Stop Bringing the Biracial Issue to the Doorsteps of Blacks
Over the weekend I was catching up on some news and ended up on The Root’s website browsing through articles. John McWhorter’s provocatively titled article, “Let’s Stop Being Angry at Biracial People” instantly caught my attention.
As I read I anticipated McWhorter delving into the history of the one-drop rule or presenting a new idea to the trite topic that has been discussed ad nauseum. Instead, the accusatory tone coupled with a number of generalizations, left me floored. And by the article’s end I wondered, why does this problem continue to be left at the doorstep of Blacks as if we are marching in the streets with fluorescent signs that read, “Hey, biracial people, you have to identify as Black?”
McWhorter’s piece recounts his childhood experience with one of his biracial classmates considered black because that’s the way Whites would see him. Later McWhorter reflected on how his biracial godchildren, who have a White mother and Black father, would later have to identify as Black. Obviously this issue hits close to home for him. According to McWhorter’s presumptions, the line of reasoning Black people use when claiming biracials are Black, is that they will be treated as such by a White cop. Really? Then he tosses in Obama as an example and the “uproar” Black folks were in when Tiger Woods told the world he was “Cablasian.” Much of the article relies on his personal observations, the assumption that Black people even care about this issue and conclusions based on his assumptions. Talk about failed logic.
McWhorter writes:
A standard line on why degree and mixture are not supposed to matter for black-white hybrid folk is that the cops will always treat you as black. Even President Obama trotted out this line in defending his classification of himself as black rather than biracial…
One is that for black people to get angry at people like Woods for calling themselves something other than black means enforcing the old “one drop” rule as vigilantly as whites used to do…
The second reason is even sadder. The idea that if, say, a Troy doesn’t “know what color he is,” then he is to be giggled about at best and jumped on at worst is about shame. Why, after all, does someone who refuses to identify as black make some black people angry?
That anger comes from insult — specifically, a sense that Troy must think he’s better than they are. After all, why couldn’t they just allow that Troy has had a different life from their?
That tongue clucking and anger at the Tiger Woodses among us is about insecurity, a legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. To really know that black is beautiful means feeling not the slightest mental pinprick when café au lait people refuse to call themselves only “black.”
Although I understand McWhorter’s efforts, as much as I understand it is his right to write an Op-ed piece, for the life of me, I can’t understand why this is being presented to Black people as if it’s our issue. Nor do I know that enough Black people care about how someone self-identifies. I certainly don’t know anyone who does.
Black people were not the inventors of racism in this country; they were (and are) the victims of it. When will these articles be dropped off at the doorsteps of Whites? After all, it was our White founding fathers that created the “one drop rule” in the first place. Please let’s stop pretending there are not large numbers of White people who would be petrified if their son or daughter brought home a biracial baby. And in some cases, possibly disown their child and grandchild. I rarely hear of these stories happening in Black families. News flash- countless Blacks have biracial people in their family, and we don’t go stomping and pouting demanding they accept their “Blackness.”
The biracial issue is a lot less simplistic than it is conveyed in McWhorter’s article. I think the concern, if any, for some Blacks, lies not in how biracial people choose to identify, but the hope that they know the history of their Black side. Also, love and value it. And that it is not seen as inferior to their White half.
When conversations about Mariah Carey arose, who in the past allegedly went out of her way to claim she was White, the annoyance was that Mariah wanted to be Black when it was convenient in terms of her music career. The uproar wasn’t just that she didn’t say she was Black. Yes, there are Black people who will consider anyone whose skin is pigmented, including biracials, Black. And there are those who will insist biracial people consider themselves Black and only Black. But not enough for this to be considered a “Black issue.”
Further, please tell me what White person is looking at Tiger Woods and considering him white, Asian or biracial? The only reason White people like to point out the President is biracial is because, well, he’s the gotdamn President. It’s another way to take away the pride we feel in having the first Black President by saying, “Well really he’s biracial.”
I don’t mind the discourse around some of the more serious issues biracial people face in this country. But I certainly am tired of the accusations as if Black people en masse hate biracial people, give them hell and demand them to own their Blackness. If I never read another article similar to McWhorter’s, it would be too soon.
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Even though I agree we did not start it, in some ways we are helping to perpetuate is just like many racist white are. We have a role in the system too, if we’re not fighting against it when the issue or similar issues come up in our daily lives (I’m not saying we should march on Washington about it) but, I think that we have to check ourselves in terms of the way we respond to biracial issues and why we are responding the way we do.
