# People who didn't know that Ed Bradley was... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 14, 2006, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356 "2006-11-14T04:12:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/21 "2006-11-14T22:29:19Z")
Ed Bradley did not look black to me at all. I still clearly remember his debates with Al Gore during the 2000 Democratic primary, although I may have dozed off for a minute or two there. Just because he was a professional basketball player once doesn’t make him black you know. ---
**Author:** ![Monstera\_deliciosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monstera_deliciosa/32/109_2.png) [@Monstera\_deliciosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstera_deliciosa)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/22 "2006-11-14T22:42:32Z")
[QUOTE=ShibbOleth] Ed Bradley did not look black to me at all. I still clearly remember his debates with Al Gore during the 2000 Democratic primary, although I may have dozed off for a minute or two there. Just because he was a professional basketball player once doesn’t make him black you know. [/QUOTE] I’m not sure if this is a whoosh, or if you’re confusing the recently deceased journalist Ed Bradley with the former Senator Bill Bradley, who is still alive. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/23 "2006-11-14T22:43:51Z")
Until Family Guy I didn’t even wonder about The Rock’s ancestry. **Announcer voice** > [@](#): > > _(Picture of Stewie)_ One’s a baby. _(Picture of The Rock)_ and the other’s… Black, I think. At least part Black. Or… Hispanic, I think. You know, possibly there’s some Filipino in there… yeah possibly some Filipino. I mean if he - if he’s Black it’s definitely diluted. I mean one of his parents must be white. What the hell is Jessica Alba for that matter? If I were 40 years younger I would plow that till next July. And does anyone really believe the “one drop” rule? A guy I work with brought it up to explain why he’s black and not Mexican, I don’t know if he was serious or not. I’d never heard it (outside history class) until that. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/24 "2006-11-14T23:14:15Z")
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist] And does anyone really believe the “one drop” rule? A guy I work with brought it up to explain why he’s black and not Mexican, I don’t know if he was serious or not. I’d never heard it (outside history class) until that. [/QUOTE] Believe? Sure, they do. Watch the news one evening. If they describe a suspect as “light-skinned black male”, you’re hearing the one-drop rule in action. > [@gigi](#): > > But now you’re talking mixed-race people and not everyone considers them black. Vanessa Williams is as every bit as black as Ed Bradley is, at least in a social sense. Although she looks like she’s biracial, both of her parents are black (albeit light skinned). I’m not surprised about people not knowing Ed Bradley’s blackness. I have met people who did not know that Tyra Banks, Maya Rudolph, and Beyonce Knowles are black (or bearers of black DNA). Maya, I can understand. Tyra, maybe (if you’re looking at her from a million miles away). But Beyonce?!! I think the blonde weave must throw people off. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/25 "2006-11-14T23:35:07Z")
[QUOTE=ShibbOleth] Ed Bradley did not look black to me at all. I still clearly remember his debates with Al Gore during the 2000 Democratic primary, although I may have dozed off for a minute or two there. Just because he was a professional basketball player once doesn’t make him black you know. [/QUOTE] See? SEE ? You fall asleep and a seasoned journalist becomes an ex-NBA star-cum-politician. Your mother and I have begged you to stop napping after eating sweets. 😃 I spent an entire day with The Rock. I don’t mean in an auditorium, I mean sitting next to the man during lunch, cheek to jowl ( his cheeks. my jowls. ), etc. I thought he was Samoan and Samoan, not Samoan and Black. Live and learn. Sure always respected Ed Bradley. Not just cause he was a Philly boy, either. The guy earned his bones in Viet Nam, and went on to good things. -sigh- Is it possible that Anderson Cooper is this generation’s Ed Bradley?? Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/26 "2006-11-15T00:21:38Z")
[Harold Ford](http://www.tfcd.org/wp-content/images/2006_campaign/us_senate/ford.png) doesn’t look black to me. Also actress [Stacey Dash](http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/6836/stacey4qg.jpg), though it depends on the picture. I’ll swear I saw her in a movie where I thought she was white, but I can’t remember what movie it was. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/27 "2006-11-15T01:38:39Z")
Oops, I think I may have gotten Stacey Dash confused with [Lacey Chabert](http://www.onebee.com/_images/c/lacey_chabertT.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/28 "2006-11-15T03:09:41Z")
Wow, all the people mentioned in this thread register as black to my eyes. I could understand why Lena and Harold may slip under the radar, but Ed? He’s not that ambiguous to me. Maybe it sometimes takes one to know one. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/29 "2006-11-15T03:15:40Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad] …the thing that gives it away is usually the hair/skintone combo, and Ed Bradley fit into that department from my observations. [/QUOTE] Damn, I just figured he was up all night with his curling iron to get that 'do. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/30 "2006-11-15T03:16:11Z")
