I was just wondering what you guys thought about this. We ere having his discussion in the office and many people refer to Obama as our black president, but in reality he is 50% black and 50% white, When someone is mixed race do you just pick one of the races and identify them by that? It seems as though to be considered white you have to be 100% caucasian, so even if you have slightly asian, african or hispanic features then you arent considered white.
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I think most people that are biracial or a mixed race tend to identify themselves as more one race than another. DH refers to pres Obama as black, I refer to him as being biracial. When you're just looking at someone you often can't tell their background. To look at pres Obama, without knowing his background, I would have said he appears black, but because his background is one that is common knowledge, I feel comfortable saying he's biracial. If you're not sure, you just stick with what you an see.
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I usually try to go by what the person identifies as. For instance, even though President Obama is biracial, he checks off African-American on the census (not mixed race). Halle Berry is biracial as well and identifies as a black woman.
If I don't know what the person identifies as, I just pick the race they most look like or if they obviously look biracial or then I call them what I think they look like. If that makes sense.
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I think this has roots in the "one drop" rule, whereby anyone with a "drop" of Black ancestry is considered Black. I do agree that if someone is biracial, people tend to identify that person by their non-Caucasian background, whether it's Asian, Hispanic, etc.
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Well President Obama refers to himself as Black and self-identifies as Black. Maybe that's why so many folks refer to him as black as well as Hilsy85 mentions the one drop rule.
I think it all has to do with phenotype. You don't see folks saying Cameron Diaz is Latina altho her dad is Cuban or Christina Aguilera etc. Whereas Jessica Alba is always considered Latina and she's mixed.
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I once heard someone say Obama was just as much our 44th white president as he is our first black president and I thought that was an interesting way of looking at it. I identify him as biracial, but find it interesting that he self identifies as African-American when he was raised by his white parent.
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@MamaMoose: well when you look at him, i don't think you would assume his parent is white, hence i think for many biracial folks their identities can be influenced by how they are perceived by the world around them etc.
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I read an article about identifying races and it talked about how people are identified as being the race they have the most characteristics from, which made sense, and that's why people identify with that race.
I'm half Asian and half white, but I really do consider myself just white since that's the culture I self-identify with.
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You remember that this country used to have a 1 drop rule. I think kids that are half black or more tend to identify as black.
Now I don't know how M. is going to identify, but we're definitely going to emphasize all her different backgrounds. She looks Asian more than anything, I think... but people often think of her as Hispanic or Native as well. No one has ever picked AA as part of her background, which makes me sad.
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@hilsy85: Great minds, baby! I said the same thing before I read through all the comments
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@MamaMoose: While that's technically true, in the context of our culture, it's not really. People are only considered white when they aren't another race as well, OR if they can "pass" as white.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_drop_rule
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passing_(racial_identity)While I think it's great to acknowledge and celebrate biracial and multiracial individuals for all of their ethnicities, it's just not a societal reality to say you are white if you don't look it, so it makes it easier for people to identify as their minority race.
Mamamoose, my mom takes offense that Obama identifies himself so much as African-American when his white mother raised him. This is because she is the white mother of biracial children, and I think she sees us as just as white as she is. It's hard for someone who hasn't lived it to understand, so I have stopped to trying to convince her that he didn't really choose it for himself, and that there is nothing wrong with him embracing the proud cultural tradition of African-Americans. Doesn't make him any less her son!
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@daniellemybelle: I definitely agree there is nothing wrong with him embracing his AA culture. I think it's great that he has done so even without his AA parent being a big part of his life. But I totally understand your mother's point of view. If I were Obama's mom I think I would hope that he would identify as biracial rather than as black. But maybe she just identified him as her son and that's all the mattered : )
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Obama may also refer to himself as black versus biracial because it has been his Segway into the African American homes more. Also his wife is black, so he may just identify more into that culture. African Americans have more culture and cultural roots than a lot of white Anglo people anyways. I know I am mostly German but am "meh" about celebrating my German history versus the Asian parts of me
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The thing is I dont think people would like to hear him call himself white. But they are ok if he calls himself black. I know many white people that dont care that his mom is white and still see him as a black person. I guess the one drop rule still applies for many peope
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People are ignorant. Most view Tiger Woods as black, but he is half Thai too.
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@MamaMoose: Interestingly, his dad was African and not AA. This triggered debate when he first ran for President about whether or not he had a shared experience with the AA community.
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@mrbee: Very true, tiger woods is a good example
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People are amazingly ignorant. I wish that none of this even ever had to come up, but that's obviously not reality.
I have a bonus son who is 4 and my bio son who is 3 months old. My bonus son is fair skinned with light hair and my bio son has darker skin, hair, and eyes. Do you know that at least 5 people have asked me if they have different fathers? I'm always appalled by the question. I love telling them no, but a couple times people have said "well he's not white". My husband is half Peruvian and they both look the exact same except for their coloring. I want to slap people. For what it's worth me and bonus sons bio-mom look like exactly alike (except I'm cuter).
