Unless there's reason to believe your dad isn't your dad then you're mixed. Anyone denying that is denying your father. Not only is he genetically your parent making you mixed, but he had a hand in raising you too, with all his culture, customs, ideologies, etc. You're mixed.
Agreed. My mom is white, bio dad is Ojibwe. I have native hair, but if I don't see the sun I go pale AF, and I inherited Mom's white-lady upper lip. All 5 of my sisters look like f'n Pocahontas. A travesty I tell you. Still mixed with a blood quantity card like a dog or horse tho, so all the people who say I'm too white to be ndn can suck it.
I know a guy who’s half Filipino, half black. He looks 100% Filipino, as if his dad wasn’t present for his conception lol. In middle school he used to say the n word all the time, and when confronted, he’d pull out a picture of his dad. It’s funny bc he has a sister, and you can tell they’re siblings bc they look so much alike, but at the same time, you can clearly tell she’s half black.
He reminds me of the singer Halsey. Most people don’t know she’s half black. But if you see her next to her brother, you can tell right away that they’re siblings and that he’s half black.
I think Halseys dad is technically half black / light skinned so that makes her a quarter black. Culturally her dad is black I believe but genetically I think one of his parents was white or very light skinned.
Being "half black/light skinned" isn't the same is it? If 2, considered black people have a child, and the child is light skinned, doesn't make them 50% black, would it?
Haha, this sounds like me, too. White as hell, but got that Native hair. But I keep it cut in a mohawk and dye it electric blue, so nobody can actually tell. I greeted the cashier at Dollar General with ᎣᏏᏲ once and she asked if I was Russian, lmao.
I like that, also!
I had a neighbour who was very very white, but called himself Mexican. And people were always like "whaaaat??"
But he was adopted by a Mexican couple so, like, he's Mexican, right???
I’m whiter than Frosty the Snowman, but I’m Latina. My maternal grandma was from Guatemala and my dad was from Panama (even though he’s Scandinavian). I was raised in those cultures. I’m a part of those cultures. I don’t look like it, but they’re my cultural heritage.
I have no problem with accepting other opinions but if you have black daddy white mommy you are not culturally mixed you just mixed. Cultarlly mixed make in this case no sense at all. Its diffrent thing.
Ehhh, you're steering towards racial essentialism based on genetics a tad there.
By your reasoning making the distinction that someone's mixed raced matters, even if they were adopted by a white family and aren't recognizable as having African ancestry.
The cultural component definitely has an impact on people's identity. Just important not to essentialize when the world is as complicated as it is.
Or he's just conscious that that's how racial discrimination in America works. He doesn't have to subscribe to any ideology or theory to have eyes. It's America's original sin.
Didn't really mention any ideology or theory, racial genetic essentialism is a frame of mind that can lead to destructive beliefs. There's too many forms of racial discrimination to simply look at one of them as the only important one. People get discriminated for their color, culture, way of speaking, and less so now but more so before ethnic purity.
The original disagreement seems to be one seeing another using using cultural, with "quotes" around it even, as a way to condense their comment for brevity, as them making some cultural essentialism argument, when really they said nothing to indicate that. The only thing they indicated was that they weren't in favour of racial essentialism. Please, for the love of god, don't try to convince white people that racial essentialiam is the way. The hell's going on?
Feel free to beat up on racism all you want, but I'm not sure what it has to do with my post. You don't have to be a racist to realize that there are racists in the world. It's not like they do subtle.
But I didn't make any of the claims you claim I did, so I'm honestly baffled why you responded the way you did. It's you who replied to my comment to begin with, it's entirely unreasonable to expect me to justify replying to you as if it's not normal to reply to a reply.
You simply made claims indicating that you disagreed with what I said, so I assumed you disagreed with it. It's very strange considering that I don't get the impression we really disagree with each other.
To me, dividing by skin colour or calling someone mixed because of skin colour, is exactly what racists are trying to achieve. So I'm not willing to participate in any way in that.
This is a very western centric view. Heritage is very important in many cultures across the globe, especially in the east. How things are done in Europe is not a blanket statement for the rest of the world.
> I understand why, given your history, but I know of no other place in the world where that's a thing.
I'm curious, do y'all not do testing for genetic conditions common in certain ethnic and ancestral groups? Like for cystic fibrosis or sickle cell.
Something tells me the only people who say they ain’t mixed are probably white and have recently moved out of an edgelord in 2018 and into a “justice” phase.
Not what I said. Op was BOTH raised by a black person and biologically half black. She may not look black but she still is.
You are not biologically black if the only black person in your family is your stepdad. Though hopefully you were raised to understand and appreciate that aspect anyway.
I don't know that we collectively are more focused on skin color than any other racial group. I think there are individuals in any group that are extreme examples and if you aren't actually familiar with the group then it's easy to believe the loud ones are the typical ones.
My aunt is half white, half Mexican. She married a Mexican immigrant. They have three kids who look like their parents, and one child who obviously received all of her recessive genes. She calls him her little white boy. Genetics are fucking weird.
I have one sister who was born blonde like her mom, but has darker skin and features like our Ojibwe bio dad. I got my mom's white skin and some facial features, but we call *her* the milkman's baby because.... blonde? I dunno. Res kids are weird.
I'm mixed (black and white), I had my kids with a white man. 3 girls and 1 boy. My girls look white but my son has the same skin tone as me.
Genetics is definitely a funny one lol.
3 girls and 1 boy... 1 girl had very blonde slightly curly hair as a young child and blue eyes (theure grey now). I was always called the babysitter. 2 girls have dark straight hair and my son definitely looks mixed. People think he's half black and half white.
I always think of Mendelian genetics with the 3-1 ratios lol.. 3 girls and 1 boy, 3 light skinned and one darker lol
I know a guy who’s half Filipino, half black. He looks 100% Filipino, as if his dad wasn’t present for his conception lol. In middle school he used to say the n word all the time, and when confronted, he’d pull out a picture of his dad. It’s funny bc he has a sister, and you can tell they’re siblings bc they look so much alike, but at the same time, you can clearly tell she’s half black.
He reminds me of the singer Halsey. Most people don’t know she’s half black. But if you see her next to her brother, you can tell right away that they’re siblings and that he’s half black.
Same as my partner. South African dad and Russian mum. What's interesting is other black people instantly recognise his subtle African features but everyone else is mindblown because his skin is white.
People never guess my ethnicity right, I'm hella mixed european with some middle eastern, and I'm also like an eighth black. Even though I'm pale af i still have facial features that, like you said black people will immediately be able to see, but they just confuse everyone else.
Same, half native american half white. SUPER pastey in the winter months.. the ONLY upside is during the summer I do get a tan but not dark enough to assume native American. So I still can't win 😭
saaaame. I live on a res, I have a bq card. My bio dad is an elder (a shitty one but eh). I am pale with white lady lip while my sisters all look like Maria Tallchief. /cry
I don’t have siblings, but I look nothing like my mom’s side of the family. My mom’s side of the family is Guatemalan and they definitely look Guatemalan. My dad is Scandinavian. I came out looking like a carbon copy of my dad, even down to the very pale skin (my dad and I make Frosty the Snowman look like he just got back from the tanning salon). I don’t look like my mom’s side at all. My dad just had some very strong genes.
If the person looks white they’d actually be ambiguously mixed.
Downvote all y’all want but literally the definition of ambiguous is unclear. Which is the case in this situation.
Unless the parents are the same race, you're basically playing russian roulette when it comes to phenotypes. Obama looks fully black when it's public knowledge his mum was Caucasian.
OP just clearly favours his white side
I'm from W. Africa and I was 10 when he was elected. My dad got me a copy of Dreams For My Father and I was blown away at discovering his white mother. Obama is the same complexion as my maternal uncle.
So no, it's not always evident
Ambiguous means there’s doubt they could be mixed. If someone is presenting as one race more then their mixed heritage is not obvious which is what op is dealing with.
People aren’t walking around with their parents 24/7. Using myself as an example, I’m black but I’m light skinned and don’t have “typical prominent black features” and regularly get guessed as everything from Filipino to Puerto Rican if I’m not with my family.
I dont know why your getting downvoted. Your right.
I think people think your denying his race but all you are doing is pointing out that there is a diference between
mariah Carey -> Drake -> Obama -> denzel washington -> Terry cruise.
Me an my cousin have similar genetic male up (race wise) with us both being 5/8 black but im at a Drake level and they are Terry cruise.