[QUOTE=Cartooniverse] -sigh- Is it possible that Anderson Cooper is this generation’s Ed Bradley?? Cartooniverse [/QUOTE] Anderson Cooper is Black? ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/31 "2006-11-15T04:12:53Z")
Man, how strange this thread is. Yep, Ed Bradley was Black, and busted down so many barriers by sheer talent, strength, and decency. I want to give him that great due, as a Black journalist who busted down the walls as a maverick and let others follow suit. ---
**Author:** ![Opus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Opus1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opus1)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/32 "2006-11-15T07:08:54Z")
This thread has gone on this far without anyone posting [this](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/34052) link yet? For shame people, for shame. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/33 "2006-11-15T07:30:14Z")
Alright, I’m getting confused, because I would not have been able to tell that some of the people listed above were black. Rashida Jones, whoever she is, is considered black? Maya Rudolph? Now I’m not sure what I think – maybe it wasn’t so silly that people couldn’t tell that Bradley was black. And even though I gave **Sattua** a hard time about it before, maybe it is good in a way that some people can’t tell? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/34 "2006-11-15T07:36:58Z")
Maya Rudolph’s mother was the later singer [Minnie Riperton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnie_Riperton), and musician Dick Rudolph, who is white. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/35 "2006-11-15T09:08:18Z")
[QUOTE=kittenblue] . . . I will also admit to not knowing that the current mayor of Cleveland is black, until after his election…have seen him on the news for years, where he was known as a man of few words…he was mostly this guy standing in the background of shots of the more vocal members of City Council. [/QUOTE] Yeah, some of us are still not quite sure about him. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/36 "2006-11-15T13:36:16Z")
[QUOTE=Rodgers01] Alright, I’m getting confused, because I would not have been able to tell that some of the people listed above were black. Rashida Jones, whoever she is, is considered black? [/QUOTE] Her father is [Quincy Jones](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005065/) and her mother is [Peggy Lipton](http://www.imdb.com/gallery/mptv/1339/Mptv/1339/9731_0040.jpg.html?path=pgallery&path_key=Lipton,%20Peggy). She’s considered as black as anyone with one black parent and one white one, I guess, but if I hadn’t known who her father was, I suppose I would have assumed she was white. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/37 "2006-11-15T13:46:15Z")
[QUOTE=Rodgers01] And even though I gave **Sattua** a hard time about it before, maybe it is good in a way that some people can’t tell? [/QUOTE] It doesn’t have to be good or bad. “Looking black” just means you have some phenotypic features that speak to an African ancestry. That’s not a bad thing; it is what it is. The one-drop rule, in and of itself, itsn’t a bad thing either. What made it bad was what it was used for. But it’s as valid as any other rule for assigning race, since these rules are all arbitrary anyway. At least that’s how I see it. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/38 "2006-11-15T14:22:40Z")
[QUOTE=monstro] Vanessa Williams is as every bit as black as Ed Bradley is, at least in a social sense. Although she looks like she’s biracial, both of her parents are black (albeit light skinned). [/QUOTE] No, I know, I was talking about The Rock or Rashida Jones, or Jennifer Beals. I go with the “social sense” of black too, especially after Halle Berry’s anecdote\*, but not everyone would, even the person themself (a la Tiger Woods 😉 ). \*her white mom had her look in the mirror and tell her what she saw, and when she said a black woman, her mom said that’s what the world will see too, so be proud of being black. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/39 "2006-11-15T14:35:58Z")
The Rock is black? Samoan genes must be very dominant, if you ask me. _scratches her head in confusion_ > [@Bobotheoptimist](#): > > And does anyone really believe the “one drop” rule? A guy I work with brought it up to explain why he’s black and not Mexican, I don’t know if he was serious or not. I’d never heard it (outside history class) until that. That guy’s assertions are wrong on so many levels it ain’t funny. If you read “Mexican” as nationality, you can be any color and be Mexican. “Mexican” as a race/ancestry/cultural group, again you can be any color and be Mexican. “Mexican” as “Hispanic” (said by the kind of people who ask “are people from Spain Hispanic?” or, even worse, claim that “people from Spain aren’t Latinos”), ditto… ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356/40 "2006-11-15T14:50:00Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] That guy’s assertions are wrong on so many levels it ain’t funny… [/QUOTE] To be fair to the guy, though, most Americans do the same thing when it comes to Latino nationalities. And I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone treat Puerto Rican as if it were race. The Rock is another person I’m surprised people can’t spot as black. Dude looks like straight up family to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-didnt-know-that-ed-bradley-was/380356.md?page=3)