... the other Black experience
who is black?
i have my own opinions on this subject & have tried to use famous people to illustrate my point. my opinion that blackness is both in the eye of the beholder AND innate - originate with the "one drop" law in this country (one drop of black blood & you're black) and end with the fact that i'm tri-racial. i'm curious about what YOU think, AP. how many generations do you have to go back to be black in america in 2010. are mixed people black even if they don't claim their blackness like THAT (ie tiger woods)? what about latinos/west indians with one black grandparent (ie rosario dawson, sean paul)? are dominicans that look black, but don't necessarily claim blackness first - black (ie zoe saldana)? what about REAL dark east indians or mixed east indian/afro-caribbean people (ie chili from tlc/supercat) or native/afro-caribbean for that matter? how much does SKIN COLOR play in blackness? are there DEGREES of blackness or is it an ALL or NOTHING thing? do you have to CLAIM blackness or is it just what you ARE? let the discussion begin...
Tags: afro-caribbean, black, blackness, east, hispanic, indian, latino, mixed, native, race, More…
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Q.A.Bradford on -
That may be true -- I call myself African-American, but it doesn't stop the ignoramus on the corner from saying "you're black you African booty scratcher!". Though I cringe that the term exists and that people say it, it does correlate the black racial grouping and its African geo-political originator. So although Berbers and Algerian peoples will identify themselves as non-black Africans, Kwame Nkrumah and American Black studies departments will be the primary places that will be giving them value -- lest they confuse you with middle eastern terrorists or illegal Mexican immigrants.
angie1340 said:African people don't really called themselves black, but, red, brown, coffee, milk coffee... When I was studding Amharic I learn a lot of words for skin colors. Is black who called himself black at least.
In fact I was speaking about, pre-Arabic history, then before money-wise. Like numidians times .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numidians.
-
Permalink Reply by FNJ on -
WEEEELL.....I dont think it matters how you see yourself...coz thats not going to change how other people see you. whether you dentify as black, white, blue or green, you can't dictate how other people decide to categorize you, it's just a question of whether you're content with you're own self identity or if you're struggling to select on of the boxes that someone feels the need for you to pick...and man alive do some people like to whip out that list of boxes
-
Permalink Reply by Kyler Jones on -
According ti Wikipedia....
"The term black people usually refers to a racial group of humans with skin colors that range from light brown to nearly black. It is also used to categorize a number of diverse populations together based on historical and prehistorical ancestral relationships. Some definitions of the term include only people of relatively recent Sub Saharan African descent (see African diaspora). Among the members of this group, brown skin is most often accompanied by the expression of natural afro-hair texture. Other definitions of the term "black people" extend to any of the populations characterized by dark skin, a definition that also includes certain populations in Oceania and Southeast Asia.[1][2]."
According to Your Dictionary...
" 2.a. designating or of any of the dark-skinned traditional inhabitants of sub-Saharan Africa, Australia, or Melanesia or their descendants in other parts of the world"
Basically people who fit into this category, which is actually most of the American population. But people who are actually called "Black" contain the following ethnic features: wide/roundish noses, curly,kinky or afro textured hair, full lips.light to dark skintone, basically. Not all blacks have all of these features. But most blacks do have at least one.
-
Permalink Reply by 20something on -
I think if you are one-quarter or more black, you are black. This is why Mariah Carey doesn't call herself white, even though there are obvious reasons she could get away with it...
-
Permalink Reply by Oba Richards on -
Um Any of you black folk breath AIR?
or eat food and the body turns it in to fuel to do shit, like walk?
Do any of you stand in the sun at least once a week to get recharged?
Cause I get emotionally disturbed be none of those boxes say "Air Breather"
That FUCKS with me
just asking
-
Permalink Reply by Golem_3 on -
Oba Richards said:
you know, you can actually WRITE that shit in the empty spaces (of the Census questionaires).Cause I get emotionally disturbed be none of those boxes say "Air Breather"
That FUCKS with me
just asking
You're not obligated to mark "x" in the "Black" race box.
Why people get so emotional over the shit.
The government is actually giving all of us the OPTION to describe whatever we choose.
You can say you're a Vulcan or a Wookie.
how bout that!
-
Permalink Reply by kifaru on -
That is actually very poetic. Change the misspelled words and put that on a T-Shirt and you could sell a million. You rhyme P3? HIt me with some of your stuff.
Poetry Power Pistols said:further you can't de-categorize yourself out of their pre-categorizational terms to escape the inevitable injustice you'll face including criminal profiling and low-balled sallaries for us "professionals"(even if your a sellout).
Frances Neo Johnston said:WEEEELL.....I dont think it matters how you see yourself...coz thats not going to change how other people see you. whether you dentify as black, white, blue or green, you can't dictate how other people decide to categorize you, it's just a question of whether you're content with you're own self identity or if you're struggling to select on of the boxes that someone feels the need for you to pick...and man alive do some people like to whip out that list of boxes
-
Permalink Reply by kifaru on
-
Black people need to stop trying to force (convince) people who don't to be black to accept black as a category for them. I'm black I have no problem with someone who to me is black to say "No, I'm not like you in that respect". It bothers me (now as opposed to back in the day) no more than someone wanting to fuzzy slippers when they go out in the streets.
-
Permalink Reply by Verbal Kent on -
I was raised on BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL...many people are gonna tell you what you are, but I absolutley think it matters what YOU think of yourself. Black people in this country (my city, town whateva) distance themselves from non Black people with the intention of finding themselves but look at their people through those very same eyes they distance themselves from.
Life is full of contradictions hah...
Any civilized person SHOULD be conscious of how they are percieved by others but not to the point where they lose K.O.S.
especially us...
I have quite a few friends of mixed ethnicity & my advice....HAVE A BALL!!! you have a number of cultures to embrace but just because the people who have the same ("pure" i guess) ethnicity may or may not have an ignorant opinion about mixed race (particularly those with melanin magic) doesn't mean you gotta feed into that, it's no different from someone saying you're an idiot after you make a incomprehensible comment - yes it may appear idiotic to them...but FUCK them man, if it makes sense to you then FUCK them man...idontknow
-
Permalink Reply by angie1340 on -
? remember this categorization by nuances of black , all those words, metis, mulatto and so on, had been created in the times of slavery, it use to be a kind of scale, like one drop law, when people came from 8 (i'm not sure of this number) generations of "white mixed" they got free from slavery. White people almost forgot those facts, but not black, I remember some vacations in Guadeloupe @ my step family, Ho my G!! never met people as racist as those. I didn't expect that so much words and colors could exist for black skins. Well it can be positive, when it came from natives, like in Africans countries, where those differences seems more esthetic's values. As non black African I'm just fade up with those kind of discussion, because for me it's as important as a hair or eyes color. When some one is a dumped it's never a question of color!
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- …
- 4
- 5
- 6
- Next ›
Lianne La Havas - Is Your Love...?
Featured
From The Community
Afro-Punk Merchandise
Davi
Latest Activity
© 2012 Created by Matthew.
Powered by