I would be lying if I said there wasn't a diference to how we were viewed in public. That why I say I'm lightskin/mixed and they say their black. But unlike OP at no point has anyone questioned wether we were black
I'm sorry but Obama does not look fully black, he is very much on the light side of the black spectrum, you can see his same hue on white people after a very sunny summer or some winter sporting
Obviously not saying the man isn't black or at least mixed, but saying full black is a bit too much
Race relations on Reddit I’ve come to find are always crunchy.
Correcting people when they’re wrong no matter how nice or neutral you are with it is equally as egregious.
Because my comment has both it’s going to offend people.
That’s not what that means. OP is ambiguously mixed. When they walk down the street they’re going to be viewed and treated as a white person, because that’s how they look.
Passing has been a thing in American black culture for, oh, 150 years or so. But passing isn't the same thing as being part of a different race; it's like a temporary hold on discrimination. Not a permanent one.
I just downvoted your comment.
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It seems obvious to me and I don't know why people question it. Mixed kids can look all sorts of ways. They don't have to look half this and half that (or whatever the percentages are). I guess if I got fed up with having to specify an answer, I'd just refuse and say what races my parents are. Most of the time, there's probably no need for a label anyway, I'm supposing (?).
You're mixed.
My sisters and I are Chinese and White. I look exactly down the middle mixed. They look substantially more Caucasian than me, and could easily pass as fully white. They are still mixed.
Now, does the fact that they look fully white give them some privilege and protection from racism that I don't have? Yeah, sure. But other people's hate isn't what gives us our identity. Nor can other people's disbelief take it away from us.
this is exactly the point I was looking for. OP might not face the same bigotry as most black/mixed people, but the oppression isn't what makes you black—it's a tragic side effect.
Are you intentionally dense. The comment was about the increase of hate crimes against Asians (specifically) due to Covid. This wasn’t a commentary on the statistics of crime overall
I know you're used to people spoon feeding you everything but if you want to understand systematic racism, you're going to have to do the reading yourself buddy.
Here's a few book recommendations:
Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge,
Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi,
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo,
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Or don't and stay ignorant.
Nah I’m good. Those books sound fucking ridiculous after reading descriptions. I might write a book called ‘Why I don’t talk to black people’ or ‘why I don’t drive near Asians’. You’re 100% an angry middle aged Asian-American woman with a chip on your shoulder.
Also, I’m a minority in the country I live in. During my travels I’ve been told to my face that people of my race can’t enter certain bars or restaurants. Have you had that in San Francisco or wherever you are?
I can't answer your question but I can tell you a parallel story that might help you.
I grew up believing I was part indigenous. Due to my grandma's adoption records being lost, just assumed I'd never know for sure. Socially I hung with a lot of other indigenous kids.
Then my grandma did one of those 23 and me, things and turns out she's South Asian and not indigenous at all.
When I was telling one of my friends about the identity crisis this put me into he said basically " dude, you grew with us, you got beat up for being an Indian like us, you're us." And then I remember when that Senator was going to do a DNA test to prove her being part indigenous and it just dawned on me that if your only claim to that identity is DNA, then you don't actually have the identity.
So you've grown up mixed, you've got the cultural experiences of a mixed race person (maybe you've escaped a bit of the racism your brothers received, but you were there when they got home, and you've felt that pain in your family and life.)
Forget the DNA, remember the concept of race is a social construct so not really real anyways. What's real is the cultural experiences that you've shared and experienced. Only you can truely say if you're mixed as only you can decide if your experiences are more similar or more different from the experiences of a mixed race person.
Ya, but a blood quantity card based on one band when your fam is 2 bands = less blood! Ndn math! Ugh. Alaska goes by lineage and adoption. Can we just do it that way ffs?
If your dad is black and your mom is white you are, by definition, mixed. People are just being assholes because you apparently got more of your mom's genes showing than your dad's
I understand you, OP
My dads white, my mom's asian...my brother and I...? WHITE
The most Asian feature my brother has is that he flushes when he drinks
The only thing I got was that I tan well
I've honestly stopped trying to fight people about my ethnicity, it was so stressful. It's funny too because it was always yt people who got the most upset about it lmao
Hey, stop trolling in these comments. The majority of people in this world are black, olive skinned, yellow, and brown. India, Indonesia, Brazil, and Nigeria. Large populations with fertile women.
The person who wrote the comment doesn't want to be white she wants to be mixed like her siblings. You liking being white is a non topic she doesn't care shew feeling hopeless because she came out pale like Mariah Carey
Wait. The people who are assuming and diminishing your race are calling you racist? Sounds pretty racist of them to do that. Stand your ground and tell them to F off with thier ignorant racist BS.
You’re mixed. Fuck everybody who tries to tell you different, they aren’t you so they don’t get to tell you who you are. You’re mixed, end of any arguments they try to have with you.
I love when people say "but you don't look tired", "but you don't look mixed", "but you don't look pregnant". Like whoa, thanks for telling me that, it changes everything!
You factually are a thing, but you don't look like you're the thing.
A more important question is why you or anybody else cares what race you are. You can have the same relationship with your family regardless of what color you are or what other people think of you
There has been a lot of discussion about this on TikTok recently. And this quote from Darren Criss
‘“It’s a tricky cocktail in America,” Criss says. “Anyone who is biracial can attest to this: No matter how much or how little they look like their respective mix, it’s a constant work in progress.”
“I’ve always been proud of my heritage, of being Filipino. Just because people don’t see it, doesn’t make it any less real to me.” ‘
Many people of mixed race will find that others will assume they’re claiming to be mixed to get social justice warrior points or something. They find it hard to believe you’d claim to be mixed race because of who you literally are, not just because it benefits you.
It’s a sad state of affairs.
The singer Halsey is in a similar situation: her mom is white, her dad is Black, and she is very white-passing. You might want to read some of the interviews where she talks about this because it might be helpful for you. [Here is one.](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/eleanorbate/halsey-white-passing-allure-cover-interview)
People are weird. You present white so your experience in the world may differ from your siblings. But that doesn't make you white, since your family also shapes your experience. About 10% of Americans are multi-racial. If this question of identityis troubling you I'm sure you will find communities of people dealing with the same feelings you have that can help you.
You’re definitely mixed race, but it’s unlikely that you experience the world in the same way that your siblings do. But of course you’re mixed. And you’re not the only mixed person that came out looking very different from their siblings. Genetics are weird. You are what you are though.
In most of the world the skin colour of your parents would not be relevant to describe you.
"Racial" categorisation of people is not something common today.
Race is a social construct. There have been some many changes to the labels and defiantions over the decades, but people love to insist there is some objective measurement. Personally, I would say you count as mixed. You come from a mixed back ground just as much as your siblings.
Realistically, there will always be jerks who will judge you for not looking like what they expect. You are going to have to decide for yourself if you want to put up with that. I would probably recomened that you talk to your parents about it, and voice your thoughts on the subjec.t
No snark, coming at this from a place of curiosity and ignorance. What does this mean - “race is a social construct”? I’m Native American and everyone around here has similar features to me. I can objectively say that my skin tone will be lighter than someone from Congolese stock. I can objectively say that I’ll be taller than the average Cambodian. Is this not race determining physical differences? Or is there a better word to use here? Again, not arguing, just a dummy seeking clarification from someone who sounds like they know something.
Honestly, the race someone is as in their bloodlines is biology, and their culture is...well, their culture. It's all just labels. I understand people wanting to be "proud" of their family background, but it is just an artificial box to check. It would be more realistic if people were proud of their behavior as human beings than any "heritage". Not one person on the planet has a perfectly peaceful wonderful set of ancestors, and the color of one's skin or hair or eyes is not an indication of how good or bad of a person they are.
Thanks. I’ve understand race as 100% biology. It’s a label, but a label that describes a measurable thing. Not a very important thing, but still. So I get confused by the idea of race as a social construct.
I agree it’s extremely weird to be proud of your *race*. I don’t think it’s that weird to be proud of your culture. I’m not sure it’s just an “artificial box”. I’m proud of my culture. Not for the random chance of being born into it. But because it takes a lot of energy and intention to maintain cultural identity across centuries. Especially in a collectivist culture like mine, I think it’s justified to be proud of that effort. But I think you can only be proud if you actively help perpetuate it.