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@mrbee: I don't recall if this was an issue in the AA community, or for those outside of it? The term African-American is generally inclusive of all Black Americans regardless of their heritage... or at least that's how my AA husband and in-laws view it. They have dear friends that are African immigrants and they consider them just as AA as they are, because they have a shared experience of being Black in America.
Perhaps I am overly sensitive, but I don't get why it should be a problem for Obama to own being an African-American, full stop. It's as if by interjecting, "But he's white too!" folks are trying to lessen his accomplishment of becoming the first Black president.
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DS is biracial but most often is referred to as "white". He is very light skinned and most people just assume he's gotten a good tan. He also has very light brown hair that is the same soft thin texture as mine. It does not bother me when people refer to him as "white". I usually just go with what a person associates themself with.
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@daniellemybelle: I remember this being an issue, my husband is west- African so I followed this closely, many AA figures like even Jesse jackson werent really supporting obama in the beginning, they claimed he didnt understand what it was like to be a slave descendant and go through segregation and civil rights movements like African americans and that Obama being the son of a non american african meant he didnt really understand their struggle. I also know that in the black community some people still distinguish between african americans who are slave descentdants and africans who immigrated here willingly. It shouldnt be like that but it is. Often times african immigrants who have naturalized and even their kids who were born here are looked down on as being less american than african american slave descendants
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@mrbee: Tiger Woods has been the butt of many jokes because of his term "Cablinasian." I don't think of Tiger Woods as being Black only because of how he self-identifies.
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@mrsjazz: I would guess that most ppl aren't aware of his Cablinasian self identity? Could be wrong tho.
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@Mrsbells: that's how I remember it too!
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@mrbee: It was pretty big thing back in the 90s (I think late 90s). Tiger got a lot of backlash in the AA/Black community for saying that he wasn't black. He said on Oprah that it bothered him to be called AA because it didn't reflect all of him, so he coined Cablinasian.
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@mrsjazz: Yah I've been a Tiger fan since Stanford. Was referring to the general public's knowledge...
I don't think the average person is aware that Tiger is predominantly Asian?
http://articles.cnn.com/2002-05-14/world/talkasia.woods.transcript_1_tiger-woods-thai-blood
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@junebugmama: My sister and I got that all the time growing up.
We have the same mother and the same father, but I'm very fair skinned with red hair and freckles, and she has olive skin with brown hair and almond shaped hooded eyes.
People asked all the time if we had the same father, which we found very offensive.We have both Irish/Scottish and Native American heritage, I took after one and she took after the other. Simple as that.
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To the original question. It saddens me that we as a nation place SO much emphasis on race and the color of our skin. I know I won't be able to shield any of it from M particularly because she is bi-racial. But I hope to raise her to know that the color of her skin is NOT what identifies her.
@blackbird: Very interesting for me to hear you say this since M will be half German/Irish and chinese. Do you think that it's because of how you were raised? Did your family celebrate/embrace more of the Asian culture than Germsn?
Admittedly there are more "Asian" holidays than Germsn. The only one I can think of that's exclusively German is Okoberfest!
Anyway, I really hope our daughter will identify with both cultures.
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This frustrates me in our household, it's a battle that I think I'll be fighting alone however.
My step-daughters are bi-racial, my husband is Irish American, his ex-wife is Japanese/Korean, their two daughters look more Japanese than anything else. She tells everyone who asks that they're Japanese, the girls refer to themselves as Japanese as well. It drives me bonkers. My DH isn't Japanese and had a big role in bringing them into this world. So it seems his American and Irish heritage is just tossed aside and it's all about hers, but she doesn't acknowledge the Korean part.
I don't think I'll ever get over that.
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i think it's natural to pick one thing and identify with that, I am not of mixed race but I don't really identify with my European ethnicity. I have an Italian first name and a Swiss last name, and when people ask me where I am from, I say I am American. It confuses people, but always leads to a discussion, which is the important part, I think.
Oh, and WRT to POTUS and FLOTUS, I think they're doing a fabulous job and are role models to people all over the world. Race aside, they've raised the bar on what it means to be working parents and devoted spouses. We can all take a lesson from them.
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I agree with Looch, people generally pick what they more identify themselves with. I don't think there's anything wrong with that and I personally hate how everyone seems to have an opinion about what it is people choose. Being true to your roots is one thing, but people also have a right to identify themselves with whatever culture/nationality/ethnicity they're comfortable with.
I'm Filipino but in actuality I have a lot of Spanish ancestry from both sides of my family (pretty common for a lot of Filipinos) and some Chinese and a great-great grandma somewhere that was from England. But I don't associate myself with anything else but being Filipino since 1) I assume most Filipinos have a similar background anyways 2) I'm afraid ppl will think I'm trying to be less Filipino by acknowledging anything else - which sucks, because it's the opposite of being "proud of your roots" - exactly what the people that are quick to criticize claim you're not doing
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@MamaMoose: Agreed! I find that weird!
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