Why is it that a half-white and half black person always claim they are black? This IS NOT RACIAL, a serious..

Question

social question which should be explored and I would like serious answers from academics.

Answer 1

I wonder if it is simply because they are closer to the side of the family who is black. I am definitly closer to my mom and her side of my family. If she were black I would say I was black because I would relate to that side of the family more. I don't know if all mixed raced people pick that way, but it makes the most since to me. Very interesting question, but I would like to see the statistics on how many people choose a specific race when the are from mixed parents.

Answer 2

I remember something in an Anthro class about a one drop rule.  This was some rule in our recent past that stated if you had one drop of African blood you were considered black.  This was based on the racist history of the US and is something that has yet to be course corrected.

Answer 3

My best friend is mixed with black and white and as long as we have been friends she has claimed to be black. The reson for that is.............when she goes places people dont see a white girl or an indian girl. They a black girl. She knows that her mother is white and she loves her and respects her. But she also knows that her daddy is black and his skin color took the majority and she will claim that.

Answer 4

I have a friend like that he doesnt claim to be black he says that he is mexican and no one questions him or laughs at him or gives him any racial grief.

Answer 5

Society labels them as black. As long as you have an ounce of blk in you youre considered black.

Answer 6

In the Early 1800's when white men were secretly fathering children by the slave women, it was kept a secret if the features didn't tell. Society felt black was an inferior race. If you had black in you you were shunned.  At the same time, in spite of this, accepted by the black culture with open arms.  In my experience this still happens today.  Other cultures aren't so ready to accept a person mixed with black, whereas the black culture still accepts them with open arms.  Loyalty  usually lies where there is acceptance and love.  Growing up mixed with Italian and black, I was accepted and raised by my black culture, whereas my Italian relatives disowned us because we were half black. Though I have a very fair complexion, I do consider myself black because of this.

Answer 7

It has something to do with the "one-drop" of blood rule. According to this rule that dates back to the era of slave trade, a white person whose lineage has even only one black is considered a black. "One drop" refers to the single incident in a family or lineage of white people where a white ancestor intermarries with a black person. This, I am afraid, had led to a modern view that mixed people are black.

Answer 8

You should read the poem 'half-caste' by John Agard, a mixed race poet who lived in the UK for the majority of his adult life. A mixed race individual living in an a largely white country will be seen as black more often than mixed-race. I have a mixed race friend who has always lived in England, her mother is white British, but she regularly has to deal with insults from people who think she is black. It depends which features of the parents are passed onto the mixed race child, wider nostrils, larger lips and afro-hair for example, are major reasons why a mixed race person might be seen as being just a black person.

Edit: Thought this might be interesting: My friends cousin is often mistaken for being asian despite having a black grandfather, mixed-race mother (black and caucasian) and an other wise caucasian family.

Answer 9

It is simply because that is the side that they feel they can IDENTIFY with more.Some white people make biracial people feel like they aren't welcome and black people are pretty warm and accepting towards people.Some white people view themselves as being above biracial people and other people.

It is simply because that is the side that accepts them for who they are.

Answer 10

Years ago for the purpose of establishing the number of representatives an area could have, slaves and blacks were weighed in at a percentage of whites. like 2 blacks would equal 1 white, etc. At that time, it became necessary to determine what percentage of black would make a person black or white. 51% or more white heritage made a person white, less and they were considered to be black.

Answer 11

I don't know about now but when I was a kid in the 50's  the law stated that even if you were 1/8 (one eighth) black and 7/8 (seven eighths) white you had to declare your race as black. I know that as recent as 1990 it was still the law in some states.

Answer 12

i think its because we are clearly not white there for as some people would say we are coloured, and then from that people just derive that we are black. it seems alot easier to say am black more so than am white, as iam clearly not white.

thats what i think anyway

Answer 13

I think "back in the day" black folks were  generally more accepting - they could relate to the rejection that the person must have feet.

Answer 14

i think society really has labeled the person as black, i am mixed and have never claimed just to be black nor white, but society has labeled me always as black even though i was raised by the caucasion side of my family,

Answer 15

"The Culture of Critique," Dr. Kevin MacDonald, a professor in California, puts forth a somewhat controversial theory that minority groups tend to band together and favor themselves, when possible.

Being somewhat more African in a Caucasian-majority society, which doesn't particularly find a lot of value in perceived "nastier" African-American stereotypic behaviors, tends therefore to encourage a "half and half" to bond or agree with the minority group, which typically has a more focused agenda against its perceived oppression, than would the majority, who typically have a broader, less-intensely focused position of aggression toward the "disliked" minority.

Answer 16

I'm blaxican, (half-black, half-mexican), and like some of the answers that one-drop rule if you look black and have black, well you ARE black.

Personally I don't see it that way, i'm blaxican, i'm half mexican from my mom and half black from my dad, and if people ask me what i am i'll tell em exactly that, I don't care if i look mongolian I respect both my parent's heritage, color, whatever, I don't claim to be just one stank color.  

A lot of that seems to be based on just appearance, but that will be everyone else's ignorance and my own self-awareness.