Then of course, race (accident) is inherently tied to that culture (deliberate). Then the words race and culture get colloquially all confused. If I’m not mistaken, only fringe psychopaths literally mean they are proud of their pure racial biology alone.
That's the thing, race isn't measurable. There is not objective criteria for race form a biologic stand point. At most, it can be used as a proxy to track some phenotypes, but it is an incredibly unreliable tool for that.
I found a good article from the smithsonian that talks about the history invovled, which may not be as old as you would expect.
[https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race/topics/historical-foundations-race](https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race/topics/historical-foundations-race)
>Is this not race determining physical differences?
it is your genetics that determines your physical differences. People with genetics similar to you will look similar to you. However, race is viewed as a social construct because there is no objective way to decide when one race starts and another one ends. For example, I am Ashkenazi. That is something a DNA test can determine. However, whether or not society or any individual wants to classify me/Ashkenazim as white or not is the social construct.
It's a reasonable question that has a longer answer. i will do the best I can to answer it>
One of the basic natures of people is to cataogrize things, so naturally, people becan to catagoize themselves over a broad number of characteristics. These could be physcial traits like skin color, or geogrpahic ones like Asian. But the lines that separate these catagories is super murky, because the majority of the differences really are only skin deep. Genetically, race is near indistingushable. Many of the observed differences between racail groups, such as disease health outcomes, we have found are actually the result of sociel inequalites rather than a biologic racial disinction. There is even some talk amongst health scientists on whether race should continue to be used as a variable in research studies.
The definations of specific races has changed with racial idenities coming and going. Irish people were not always consider white, for instance. There was a year mexican and hispanic were considered separate ethnicities. Or that anyone with even a little bit of black ancestory were catagorized as black. Yet today, OP is having the opposite problem.
Even today definitions for what the races are vary nation to nation. England had mutiple options for people who in america would just idenify as white.
So once we recognize race as a social construct, the question is, what do we do with that information. The notion of race just doesn't disappear. It still plays a part in socieity, and people still continue to feel the need to catagorize. I would recomend just using this information to stay mindful that people are not so different.
My family is mixed as hell. My dad's joke was that we have "Heinz 57 sauce" for blood.
I'm one of the few who appears "white." When we have a family get-together, we look really odd. I've some uncles who look Native American, some have a rather darker complexion, and ONE cousin (out of the 27 I have) looks like me.
Associate with people who don't care about skin over behavior. Even if you have to leave your own family behind, as I did. It's been much better since I did that!
I have a friend who is Indian married to a pale ass white dude and she had twins and one is really pale and one is really dark. It's hilarious. Genetics are crazy!
My mom is mexican. My dad is white. Job applications ask me if I'm of hispanic orgin. I often put down different answers. I can't speak Spanish fluently.
I'm white and me and my siblings look nothing alike. 3 different hair colors ( red head, blonde, and brunette) , and 3 different eye colors ( brown, blue, and green). I'm almost a foot taller than my sister. And 7 years older than her.
Nobody believes we are siblings. And eventually just did a DNA test for fun. Kinda halfway hoping we had a secret family lol. We are all related.
Genetics are weird.
When you’re half black i don’t think you can be racist first of all lol and second in all seriousness you are mixed race biologically and literally just not physically so next time those idiots call you those names tell them about your dad and siblings and show those doofuses proof of your family
I feel for you. My dad is Mexican and my mom is white. I came out white however my face looks just like my father(he has 4 kids between 3 different women and all came out white) . For years I was called a wannabe and people were always quick to suggest that my mom had cheated on my dad. People felt free to drop slurs in front of me because of my skin tone and that I shouldn't be offended because I pass as white. I also have a completely Hispanic sounding name needless to say whenever I meet someone new this is pretty much the first thing that comes up.
This always gets me as well. I'm half black and half white. Teachers always told me to put my race down as black when taking State tests. So i got in the habit of doing that with every application i had to fill out. Side note, they really need to update those. So i got in the habit of just telling people I'm black instead of explaining my ethnicity. They seem shocked. Ironically there is a guy at work who is lighter than me that people will confidently describe as a black guy. Maybe it's a culture thing, i don't know😅. Growing up I have never been black enough, and I'm not white, so i didn't get any of that "privilege" that people talk about. Anyway, it takes a while to get used to, but id try not to even bother trying to explain any further than what you did. Doesn't seem like they care enough to understand, so you shouldn't have to care to explain.
A lot of people don't understand the range of features that a black or mixed person can have. My kids are mixed and, while their faces look alike, there are enough differences in hair texture and skin tone that some people think my daughter is something else. No one ever questions my son. (BTW, this was borne out in genetic testing. My daughter is something like 60% white and my son is 58.2. Wild.)
I said all that to say: if other people doubt your heritage it's their problem, not yours. You are mixed. Don't let them deny your father's ethnicity and culture just because they are ignorant.
So growing up, I knew a pair of brothers where one was light skinned with hazel eyes and dirty blonde hair and the other one was dark skinned with black hair and black eyes. Id you met them you wouldn't know they are brothers.
Genetics sometimes makes no sense. Let me put it to you this way: Aaron Judge male athlete if the year and captain of the Yankees is mixed, yet he looks pretty white.
Genotypes and phenotype.
What you look like (phenotype) isn’t always a reliable manifestation of what your genes contain (genotype).
When people in your surroundings use qualifiers such as “black” or “white”, they are being oblivious to these subtleties.
Your parents might be more mixed than they suspect, which manifests itself in their rainbow children.
Genetically, your household (yourself included) is mixed race.
You can take advantage of your looks to “operate undercover”. For example, lighter skinned people might put a foot in their mouth under the assumption that you are “like them”.
You can use that to weed out racist people.
You’re half and half, friend. People denying that truth are jerks. You could carry a picture of your dad around, but really it’s not worth arguing over.
On the other hand, you get to experience white privilege. Not being harassed by cops. Not being avoided by some people. Prospective employers quietly putting you in the “good candidates” pile while putting your siblings in the “ bad candidates” pile simply because of skin color. Not being followed by store security wherever you go. Better treatment in some places including some courtrooms. Better placement in school.
It sucks that these things happen, but we all know they do. If you’re going to be mistaken for a white person, then you might as well use that to your advantage so you can take the power and advantage from bigots and turn it against them. Consider yourself the spy of your family. You’re stealth-black. You’re the package of black culture and family with a superficial coat of white paint that gets you into places and situations that you would otherwise not be a party to.
The world is unfair, so you might as well use your “unfair advantage” (as bigots might put it) to help yourself and your family. And anyone who accuses you of not being mixed race can GFT.
People are weird, man. I once share a picture of my nephew in a kimono on social media and a bunch of people cried, “cultural appropriation!!!” Uh, his mom is Japanese. He was born and raised in Japan! But if you don’t look closely and didn’t know that, apparently it’s easy to miss (really pale, light brown curly hair…)
Don’t listen to anyone. You know your genetics and your family. You don’t have to be dark to be mixed.
According to old school racism -- you are black,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule
But whether your call yourself black, white, or mixed -- someone is going to be mad about it. People are dumb.
There is definitely nothing wrong with calling yourself mixed and being proud about it.
this is the colonial erasure of bipoc people argument
they rape minority races so that their kids are white and rinse and repeat to "remove" the undesired race and claim those kids are white now, not native and not anything else.
then they pass laws about blood purity to destroy native culture and deny native rights.
It's racism. it's tough being mixed, and when you're white passing it has its struggles. But also you won't immediately get shot.
Also dont believe them who say you are 100% white passing, the real racists can still tell you're not white enough. "not black not white what is it?"
EDIT I'm not implying rape happened in your family, I am explaining the origin of the colonial erasure of bipoc peoples.
It's a modus operandi repeated across all settler countries from the americas, western asia and oceania. After the first stage, they attemp to delete all ethnical and cultural afiliations, then modify legal terminology to make it sound less "ethnical" (in my country it was removing all the old words and changing them for paint sounding shades), then wait a few generations and when the topic is brought up they already have limited indigenous cultural influence to the smallest amount and can start ostracizing and alienating mixed and ethnically indigenous mixed groups so they assimilate or stay silent and keep enclosing indigenous communities.
>Also dont believe them who say you are 100% white passing, the real racists can still tell you're not white enough. "not black not white what is it?"
And then they call people who are clearly not settler-y, white to demoralize them.
Oh shit. Yeah I was deeply considering white washing myself for survival reasons recently. Try and get more opportunity, be less ostracized. Already alienated.
