and to pretend that we don't see that shows a lack of social awareness.

I can see how that would be your take on what Multiracial people are trying to do seeing as how you are coming from the view of what a Multiracial identity will affect Blacks or the Black community.