I never thought much about it before, and I’m not offended personally, but I do wonder why people who are 50/50 (half caucasion and half minority of choice) still refer to themselves as the minority. Why doesn’t it seem like the caucasion in that person ever gets equal billing?
Well, it’s like paint. If you mix some white and some green to make a lighter green, it’s still green, not whiter. There were some fairly irrational people back in the day who argued that any amount of non-white blood made the person non-white.
Notice how little press there is about Tiger Woods being half-asian?
I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that for so many years most “white” people (who set the sociopolitical agenda, sad to say) would identify any apparently mixed-race person as “black” or some equivalent. Self-identification of such individuals is partly a (probably rarely conscious) product of this historical forced identification.
I am told things are a bit different in, say, Brazil, which has a tradition of more subtle and complex terminology.
I agree that it seems a little strange that so many people identify, say, Halle Berry as black, as she would herself.
But where would you draw the line? Few “African-Americans” are without some “white” ancestry – this is obvious if you compare many of them, physically, to many “true” Africans.
Because they know that it’s going to be very hard for them to find an American (of any race) to accept them as white? If you look mixed, a lot of people aren’t going to be okay with you claiming to just be white. Saying white and other race will work, but just plain white probably isn’t going to fly in most areas. In another thread, I told the story of my cousin who looks white, but still gets called racial slurs because people know he’s really mixed race. That’s just the way it is.
Yeah, Uncommon, I think you’ve got it backwards. American society treats people of mixed race as minorities. Ergo, what else are they going to call themselves?
–Cliffy
Because being “half-white” doesn’t mean you only get half as discriminated against as someone who’s “all” black. Self-identity is important, sure, but the label that matters the most is the one that’s put on you by someone who wants to beat you down.
A lot of the way people experience their race is how they get treated for it.
Take me, for example. My great-grandfather was Korean, so theoretically I’m mixed race. (Like most people, I’d venture to suppose.) However, I’m not perceived as anything other than white, meaning I do not suffer systemic racism in this country. I don’t usually choose to identify my race, but when it’s relevant in some way – for example, in the case of affirmative action or whatnot – I don’t identify myself as mixed race or visible minority because I haven’t suffered any discrimination relevant to my race.
My mom, naturally, has a greater share of Korean descent than I do, and has somewhat stronger Korean traits than I. One time someone asked if she was Yoko Ono, and the other day someone asked if she was Aboriginal, and that’s about it. She has a slightly stronger claim on being a visible minority than I do, but AFAIK she doesn’t choose to identify this way.
My grandmother might (after all, she is half-Korean, and it’s fairly visible); I don’t know if she does.
All this to say that probably the thing that most strongly affects how a person identifies is how others perceive them; this, after all, is what causes them to suffer racism.
Mixed people rarely call themselves white because white has historically been treated as an “all or nothing” trait in this country. Contrast that with black, which is a trait that historically has required only one drop of blood for qualification.
White people shouldn’t be offended that a mixed person identifies as non-white. The race labeling system was not created by mixed folks. It was created by the white establishment as way to affirm racial supremacy through the notion of purity.
Excellently put.
As you with the face mentioned, it’s the old “one drop rule” coming into effect.
We have that terminology in English as well, though for whatever reason calling people a “quadroon,” “octoroon,” or “mulatto” is seen as unfashionable (if not derogatory) in the US, while I guess it’s not in Brazil.
There are some dark-skinned blacks who would disagree with you on that account; light-skinned blacks are still thought to be given preferential treatment. A black friend of mine told me that whenever a baby was born in her family, her grandmother would go over and appraise who light-skinned they were going to be. She claimed this was common practice in most African-American families.
I would argue that calling mixed-raced people the minority race is not necessarily a sign of beating anyone down; nowadays it’s mostly just a linguistic convention inherited from people who did, in fact, want to beat you down.
I can’t imagine why.
You should probably ask the fathers of the girls I’ve dated.
That because, as reported on The Chapelle Show, the black delegation drafted Woods and he’s 100% black now. The Asian delegation did get the entire Wu Tang Clan, which was a bit of a surprise.
Funny Skit
There is no reason on earth to take offense but I wonder where is the line these day. Do people consider Derek Jeter or Mariah Carey to be black or white or mixed or Derek Jeter & Mariah Carey? I go with the last option.
I admit I think of Tiger as the barrier breaking ½ Black & ½ Asian. I think of him this way because Golf had always seemed so Wonder Bread Waspy White that within my lifetimes many clubs didn’t allow Blacks or Hispanics or Jews and probably discouraged Catholics. I feel he broke down gates and let a lot of people in.
Most times I think of individuals as themselves and save color for a group.
I guess the entire issue is still very confused.
Jim
But probably in the exact same way a white grandmother might go over to a new baby and appraise how light-haired she’s going to be.
Do they do that? 
I mean, every aspect of every baby gets commented on at some point by the relatives (she’s got her daddy’s eyes, her mom’s hair, her grandpa’s nose…), but I’ve never heard of white grandparents doing that in the same way that my friend made it sound that grandparents check out how light the kid’s skin is…
Gotta admit, it kinda bugs me when Tiger Woods is called black, because that’s not what he calls himself. I think the individual should have greater right then anyone else to apply labels. Related to this is any movie that contains some variant on the concept of “don’t forget who you are and where you came from.” It undermines individual choice.
No, not the exact same way. Black folks’ historical obsession with “good hair” and light skin really is a different animal than white folks’ love of blonde hair.
No, not really. A lot of white people are born with blonde hair that darkens significantly as they age, ususally well before puberty. Up until I was seven or eight, I had light blonde hair. Almost overnight, it turned its current dark brown. You can’t really tell what color hair a white person is going to have as an adult by what they have as a kid.
I would think sometimes it might depend on where they grew up. My mom is Italian, and my dad is Puerto Rican. I feel more Hispanic than anything because I grew up in a Hispanic town and I grew up with all my Hispanic cousins etc.
I look white though. When most people ask me what I am I do include both sides.