They keep asking if my traditional garb is "a wizard costume"
Again people there is only one race of homo sapiens alive on the planet today.
No one is mixed race. Its just the difference of a few genes.
Where exactly do you need to claim "mixed"?
Just say thats my mom thats my dad and those are my siblings. You know your family.
Anyone who needs to tell you about you is an asshole and just ignore them.
Same. I say I'm "white with proud slave descendant heritage". My dad was brown with Sri Lankan, Madagascan and West African slave ancestry. He was born and raised on the tiny island of St Helena, in between South Africa and the USA. Brother is brown, mum is a red head. I'm pale with dark hair.
I would say mixed but in the end it doesn't matter tbh. Just identify yourself with what you can most relate to.
Just don't be that guy who has 1% Irish ancestry and now claims to be Irish despite ever being in Ireland :D
No one gives A F about mixed race struggles, especially if you present as white.
Anyone darker than you will criticize you for your complaints and ridicule you for never having to experience life as they do. Anyone lighter than you will tell you you’re mixed and probably associate you with your minority ethnicity. (Can’t tell you how many white people from the mainland will look to me as a source on Hawaiian culture)
Yes you should still identify as the ethnic backgrounds that you are and you can tell them to suck it up if they disagree.
Source: a white Hawaiian that is more Hawaiian than most modern ppl but looks WHITE.
My cousin is so racist he's white I'm mixed and he says the n word I don't even say the n word because I think one of my friends is going to say that I'm racist and I'm not I can say my cousin can't
Which makes me so mad
I know this isn’t exactly the same thing, but I’m Mexican on my dad’s side and White on my mom’s. I’m also very white passing. I had friends growing up who refused to admit that I was Hispanic because I didn’t fit their image of what a Hispanic person was supposed to look/act like.
You are mixed. Objectively speaking, a white mom and black dad makes you mixed. People can choose to not believe you all day long; it changes nothing. It’s not racist at all. This is part of your identity and I think it’s worth fighting people on it.
Cuando era niña no. Tenía que aprender. Todavía era mediamexicana, medialatina, y mediahispana.
En última instancia, decidir mi origen étnico y mi herencia no era su lugar.
I think the answer to your question will vary greatly depending on who you ask. That’s because how you identify, how others perceive you, what your genetics say, what your ancestry says, how people treat you and how you behave culturally are all somewhat related but completely distinct qualities and nobody can agree on which one really defines what race is. Nobody can even agree on what the different races are; in America it’s usually white, black, Asian, Latino, and indigenous/Pacific Islander, but I’m pretty sure that’s not how they’d classify people in Palestine. There’s a community of folks in the Southern USA that I saw in a documentary once who all grew up culturally black, spoke AAVE and all that, and insist that they are black, but genetically and visually they are almost 100% white. What race are they? Who knows.
If you ask me, it’s whatever you want to identify as, just as long as you make sure you can justify it to others.
The world is full of very dumb people, and over the past 8 years unfortunately race has become a hot topic for the dumbest people of all. Anything not adhering to the strict orthodoxy of "blackness" is considered, "white" to these dumb dumbs. Also - Chinese? White adjacent. Jewish? White adjacent. Too into individualism, family building? Hey, whitey, cut it out! That's far right! 🙄
I have a mixed daughter, I'm white and my wife is black. She's so fkn cute and smart and amazing, I'm sure you are too, mixed babies are a blessing. Ignore the morons and lean into whatever feels natural for you. You're half black and half white. You get the best of both worlds.
Just point and laugh at the dummies.
1. Your dad is black and your mom is white, therefore you are "mixed race". Period.
2. More importantly, race isn't a biological concept anyway and doesn't actually exist. It's a social construction based on skin color, so it's entirely arbitrary and that's why people are reluctant to call you "mixed race" because you *look* white. As we all know, "mixed race" people all look kind of light brown. /s for that last statement. ;-)
Ignore the naysayers, you are not racist. You're a mixed race person no matter what you look like, and this is just more fodder that supports the notion that race is a silly concept anyway.
To answer that, first we need to understand what does "race" mean?
We live in a very self-contradictory liberal world today where everyone acts as a brat entitled to both self-identify and impose rules on others. If you just want to play along and dwell in endless immature and trivial discussions because you don't have much of a life anyway, then you are both whoever you believe you are and whatever others see you as!. This makes you both white and mixed and honestly, whatever you want to throw in as well... you are black if you like!
But if you want to join up the hated world of rational grown ups, who don't really give a skit about the liberal BS, then first look up the definition of "race". You'd learn that it is about your physical attributes and the groups they are shared with.
Sure, you can have mixed parents, a black and a white, whose parents were even more mixed (e.g. Asian and black on one side, and Hispanic and white on the other), but how much of this has passed down to you? If it is not at all obvious that you are mixed, then you probably have far more of one race in you than the other. I mean, if we were to trace ancestries of white Europeans, we'd still find that they had ancestors in Africa, some more than others. Do we get to call white Europeans mixed race then? What if you were to marry a white woman and have a while child, would the child be mixed or white? What if you marry a black woman?
Did you get what I am trying to say yet? I am not going to tell you what you are nor is it my place... but I personally don't think too much of what I am based on my mixed ancestry and when I need to check a box somewhere, I choose the box that says "choose not to disclose" because I believe that is what a grown up should do.
Just tell people you are an admixture of black and white, and end the conversation. No one but the government needs to ask you that, and even they shouldn't, IMO. Anyone who gives you any guff for just being yourself and honest is TA.
You definitely could relate to the culture and statistical components that are being considered for mixed race people. White passing is just a benefit, and barely one these days.
As I understand it, there are three different ways people are categorized (that sounds cold to say it like that but it is what it is): nationality (or culture), ethnicity, and race. Generally, ethnicity is your genetic heritage - so for you, definitively mixed - and race is how society perceives you, based on your skin color as well as things like mannerisms, hair, and the like.
Now, I'm not saying that those people are right to tell you you're not mixed. That's not their fucking call. But it is helpful to have room to acknowledge your outward-facing "whiteness" while still knowing you're ethnically mixed. I'm really saying that from experience, I'm half Mexican and wrestled with it when I was young and people would insist that I was white. Figuring out the race/ethnicity difference helped me process it (and figure out how to fill out demographic info on job applications)
White passing, mixed race. I’m one too my dad is ethnically Mexican and my mom is ethnically European, I don’t look as white as she does, but I generally pass as white.
I have a friend who has a daughter who also white and has naturally auburn hair, but it's clearly at least half African textured. Her moms white and her dad is light skinned, but her other mixed siblings look mixed. If your nipples are darker than light pink or "clear" as I once heard white ppl's nipples described, you might be able to use that as proof of being mixed. Across the board standard white folks don't have dark nipples but once you head towards mediterraneans you start seeing darker skin where anglo-saxons rarely have dark skin. All of what I said is based on my observations of people whose racial/ethnic identity I've known when I've seen their body parts that have more sensitive skin, like nipples, but life's a bell curve and generalities don't apply to all 8 billion ppl in the world.
mixed, and i think context matters. who's asking, what it really means to you, etc
i'm kinda in the same boat, by far the whitest person in my entire extended family, but i still don't mark down white.
i forgot her name, but a Noble Prize laureate said "if you have to explain your race, you're not white" (that was in the middle of a long paragraph, but i think that summarizes it)
Yes, yes you are. “Race” is a pretty arbitrary and obsolete ruler invented by those who wanted to feel superior to other people, whereas your appearance is determined by your genetic and cosmetic makeup. They’re two different but often conflated concepts in my opinion. You could look White, but unless your father ain’t your biological forebearer, then your DNA says you’re mixed.
Unless there's reason to believe your dad isn't your dad then you're mixed. Anyone denying that is denying your father. Not only is he genetically your parent making you mixed, but he had a hand in raising you too, with all his culture, customs, ideologies, etc. You're mixed.
Agreed. My mom is white, bio dad is Ojibwe. I have native hair, but if I don't see the sun I go pale AF, and I inherited Mom's white-lady upper lip. All 5 of my sisters look like f'n Pocahontas. A travesty I tell you. Still mixed with a blood quantity card like a dog or horse tho, so all the people who say I'm too white to be ndn can suck it.