As a multiracial person (Black/White/Cherokee) I’m more than a little disheartened by this article. The problem here is that people from all over seem to think that they have a stake in how biracial/multiracial people self-identify, and this is nothing new. Just because you (one person) don’t think that Black folks (sweeping generalizaion) care about about biracial people’s self-identification doesn’t mean that you are any more correct in your assessments than Mr. McWhorter or have access to a more diverse sample of the Black community. His perceptions have been shaped by his own experiences and so have yours. I am almost 23 years old and it has taken me this long to feel good about being Black, not because of White people, but because of my Black peers for whom I was not “Black” enough. This is just MY experience, but it is one that you are discounting because you think that it’s not relevant. As far as I’m concerned, and I can’t be the only one out there, this IS an issue that needs to be brought to the doorstep of at least some the Black community, namely some of the sectors that I have engaged with. A caveat, but one that I think could teach EVERYONE something, is that the whole idea of some monolithic “Black community” is preposterous anyway, and at times socially destructive.
In this world people call you what you look like. If you look Black your black, if you look Asian your Asian, so on and so forth.
People like to group things. It makes life less confusing I guess. Less to think about. It’s sad that mixed race individuals can’t claim their heritage if they don’t look it. I only claim when people ask or if they see my mom. Otherwise I’m grouped into Black.
We need to leave this situation alone and let mixed race people claim their heritage.
james black test.
if i tell you to meet me at midnight we gon kill all the white people and you say “kool”
you are black.
if i say meet me at midnight we gon kill all the white people and you say “mom?”, you can’t kill mom!”.
you are not black.
lol…I have another one James…
If I’m biracial and I need a scholarship to school…call me black.
If I’m biracial and I need a job, call me white.
Furthermore, how far back does claiming biracial go? If my great grandma was white, am I biracial? Must it be an immediate parent?
If you are biracial, identify how you want to, but if you get treated black (many whites see black as black no matter the shade) don’t ask for support when you get treated badly.
“Black people were not the inventors of racism in this country; they were (and are) the victims of it. When will these articles be dropped off at the doorsteps of Whites? After all, it was our White founding fathers that created the “one drop rule” in the first place…And that it [the Black half] is not seen as inferior to their White half.”
Thank you Thank you Thank you…
I will say that I am a little thrown off when bi-racial people tend to glaze over the fact that they are indeed Black, it isn’t something i come across everyday. I am a Black but I have friends who are mixed and have dated mixed men. Race was never really an issue for them; they were who they were. The only time they ever felt that they needed to “explain” themselves was to other White people who were “curious.”
i’m over it.. who cares.. the only ones w/problems to me is the ppl who want you to identify yourself.. you shouldn’t have to.. your a human being..
my son is half black and half puerto rican.. if you see him you’ll instantly think he’s hispanic.. when i have to fill out ppwrk i put both.. i identify him mainly as black because he lives in my household and i raise him (father’s a deadbeat).. but i know he’s bi-racial and he knows it as well.. they shouldn’t have to be forced to choose and they shouldn’t have to just identify with what color their skin is.. his skin is not of an african-american person but of the hispanics but his father is not around.. so, where should he go, who should he identify himself with?!
my family treats him no different.. hell our whole family is a mixture of races so we don’t make a big deal out of anything cause he’s still a human being..
it’s not that serious folks.. but i do wish ppl would stop bringing it to our doorsteps..
What is a Puerto Rican? The last time I checked, the island of Puerto Rico is made up of native indians, blacks, and decendants of the spanish conquistadors who mated with the island natives. When you make the assertion that “Puerto Rican” is a separate racial group, you’re telling the world at large that puerto ricans are a version white people, when the vast island majority are people of color. What does a” hispanic” look like? There are black, white, asian and native american hispanics. The people who call themselves hispanics, have allowed themselves to be sub-divided into different ethnic groups, with the lighter skin people being more civilized than their darker counter-parts. I see this divide and conquer mentality all over the Caribbean, Latin and Central America, Africa, Asia and here in the US. The white supremacy has done such a good job of telling us that we’re inferior, that some of us carry that mental illusions amoung ourselves. Meanwhile, white people are injecting botok into their lips to get them plump, butt and breast implants, tanning year round, and trying to wear their hair in locks, braids,etc while we act ashamed of our natural beauty…Race was a construct created by white people, since they are only 1/10% of the total world population. Look around the globe, Africa, Asia, South America, Pacific Islanders, etc, the majority of people are peoples of color. The whiteman knows he is inferior because of lack of melanin, so he has created these racial groups, with white being at the very top and black being the most undesireable. Yet ever chance they (whites) get, they are always getting into bed with people who does not look like them, to produce children with color…White men and women are alwasy proud to put their colored offspring on display as if they had anything to do with the color of these offsprings…
I hate labels, I think I am going to call myself “hueman” from now on and see how far that gets me.
