# Generally speaking, are mixed race people eligible for the minority card? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 19, 2018, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099 "2018-02-19T04:01:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/1 "2018-02-19T04:01:59Z")
My question is hard to explain, but… Does the “ethnic minority” label only go for single-race minorities? Or are mixed race people eligible enough to get the race card and even act “opressed”? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/2 "2018-02-19T04:06:58Z")
This is better suited for IMHO than General Questions. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/3 "2018-02-19T04:09:08Z")
It’s not an act. ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/4 "2018-02-19T04:10:32Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > It’s not an act. Some people do make it out to be an act. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/5 "2018-02-19T04:12:45Z")
> **[One-drop rule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule)** > > The one-drop rule was a legal principle of racial classification that was prominent in the 20th-century United States. It asserted that any person with even one ancestor of black ancestry ("one drop" of "black blood") is considered black (Negro or colored in historical terms). It is an example of hypodescent, the automatic assignment of children of a mixed union between different socioeconomic or ethnic groups to the group with the lower status, regardless of proportion of ancestry in diffe Th... ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/6 "2018-02-19T04:15:00Z")
In case no one else wants to tell you, the way you phrased this is rather offensive. I mean, unless you’re not aware that there’s no actual card. ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/7 "2018-02-19T04:15:52Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > [One-drop rule - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule) I did hear actually about this once… ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/8 "2018-02-19T04:17:17Z")
> [@lorene](#): > > In case no one else wants to tell you, the way you phrased this is rather offensive. > > I mean, unless you’re not aware that there’s no actual card. I am technically mixed race, thought why not spew the question out How though? The thing is I never see any vocality on mixed race groups. Mixed race bunch are just another left out group, kind of like hermaphrodites, bisexuals, people with schizophrenia, etc ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/9 "2018-02-19T04:17:43Z")
> [@Luciano700](#): > > My question is hard to explain, but… > Does the “ethnic minority” label only go for single-race minorities? Or are mixed race people eligible enough to get the race card and even act “opressed”? I’m not sure what you mean by putting scare quotes around oppressed, or by the term “race card,” as if being a minority was in general beneficial. Mixed-race people don’t generally put themselves in the minority category. They are put in that category by the larger society. Biracial people of with black and white parents are generally categorized as black in American society. (They may be categorized otherwise in other societies.) My niece and nephew are bi-racial. Their father is black, from Guyana in South America. My sister is white (Irish-German). I believe they self-identify as black, because American society regards them as black (just as it does Barack Obama). They may receive some benefits from institutions such as universities or businesses wishing to seek diversity. Not being them, I am not sure if that is outweighed by discrimination due to their skin color imposed by the larger society. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_a\_Platypus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Not\_a\_Platypus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_a_Platypus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/10 "2018-02-19T04:18:21Z")
Leaving your questionable wording aside… It depends on the race mixture and who you ask. A black/white mix can get hate from both black and white people for being both black and yet not black enough. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/11 "2018-02-19T04:19:27Z")
> [@Luciano700](#): > > I am technically mixed race, thought why not spew the question out Do you play the “race card,” since you can? If not, why not? > [@](#): > > How though? The thing is I never see any vocality on mixed race groups. I have no idea what this means. ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/12 "2018-02-19T04:22:45Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Do you play the “race card,” since you can? If not, why not? > > I have no idea what this means. Is kind of funny, because I barely do this shit. But I been putting in more effort lately. That and using my autism as another attention-seeking card for that matter too. I think I see a similar situation with bisexuals and people with high functioning autism. By “vocality” like more speaking on them, that’s all. ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/13 "2018-02-19T04:25:13Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I’m not sure what you mean by putting scare quotes around oppressed, or by the term “race card,” as if being a minority was in general beneficial. > > Mixed-race people don’t generally put themselves in the minority category. They are put in that category by the larger society. Biracial people of with black and white parents are generally categorized as black in American society. (They may be categorized otherwise in other societies.) > > My niece and nephew are bi-racial. Their father is black, from Guyana in South America. My sister is white (Irish-German). I believe they self-identify as black, because American society regards them as black (just as it does Barack Obama). They may receive some benefits from institutions such as universities or businesses wishing to seek diversity. Not being them, I am not sure if that is outweighed by discrimination due to their skin color imposed by the larger society. Even then at the same time it seems as if mullatos are the only biracial group America fetishizes. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/14 "2018-02-19T04:29:41Z")
You realize, I hope, that even using the usual American definition for “races”, almost all “black” Americans and a fair many “white” Americans are mixed race? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/15 "2018-02-19T04:31:28Z")
> [@Luciano700](#): > > Some people do make it out to be an act. Would that be the ones who get beaten to death, or the ones who get shot? ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/16 "2018-02-19T04:41:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > You realize, I hope, that even using the usual American definition for “races”, almost all “black” Americans and a fair many “white” Americans are mixed race? Right, most of America doesn’t accept it that way. My dad of Mexico is white and my mom from Argentina she’s I think not Native American, but they’re similar to Native Americans. I forget the name. I think she’s a Pardo, but I am not too sure. ---
**Author:** ![Luciano700](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Luciano700](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luciano700)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/17 "2018-02-19T04:42:48Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Would that be the ones who get beaten to death, or the ones who get shot? Idk, are mixed race people as likely to be brutally treated? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/18 "2018-02-19T04:51:16Z")
> [@Luciano700](#): > > Idk, are mixed race people as likely to be brutally treated? In the eyes of the racists of the world, people who can’t pass as white aren’t white, and they treat them just as poorly as people who consider themselves non-white and non-mixed. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_a\_Platypus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Not\_a\_Platypus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_a_Platypus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/19 "2018-02-19T04:53:20Z")
> [@Luciano700](#): > > I think I see a similar situation with bisexuals and people with high functioning autism. Are you trying to say bisexuals and people with high-functioning autism are both… using these qualities to seek attention? Like, they’re just attention whores? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099/20 "2018-02-19T05:05:39Z")
> [@Luciano700](#): > > I am technically mixed race [Technically?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zae8U1321ew) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-are-mixed-race-people-eligible-for-the-minority-card/809099.md?page=2)