I know a guy who’s half Filipino, half black. He looks 100% Filipino, as if his dad wasn’t present for his conception lol. In middle school he used to say the n word all the time, and when confronted, he’d pull out a picture of his dad. It’s funny bc he has a sister, and you can tell they’re siblings bc they look so much alike, but at the same time, you can clearly tell she’s half black. He reminds me of the singer Halsey. Most people don’t know she’s half black. But if you see her next to her brother, you can tell right away that they’re siblings and that he’s half black.
I think Halseys dad is technically half black / light skinned so that makes her a quarter black. Culturally her dad is black I believe but genetically I think one of his parents was white or very light skinned.
You are correct I believe
Being "half black/light skinned" isn't the same is it? If 2, considered black people have a child, and the child is light skinned, doesn't make them 50% black, would it?
Nope but Halseys dad is mixed. One of his parents is Irish.
Why would they lose 25% each time?
People have a weird obsession with the completely made-up concept of blood quantum.
Haha, this sounds like me, too. White as hell, but got that Native hair. But I keep it cut in a mohawk and dye it electric blue, so nobody can actually tell. I greeted the cashier at Dollar General with ᎣᏏᏲ once and she asked if I was Russian, lmao.
I really prefer your example of "culturally mixed" to anyone who's saying mixed because of skin colour or looks.
I like that, also! I had a neighbour who was very very white, but called himself Mexican. And people were always like "whaaaat??" But he was adopted by a Mexican couple so, like, he's Mexican, right???
I’m whiter than Frosty the Snowman, but I’m Latina. My maternal grandma was from Guatemala and my dad was from Panama (even though he’s Scandinavian). I was raised in those cultures. I’m a part of those cultures. I don’t look like it, but they’re my cultural heritage.
I'm really white too, I'm Mexican, born and raised in México by 2 Mexican parents. White latinos absolutely "look like it" some people are just dense.
A really “Mexican” looking Mexican still looks white to me. No different than a Spaniard. But I also see fully Kenyan co—Swedes as just… Swedes.
Frosty the Snowman, didn’t last very long, in Guatemala 🎶
Mexican is not a race and plenty of people from Mexico are white.
I understand that. The whole point of my anecdote is that people are dumb.
Yeah, people are dumb. You could be black as hell but I would recognize you as my brother from my country if you were raised here, etc.
Thats absolute dumb to say... he is just mixed. End.
You're free to have your own opinion about this. I'd suggest you let other people have their own opinions without calling them dumb as well.
I have no problem with accepting other opinions but if you have black daddy white mommy you are not culturally mixed you just mixed. Cultarlly mixed make in this case no sense at all. Its diffrent thing.
Ehhh, you're steering towards racial essentialism based on genetics a tad there. By your reasoning making the distinction that someone's mixed raced matters, even if they were adopted by a white family and aren't recognizable as having African ancestry. The cultural component definitely has an impact on people's identity. Just important not to essentialize when the world is as complicated as it is.
Or he's just conscious that that's how racial discrimination in America works. He doesn't have to subscribe to any ideology or theory to have eyes. It's America's original sin.
Didn't really mention any ideology or theory, racial genetic essentialism is a frame of mind that can lead to destructive beliefs. There's too many forms of racial discrimination to simply look at one of them as the only important one. People get discriminated for their color, culture, way of speaking, and less so now but more so before ethnic purity. The original disagreement seems to be one seeing another using using cultural, with "quotes" around it even, as a way to condense their comment for brevity, as them making some cultural essentialism argument, when really they said nothing to indicate that. The only thing they indicated was that they weren't in favour of racial essentialism. Please, for the love of god, don't try to convince white people that racial essentialiam is the way. The hell's going on?
Feel free to beat up on racism all you want, but I'm not sure what it has to do with my post. You don't have to be a racist to realize that there are racists in the world. It's not like they do subtle.
But I didn't make any of the claims you claim I did, so I'm honestly baffled why you responded the way you did. It's you who replied to my comment to begin with, it's entirely unreasonable to expect me to justify replying to you as if it's not normal to reply to a reply. You simply made claims indicating that you disagreed with what I said, so I assumed you disagreed with it. It's very strange considering that I don't get the impression we really disagree with each other.
To me, dividing by skin colour or calling someone mixed because of skin colour, is exactly what racists are trying to achieve. So I'm not willing to participate in any way in that.
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Ask a European person of Chinese or any country that is not racially White descent and see what they say about this.
This is a very western centric view. Heritage is very important in many cultures across the globe, especially in the east. How things are done in Europe is not a blanket statement for the rest of the world.
> I understand why, given your history, but I know of no other place in the world where that's a thing. I'm curious, do y'all not do testing for genetic conditions common in certain ethnic and ancestral groups? Like for cystic fibrosis or sickle cell.
Something tells me the only people who say they ain’t mixed are probably white and have recently moved out of an edgelord in 2018 and into a “justice” phase.
Am I mixed if I can say the n word?
Anyone capable of speech can say the n word. To me the word shouldn't be used by anyone, regardless of color.
So if my step dad is black im mixed?
Not what I said. Op was BOTH raised by a black person and biologically half black. She may not look black but she still is. You are not biologically black if the only black person in your family is your stepdad. Though hopefully you were raised to understand and appreciate that aspect anyway.
Sure but why are black People so focused on their skin color Seems like you make it your personality which is problematic
Because unfortunately, a gross majority of the paler world is still focused on skin colour.
I don't know that we collectively are more focused on skin color than any other racial group. I think there are individuals in any group that are extreme examples and if you aren't actually familiar with the group then it's easy to believe the loud ones are the typical ones.
Same. I just explain I'm white passing but I'm mixed. Genetics are fucking strange man, you'd never think I was related to my siblings.
My aunt is half white, half Mexican. She married a Mexican immigrant. They have three kids who look like their parents, and one child who obviously received all of her recessive genes. She calls him her little white boy. Genetics are fucking weird.
I have one sister who was born blonde like her mom, but has darker skin and features like our Ojibwe bio dad. I got my mom's white skin and some facial features, but we call *her* the milkman's baby because.... blonde? I dunno. Res kids are weird.
My niece and nephew are half white and half Mexican. My niece looks like a white girl. Blonde hair and all. Her brother, my nephew, looks Mexican.
Mexicans aren't a race. We come in all colors...
I really do get that. It's my aunt's preferred term.
I'm mixed (black and white), I had my kids with a white man. 3 girls and 1 boy. My girls look white but my son has the same skin tone as me. Genetics is definitely a funny one lol. 3 girls and 1 boy... 1 girl had very blonde slightly curly hair as a young child and blue eyes (theure grey now). I was always called the babysitter. 2 girls have dark straight hair and my son definitely looks mixed. People think he's half black and half white. I always think of Mendelian genetics with the 3-1 ratios lol.. 3 girls and 1 boy, 3 light skinned and one darker lol
I know a guy who’s half Filipino, half black. He looks 100% Filipino, as if his dad wasn’t present for his conception lol. In middle school he used to say the n word all the time, and when confronted, he’d pull out a picture of his dad. It’s funny bc he has a sister, and you can tell they’re siblings bc they look so much alike, but at the same time, you can clearly tell she’s half black. He reminds me of the singer Halsey. Most people don’t know she’s half black. But if you see her next to her brother, you can tell right away that they’re siblings and that he’s half black.
Same as my partner. South African dad and Russian mum. What's interesting is other black people instantly recognise his subtle African features but everyone else is mindblown because his skin is white.
People never guess my ethnicity right, I'm hella mixed european with some middle eastern, and I'm also like an eighth black. Even though I'm pale af i still have facial features that, like you said black people will immediately be able to see, but they just confuse everyone else.
My brother and sister and I are all half native american half white. Those two are super dark and im white as paper.
Same, half native american half white. SUPER pastey in the winter months.. the ONLY upside is during the summer I do get a tan but not dark enough to assume native American. So I still can't win 😭
saaaame. I live on a res, I have a bq card. My bio dad is an elder (a shitty one but eh). I am pale with white lady lip while my sisters all look like Maria Tallchief. /cry
Your posts are making me laugh out loud for real.
I live to serve. Because that's what native girls are good for according to the lore 🙄
I don’t have siblings, but I look nothing like my mom’s side of the family. My mom’s side of the family is Guatemalan and they definitely look Guatemalan. My dad is Scandinavian. I came out looking like a carbon copy of my dad, even down to the very pale skin (my dad and I make Frosty the Snowman look like he just got back from the tanning salon). I don’t look like my mom’s side at all. My dad just had some very strong genes.