The “multi-racial” discussion is going to continue to be dumped at the door steps of African Americans due to the following reasons:
The white majority is unwilling to dismantle the structure and paradigm that exacts them privileges and power. Unlike other nations and other world ethnic groups, America is NOT going to engage in any type of “retribution” or “reparations” or “blood money” to the masses of African Americans. If anybody needs a wake- up call I invite you to read The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality by Thomas M. Shapiro. I also invite you to read Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire.
African American men are going to continue to marry or procreate with non-black women. Our society has not dismantled it’s racist, classist, sexist structure. I read a comment on the Halle Berry thread that implied interracial couples or multiracial children were “racial healers.” I’m astonished at the absurdity of such a suggestion from a professional. ***AS IF*** these non-black partners (or the black partners for the matter)
• Participated in the Civil Rights movement.
• Participate or support modern Civil rights organizations, programs, and initiatives that focus on our ethnic groups permanent interests.
• Historically literate, preserves history, and cultural relics.
• Participates in programs designed to elevate our ethnic group’s consciousness, economy, and educational attainment.
I.DO. NOT. THINK. SO.!!!
These men non-black partners are NOT activists in any way shape or form.
Multi-racial people with one black parent who usually is a black man don’t wish to identify with their blacksness because their farther taught them through example to be ashamed of it and to hate it. He did so because he lacks ethnic self-respect, is historically illiterate, and didn’t grow up in a functional black community. I blame black men who intermarried this way for any grief their OWN children experience because of their neglect and failures. It’s not my job or EVERY BLACK person’s job to massage the egos of Multi-racial people just like it’s not their job to do that for us. The complete lack of self determination and loss of self-esteem is VERY evident when multi-racial people feel entitled to dump on us, disparage us, and debase us. Not ALL black people grew up or were nurtured by color/skin shade freaks. SOME OF US did grow up in a functional black community and I’M NOT going to apologize for doing so.
Finally, I believe that there is NO lack, scarcity, shortage, deprivation, or even separation. I believe the Universe is filled with abundance and their enough for everyone. All of this ultimately comes back to one’s mind and what you allow in it. There is no “man shortage” African American men are not the only black men in the world or the only men in the world. Interracial marriage is a problem because our society is still marred in inequality and many in our ethnic group are so distressed from the pressures and the consequences of the pressures from the structure that they are pushed into the arms of another to escape and exact those privileges. It’s NOT that they did it: IT’S HOW THEY DID IT. I include black women here especially after reading blogs were the death and destruction of the masses of black people was celebrated all in effort so that ones crotch is tickled by a white so and so.
Get real people!
Tell em!!! I totally agree with this post especially when you speak about how Halle calls multi-racial people race healers. That’s totally absurd. Maybe they are healers with white folks cuz they are more enemies of black people, but for blacks multi-racials are just more folks who will hate us. More people that will take away our shine and accomplishments. Its so sad. And yes, I blame their black fathers, who hate themselves thus procreating with the enemy, then passing that self-hatred to their biracial children. Mulattos/Multi-racials, you want to have someone to hate and blame?? Blame your black father for teaching you that your black half is inferior and worthy to be hated. Don’t blame me.
I’m shocked in 2011 people are still having this debate. RACE DOES NOT EXIST! Why must we have arguments over how people classify themselves, surely there are more important things out there to discuss.
Halle Berry’s mother wasn’t wrong. This is America. As a White woman in this country she was clearly aware of how her daughter was going to be viewed, regardless of how she personally might have felt about it. It began in the home: “Look, I’m your mom, I’m White, but you’re half and your Black side wins this. That’s how it is. Know it, study it, accept it.” Sure, it may have done her a disservice according to some, who don’t accept her as a ‘Black’ woman, but that’s what she comes from, and you can either take it, or you can leave it. Because it is what it is.
I believe that Halle has quite the handle on how she self-identifies. Because of that no one can deny she is more accepted by AAs as a whole than people like Mariah or Tiger, who both refuse to self-identify as solely Black. And they all have the right to call themselves whatever they want, whether that’s to acknowledge every facet or not.
Does it affect me in my day to day as a Canadian Black woman of Caribbean descent? Nope. But it exists. And that’s enough.
This “you look black, so you’re black” argument is totally irrelevant if the mixed-race person doesn’t look black. Some mixed people I know don’t look black at all and they will not be treated as a black person, even if that’s how they choose to identify.