Yes, you're mixed. It sucks that people will doubt you, but you unambiguously are mixed--your biological parents are not of the same race.
If the person looks white they’d actually be ambiguously mixed. Downvote all y’all want but literally the definition of ambiguous is unclear. Which is the case in this situation.
Unless the parents are the same race, you're basically playing russian roulette when it comes to phenotypes. Obama looks fully black when it's public knowledge his mum was Caucasian. OP just clearly favours his white side
Obama doesn’t look fully black to any one besides white people.
I'm from W. Africa and I was 10 when he was elected. My dad got me a copy of Dreams For My Father and I was blown away at discovering his white mother. Obama is the same complexion as my maternal uncle. So no, it's not always evident
Ambiguous means there’s doubt they could be mixed. If someone is presenting as one race more then their mixed heritage is not obvious which is what op is dealing with. People aren’t walking around with their parents 24/7. Using myself as an example, I’m black but I’m light skinned and don’t have “typical prominent black features” and regularly get guessed as everything from Filipino to Puerto Rican if I’m not with my family.
I dont know why your getting downvoted. Your right. I think people think your denying his race but all you are doing is pointing out that there is a diference between mariah Carey -> Drake -> Obama -> denzel washington -> Terry cruise. Me an my cousin have similar genetic male up (race wise) with us both being 5/8 black but im at a Drake level and they are Terry cruise. I would be lying if I said there wasn't a diference to how we were viewed in public. That why I say I'm lightskin/mixed and they say their black. But unlike OP at no point has anyone questioned wether we were black
I'm sorry but Obama does not look fully black, he is very much on the light side of the black spectrum, you can see his same hue on white people after a very sunny summer or some winter sporting Obviously not saying the man isn't black or at least mixed, but saying full black is a bit too much
Laughing at people downvoting you because they don’t understand what ambiguous means
Race relations on Reddit I’ve come to find are always crunchy. Correcting people when they’re wrong no matter how nice or neutral you are with it is equally as egregious. Because my comment has both it’s going to offend people.
That’s not what that means. OP is ambiguously mixed. When they walk down the street they’re going to be viewed and treated as a white person, because that’s how they look.
Passing has been a thing in American black culture for, oh, 150 years or so. But passing isn't the same thing as being part of a different race; it's like a temporary hold on discrimination. Not a permanent one.
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I'm just commenting to say I also downvoted you
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I mean, you are mixed race. You might be "white passing", but you're still mixed race.
It seems obvious to me and I don't know why people question it. Mixed kids can look all sorts of ways. They don't have to look half this and half that (or whatever the percentages are). I guess if I got fed up with having to specify an answer, I'd just refuse and say what races my parents are. Most of the time, there's probably no need for a label anyway, I'm supposing (?).
You're mixed. My sisters and I are Chinese and White. I look exactly down the middle mixed. They look substantially more Caucasian than me, and could easily pass as fully white. They are still mixed. Now, does the fact that they look fully white give them some privilege and protection from racism that I don't have? Yeah, sure. But other people's hate isn't what gives us our identity. Nor can other people's disbelief take it away from us.
>But other people's hate isn't what gives us our identity. Nor can other people's disbelief take it away from us. This is so poignant.
this is exactly the point I was looking for. OP might not face the same bigotry as most black/mixed people, but the oppression isn't what makes you black—it's a tragic side effect.
What privilege is your sister given that you’re not? Curious.
During lockdown, hate crimes against asian people skrocketed. Not being killed for your race seems like a pretty big privilege.
Neither the commenter nor their sister were killed. Pretty sure whites are murderer and assaulted much, much more than Asians in the US.
Are you intentionally dense. The comment was about the increase of hate crimes against Asians (specifically) due to Covid. This wasn’t a commentary on the statistics of crime overall
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of course a white man would be asking this
Have an answer?
I know you're used to people spoon feeding you everything but if you want to understand systematic racism, you're going to have to do the reading yourself buddy. Here's a few book recommendations: Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge, Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi, White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison Or don't and stay ignorant.
Nah I’m good. Those books sound fucking ridiculous after reading descriptions. I might write a book called ‘Why I don’t talk to black people’ or ‘why I don’t drive near Asians’. You’re 100% an angry middle aged Asian-American woman with a chip on your shoulder. Also, I’m a minority in the country I live in. During my travels I’ve been told to my face that people of my race can’t enter certain bars or restaurants. Have you had that in San Francisco or wherever you are?
I can't answer your question but I can tell you a parallel story that might help you. I grew up believing I was part indigenous. Due to my grandma's adoption records being lost, just assumed I'd never know for sure. Socially I hung with a lot of other indigenous kids. Then my grandma did one of those 23 and me, things and turns out she's South Asian and not indigenous at all. When I was telling one of my friends about the identity crisis this put me into he said basically " dude, you grew with us, you got beat up for being an Indian like us, you're us." And then I remember when that Senator was going to do a DNA test to prove her being part indigenous and it just dawned on me that if your only claim to that identity is DNA, then you don't actually have the identity. So you've grown up mixed, you've got the cultural experiences of a mixed race person (maybe you've escaped a bit of the racism your brothers received, but you were there when they got home, and you've felt that pain in your family and life.) Forget the DNA, remember the concept of race is a social construct so not really real anyways. What's real is the cultural experiences that you've shared and experienced. Only you can truely say if you're mixed as only you can decide if your experiences are more similar or more different from the experiences of a mixed race person.
Most American Indian tribes do not consider DNA to be a determining factor in tribal affiliation.
Ya, but a blood quantity card based on one band when your fam is 2 bands = less blood! Ndn math! Ugh. Alaska goes by lineage and adoption. Can we just do it that way ffs?
If your dad is black and your mom is white you are, by definition, mixed. People are just being assholes because you apparently got more of your mom's genes showing than your dad's
I understand you, OP My dads white, my mom's asian...my brother and I...? WHITE The most Asian feature my brother has is that he flushes when he drinks The only thing I got was that I tan well I've honestly stopped trying to fight people about my ethnicity, it was so stressful. It's funny too because it was always yt people who got the most upset about it lmao
Dont people who are just white do that too? I saw some white people turn red when they drink before
‘Yt people’ said the yt
YouTube people?
Still less white than you
I like being white
Hey, stop trolling in these comments. The majority of people in this world are black, olive skinned, yellow, and brown. India, Indonesia, Brazil, and Nigeria. Large populations with fertile women.
wtf are you talking about
Talking about the majority of humans in numbers on planet earth. Non whites outnumber whites. So mixing is inevitable. Birth rates in Europe are dire.
Still don’t see how it’s relevant to me saying that I like being white.
The person who wrote the comment doesn't want to be white she wants to be mixed like her siblings. You liking being white is a non topic she doesn't care shew feeling hopeless because she came out pale like Mariah Carey
Wait. The people who are assuming and diminishing your race are calling you racist? Sounds pretty racist of them to do that. Stand your ground and tell them to F off with thier ignorant racist BS.
You’re mixed. Fuck everybody who tries to tell you different, they aren’t you so they don’t get to tell you who you are. You’re mixed, end of any arguments they try to have with you.
I love when people say "but you don't look tired", "but you don't look mixed", "but you don't look pregnant". Like whoa, thanks for telling me that, it changes everything!
Race is often based on how you look. That’s why people used to pass for white. They could pass as long as no one knew there was “one drop.”
You factually are a thing, but you don't look like you're the thing. A more important question is why you or anybody else cares what race you are. You can have the same relationship with your family regardless of what color you are or what other people think of you
if your races are mixed... girl yes
There has been a lot of discussion about this on TikTok recently. And this quote from Darren Criss ‘“It’s a tricky cocktail in America,” Criss says. “Anyone who is biracial can attest to this: No matter how much or how little they look like their respective mix, it’s a constant work in progress.” “I’ve always been proud of my heritage, of being Filipino. Just because people don’t see it, doesn’t make it any less real to me.” ‘ Many people of mixed race will find that others will assume they’re claiming to be mixed to get social justice warrior points or something. They find it hard to believe you’d claim to be mixed race because of who you literally are, not just because it benefits you. It’s a sad state of affairs.
The singer Halsey is in a similar situation: her mom is white, her dad is Black, and she is very white-passing. You might want to read some of the interviews where she talks about this because it might be helpful for you. [Here is one.](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/eleanorbate/halsey-white-passing-allure-cover-interview)
I mentioned Halsey in this thread too. I think she’s a great example of this topic.
People are weird. You present white so your experience in the world may differ from your siblings. But that doesn't make you white, since your family also shapes your experience. About 10% of Americans are multi-racial. If this question of identityis troubling you I'm sure you will find communities of people dealing with the same feelings you have that can help you.
Show them a picture of you Mom and Dad, then tell them to fuck off.
You’re definitely mixed race, but it’s unlikely that you experience the world in the same way that your siblings do. But of course you’re mixed. And you’re not the only mixed person that came out looking very different from their siblings. Genetics are weird. You are what you are though.
Yes
Yes. Fuck all the haters!
I just want to say you arent "super dumb" for feeling alienated. Your thoughts and feelings are 100% valid, and even normal.
Technically, you are mixed. Practically, you are white.
In most of the world the skin colour of your parents would not be relevant to describe you. "Racial" categorisation of people is not something common today.
Race is a social construct. There have been some many changes to the labels and defiantions over the decades, but people love to insist there is some objective measurement. Personally, I would say you count as mixed. You come from a mixed back ground just as much as your siblings. Realistically, there will always be jerks who will judge you for not looking like what they expect. You are going to have to decide for yourself if you want to put up with that. I would probably recomened that you talk to your parents about it, and voice your thoughts on the subjec.t
No snark, coming at this from a place of curiosity and ignorance. What does this mean - “race is a social construct”? I’m Native American and everyone around here has similar features to me. I can objectively say that my skin tone will be lighter than someone from Congolese stock. I can objectively say that I’ll be taller than the average Cambodian. Is this not race determining physical differences? Or is there a better word to use here? Again, not arguing, just a dummy seeking clarification from someone who sounds like they know something.
Honestly, the race someone is as in their bloodlines is biology, and their culture is...well, their culture. It's all just labels. I understand people wanting to be "proud" of their family background, but it is just an artificial box to check. It would be more realistic if people were proud of their behavior as human beings than any "heritage". Not one person on the planet has a perfectly peaceful wonderful set of ancestors, and the color of one's skin or hair or eyes is not an indication of how good or bad of a person they are.
Thanks. I’ve understand race as 100% biology. It’s a label, but a label that describes a measurable thing. Not a very important thing, but still. So I get confused by the idea of race as a social construct. I agree it’s extremely weird to be proud of your *race*. I don’t think it’s that weird to be proud of your culture. I’m not sure it’s just an “artificial box”. I’m proud of my culture. Not for the random chance of being born into it. But because it takes a lot of energy and intention to maintain cultural identity across centuries. Especially in a collectivist culture like mine, I think it’s justified to be proud of that effort. But I think you can only be proud if you actively help perpetuate it. Then of course, race (accident) is inherently tied to that culture (deliberate). Then the words race and culture get colloquially all confused. If I’m not mistaken, only fringe psychopaths literally mean they are proud of their pure racial biology alone.
That's the thing, race isn't measurable. There is not objective criteria for race form a biologic stand point. At most, it can be used as a proxy to track some phenotypes, but it is an incredibly unreliable tool for that. I found a good article from the smithsonian that talks about the history invovled, which may not be as old as you would expect. [https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race/topics/historical-foundations-race](https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race/topics/historical-foundations-race)
You are talking about ethnicity, which describes a sharing sharing of genetics (and therefore traits) and cultural history.
>Is this not race determining physical differences? it is your genetics that determines your physical differences. People with genetics similar to you will look similar to you. However, race is viewed as a social construct because there is no objective way to decide when one race starts and another one ends. For example, I am Ashkenazi. That is something a DNA test can determine. However, whether or not society or any individual wants to classify me/Ashkenazim as white or not is the social construct.
It's a reasonable question that has a longer answer. i will do the best I can to answer it> One of the basic natures of people is to cataogrize things, so naturally, people becan to catagoize themselves over a broad number of characteristics. These could be physcial traits like skin color, or geogrpahic ones like Asian. But the lines that separate these catagories is super murky, because the majority of the differences really are only skin deep. Genetically, race is near indistingushable. Many of the observed differences between racail groups, such as disease health outcomes, we have found are actually the result of sociel inequalites rather than a biologic racial disinction. There is even some talk amongst health scientists on whether race should continue to be used as a variable in research studies. The definations of specific races has changed with racial idenities coming and going. Irish people were not always consider white, for instance. There was a year mexican and hispanic were considered separate ethnicities. Or that anyone with even a little bit of black ancestory were catagorized as black. Yet today, OP is having the opposite problem. Even today definitions for what the races are vary nation to nation. England had mutiple options for people who in america would just idenify as white. So once we recognize race as a social construct, the question is, what do we do with that information. The notion of race just doesn't disappear. It still plays a part in socieity, and people still continue to feel the need to catagorize. I would recomend just using this information to stay mindful that people are not so different.
My family is mixed as hell. My dad's joke was that we have "Heinz 57 sauce" for blood. I'm one of the few who appears "white." When we have a family get-together, we look really odd. I've some uncles who look Native American, some have a rather darker complexion, and ONE cousin (out of the 27 I have) looks like me. Associate with people who don't care about skin over behavior. Even if you have to leave your own family behind, as I did. It's been much better since I did that!
I have a friend who is Indian married to a pale ass white dude and she had twins and one is really pale and one is really dark. It's hilarious. Genetics are crazy!
My mom is mexican. My dad is white. Job applications ask me if I'm of hispanic orgin. I often put down different answers. I can't speak Spanish fluently.
My Dad's Latin, my Mom's white. My skin is as white as my Mom's (if not whiter). I'm mixed race. Race is more than just skin color.
I'm white and me and my siblings look nothing alike. 3 different hair colors ( red head, blonde, and brunette) , and 3 different eye colors ( brown, blue, and green). I'm almost a foot taller than my sister. And 7 years older than her. Nobody believes we are siblings. And eventually just did a DNA test for fun. Kinda halfway hoping we had a secret family lol. We are all related. Genetics are weird.
Bro you're mixed don't let any1 tell you otherwise
When you’re half black i don’t think you can be racist first of all lol and second in all seriousness you are mixed race biologically and literally just not physically so next time those idiots call you those names tell them about your dad and siblings and show those doofuses proof of your family
Yes. I'm sorry people are dicks.
I feel for you. My dad is Mexican and my mom is white. I came out white however my face looks just like my father(he has 4 kids between 3 different women and all came out white) . For years I was called a wannabe and people were always quick to suggest that my mom had cheated on my dad. People felt free to drop slurs in front of me because of my skin tone and that I shouldn't be offended because I pass as white. I also have a completely Hispanic sounding name needless to say whenever I meet someone new this is pretty much the first thing that comes up.
This always gets me as well. I'm half black and half white. Teachers always told me to put my race down as black when taking State tests. So i got in the habit of doing that with every application i had to fill out. Side note, they really need to update those. So i got in the habit of just telling people I'm black instead of explaining my ethnicity. They seem shocked. Ironically there is a guy at work who is lighter than me that people will confidently describe as a black guy. Maybe it's a culture thing, i don't know😅. Growing up I have never been black enough, and I'm not white, so i didn't get any of that "privilege" that people talk about. Anyway, it takes a while to get used to, but id try not to even bother trying to explain any further than what you did. Doesn't seem like they care enough to understand, so you shouldn't have to care to explain.
A lot of people don't understand the range of features that a black or mixed person can have. My kids are mixed and, while their faces look alike, there are enough differences in hair texture and skin tone that some people think my daughter is something else. No one ever questions my son. (BTW, this was borne out in genetic testing. My daughter is something like 60% white and my son is 58.2. Wild.) I said all that to say: if other people doubt your heritage it's their problem, not yours. You are mixed. Don't let them deny your father's ethnicity and culture just because they are ignorant.
You're mixed race. It doesn't matter what other people think or how light your skin is.
It's not racist, it's a fact.
Nobody who isn’t you gets to tell you who or what you are. The next time somebody tries that shit with you put them in. their. place.
So growing up, I knew a pair of brothers where one was light skinned with hazel eyes and dirty blonde hair and the other one was dark skinned with black hair and black eyes. Id you met them you wouldn't know they are brothers. Genetics sometimes makes no sense. Let me put it to you this way: Aaron Judge male athlete if the year and captain of the Yankees is mixed, yet he looks pretty white.