Oh please Mythoughts is absoluetly right! Black people are always trying to have it both ways you don’t want to claim Tiger and say f**k him yet he’s just ‘black’ enough for you to make snide jokes about and mock and gossip if he or Mariah are so ‘not’ black then why are you discussing them?! And maybe Tiger came up Cabliwhatever is because he was SICK TO DEATH of every pinhead yacking about his racial make-up as if it had anything to do with the price of a steak dinner in new York. And what he can’t bed whoever he wants and pursue whatever career he wants without worrying about the ‘man’ trying to ruin him?! That whole whiny a$$ nonsense form the media was about a bunch of very INSECURE white males who couldn’t stand to see this any part Negro busting them in their OWN sport and not only bedding their women but HOT A## white women. How much cash money you want to bet if BOTH his parents were Asian nobody and I mean nobody black folks included would be so freaking up in arms about this. Or if he were with the typical bleached blond 300 pound trailer park reject Bill Clinton isn’t black AT ALL yet a lot of black people had NO problem rsuhing to defend him but a HALF black man didn’t ‘like’ us so it’s f**k him WHAT?!!
STFU already. You haven’t walked two moons in our shoes, so shut up. WHAT?!?!?!!! yeah.
Personally, I could care less how biracial people want to identify, that is their battle. Black people in general have to learn to love themselves and shake off the “conditioning” that has been ingrained in us since coming to America. Learn to love yourselves for the people we are. Learn to be proud of all our accomplishments, learn to rejoice in the difference that is ours. If you don’t know what the accomplishments are, take some Afrocentric course at college, most of them have an African-American studies division now!!!
Why do so much hate blacks so much?, no matter how much we mix we will never breed out the black race. We come from one dark skinned man and woman, get over it.
i just wish a lot of black people would get over this light-skin dark-skin thing. It’s not just about being mixed it’s also about LOOKING mixed too. I’m light-skinned, skinny, with long hair and black people ask me if i’m mixed all the time. And when I say “no, I’m just black” they give me a look like I might be lying. Some have even gone further and asked me “are u sure?”. It’s amazing! Almost like i MUST be mixed to look like this. Black men and women associates often allude to how skinny and how small my butt is as if i’m not a real black woman because i dont have big butt. I see why this is an issue. Because black people (not all but a LOT) make it an issue. A stupid one at that. I grew up just like any other black person in America. Dealing with the same pressure and discrimination. But yet I still felt excluded from my OWN people because I’m “not black enough”, regardless of how vocal I am about community issues and how much I love my people. My grandmother even said it once, “poor baby, too white to be black and to black to be white.” CRAZY
It’s ridiculous! I have brown skin and curly hair and people always ask me if I’m mixed and when I say no, they keep insisting that they see “something else” in me. Then I have to bring up my great-great-grandparents who were white and Native American and then they are finally satisfied. Well, if we go back that far, then almost every black person in America is “mixed”! I won’t even get into the conversations about strangers asking me if my hair is real!
As being a biracial myself(black/white) if the people belieave that being biracial means being black even through our number’s are rising. Dose it mean in time we can have justice over mix our race?
McWhorter strikes again. I am a tri racial person. I am Black, White and Native. I am content in whatever that means. However, I know that even though I have light skin, light eyes, and long flowing hair that I in America I am considered by many to only have one race…BLACK. I refuse to tilt windmills to get others to see me as I really am genetically. The honest truth is that for most people with even one drop, when it is known, all bets are off . If his sounds mid Victorian to you, so be it. For many of what we call African Americans today their label would have been mulatto. This is nothing new. It isn’t special ,it isn’t tragic and it isn’t a magic carpet ride away from societies problems, it is America. What we call bi racial has always been a part of what is called the BLACK community. I don’t think most Black people want to make people anything but as another poster mentioned people are going to see what they think they see and call it that. .If there is anger it is in the visceral contempt for even the concept of blackness for a number of first generation multi-racial folks. The only difference between them and those that came before them is that now their parents have the option of marriage and perhaps thee white side of their family acknowledges their existence. Blackness is not something to be scraped off the bottom of ones shoes it is something that deserves love tenderness and respect and when it is treated in any other fashion THAT is what makes BLACK people angry. To my fellow children of the Swirl, Yes, it takes a lot of strength to live Black in America but I wouldn’t change a thing. Black is what gives America its groove and swing. To paraphrase Duke Ellington, “You ain’t got a thing if you ain’t got that swing….” That about says it all.