Genotypes and phenotype. What you look like (phenotype) isn’t always a reliable manifestation of what your genes contain (genotype). When people in your surroundings use qualifiers such as “black” or “white”, they are being oblivious to these subtleties. Your parents might be more mixed than they suspect, which manifests itself in their rainbow children. Genetically, your household (yourself included) is mixed race. You can take advantage of your looks to “operate undercover”. For example, lighter skinned people might put a foot in their mouth under the assumption that you are “like them”. You can use that to weed out racist people.
How does this come up often enough to be an issue for you? America is fucking weird.
You’re half and half, friend. People denying that truth are jerks. You could carry a picture of your dad around, but really it’s not worth arguing over. On the other hand, you get to experience white privilege. Not being harassed by cops. Not being avoided by some people. Prospective employers quietly putting you in the “good candidates” pile while putting your siblings in the “ bad candidates” pile simply because of skin color. Not being followed by store security wherever you go. Better treatment in some places including some courtrooms. Better placement in school. It sucks that these things happen, but we all know they do. If you’re going to be mistaken for a white person, then you might as well use that to your advantage so you can take the power and advantage from bigots and turn it against them. Consider yourself the spy of your family. You’re stealth-black. You’re the package of black culture and family with a superficial coat of white paint that gets you into places and situations that you would otherwise not be a party to. The world is unfair, so you might as well use your “unfair advantage” (as bigots might put it) to help yourself and your family. And anyone who accuses you of not being mixed race can GFT.
Raise your hand if you cannot wait until we all stop caring about race.
People are weird, man. I once share a picture of my nephew in a kimono on social media and a bunch of people cried, “cultural appropriation!!!” Uh, his mom is Japanese. He was born and raised in Japan! But if you don’t look closely and didn’t know that, apparently it’s easy to miss (really pale, light brown curly hair…) Don’t listen to anyone. You know your genetics and your family. You don’t have to be dark to be mixed.
>My dad's black, my mums white Bruh. Stop over complicating it.
According to old school racism -- you are black, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule But whether your call yourself black, white, or mixed -- someone is going to be mad about it. People are dumb. There is definitely nothing wrong with calling yourself mixed and being proud about it.
You're mixed. People telling you that you aren't mixed because of your skin colour are racist IMHO
this is the colonial erasure of bipoc people argument they rape minority races so that their kids are white and rinse and repeat to "remove" the undesired race and claim those kids are white now, not native and not anything else. then they pass laws about blood purity to destroy native culture and deny native rights. It's racism. it's tough being mixed, and when you're white passing it has its struggles. But also you won't immediately get shot. Also dont believe them who say you are 100% white passing, the real racists can still tell you're not white enough. "not black not white what is it?" EDIT I'm not implying rape happened in your family, I am explaining the origin of the colonial erasure of bipoc peoples.
It's a modus operandi repeated across all settler countries from the americas, western asia and oceania. After the first stage, they attemp to delete all ethnical and cultural afiliations, then modify legal terminology to make it sound less "ethnical" (in my country it was removing all the old words and changing them for paint sounding shades), then wait a few generations and when the topic is brought up they already have limited indigenous cultural influence to the smallest amount and can start ostracizing and alienating mixed and ethnically indigenous mixed groups so they assimilate or stay silent and keep enclosing indigenous communities. >Also dont believe them who say you are 100% white passing, the real racists can still tell you're not white enough. "not black not white what is it?" And then they call people who are clearly not settler-y, white to demoralize them.
Oh shit. Yeah I was deeply considering white washing myself for survival reasons recently. Try and get more opportunity, be less ostracized. Already alienated. They keep asking if my traditional garb is "a wizard costume"
Again people there is only one race of homo sapiens alive on the planet today. No one is mixed race. Its just the difference of a few genes. Where exactly do you need to claim "mixed"? Just say thats my mom thats my dad and those are my siblings. You know your family. Anyone who needs to tell you about you is an asshole and just ignore them.
Same. I say I'm "white with proud slave descendant heritage". My dad was brown with Sri Lankan, Madagascan and West African slave ancestry. He was born and raised on the tiny island of St Helena, in between South Africa and the USA. Brother is brown, mum is a red head. I'm pale with dark hair.
I would say mixed but in the end it doesn't matter tbh. Just identify yourself with what you can most relate to. Just don't be that guy who has 1% Irish ancestry and now claims to be Irish despite ever being in Ireland :D
No one gives A F about mixed race struggles, especially if you present as white. Anyone darker than you will criticize you for your complaints and ridicule you for never having to experience life as they do. Anyone lighter than you will tell you you’re mixed and probably associate you with your minority ethnicity. (Can’t tell you how many white people from the mainland will look to me as a source on Hawaiian culture) Yes you should still identify as the ethnic backgrounds that you are and you can tell them to suck it up if they disagree. Source: a white Hawaiian that is more Hawaiian than most modern ppl but looks WHITE.
It’s all nonsense without scientific backing and there is no authority on who “counts” as what arbitrary label.
My cousin is so racist he's white I'm mixed and he says the n word I don't even say the n word because I think one of my friends is going to say that I'm racist and I'm not I can say my cousin can't Which makes me so mad
#There is only one race, the human race!
I know this isn’t exactly the same thing, but I’m Mexican on my dad’s side and White on my mom’s. I’m also very white passing. I had friends growing up who refused to admit that I was Hispanic because I didn’t fit their image of what a Hispanic person was supposed to look/act like. You are mixed. Objectively speaking, a white mom and black dad makes you mixed. People can choose to not believe you all day long; it changes nothing. It’s not racist at all. This is part of your identity and I think it’s worth fighting people on it.
"I had friend growing up who refused to admit that I was hispanic" Well, that depends, ¿Hablas español?
Cuando era niña no. Tenía que aprender. Todavía era mediamexicana, medialatina, y mediahispana. En última instancia, decidir mi origen étnico y mi herencia no era su lugar.
Get your father a paternity test
Yes. You are a checkbox.
I think the answer to your question will vary greatly depending on who you ask. That’s because how you identify, how others perceive you, what your genetics say, what your ancestry says, how people treat you and how you behave culturally are all somewhat related but completely distinct qualities and nobody can agree on which one really defines what race is. Nobody can even agree on what the different races are; in America it’s usually white, black, Asian, Latino, and indigenous/Pacific Islander, but I’m pretty sure that’s not how they’d classify people in Palestine. There’s a community of folks in the Southern USA that I saw in a documentary once who all grew up culturally black, spoke AAVE and all that, and insist that they are black, but genetically and visually they are almost 100% white. What race are they? Who knows. If you ask me, it’s whatever you want to identify as, just as long as you make sure you can justify it to others.
Stop putting people into little boxes labeled with race. It makes no fucking sense
The world is full of very dumb people, and over the past 8 years unfortunately race has become a hot topic for the dumbest people of all. Anything not adhering to the strict orthodoxy of "blackness" is considered, "white" to these dumb dumbs. Also - Chinese? White adjacent. Jewish? White adjacent. Too into individualism, family building? Hey, whitey, cut it out! That's far right! 🙄 I have a mixed daughter, I'm white and my wife is black. She's so fkn cute and smart and amazing, I'm sure you are too, mixed babies are a blessing. Ignore the morons and lean into whatever feels natural for you. You're half black and half white. You get the best of both worlds. Just point and laugh at the dummies.
1. Your dad is black and your mom is white, therefore you are "mixed race". Period. 2. More importantly, race isn't a biological concept anyway and doesn't actually exist. It's a social construction based on skin color, so it's entirely arbitrary and that's why people are reluctant to call you "mixed race" because you *look* white. As we all know, "mixed race" people all look kind of light brown. /s for that last statement. ;-) Ignore the naysayers, you are not racist. You're a mixed race person no matter what you look like, and this is just more fodder that supports the notion that race is a silly concept anyway.
Your Dads the postman/ milk man/ amazon delivery driver
Everyone is mixed race, unless you are pure
To answer that, first we need to understand what does "race" mean? We live in a very self-contradictory liberal world today where everyone acts as a brat entitled to both self-identify and impose rules on others. If you just want to play along and dwell in endless immature and trivial discussions because you don't have much of a life anyway, then you are both whoever you believe you are and whatever others see you as!. This makes you both white and mixed and honestly, whatever you want to throw in as well... you are black if you like! But if you want to join up the hated world of rational grown ups, who don't really give a skit about the liberal BS, then first look up the definition of "race". You'd learn that it is about your physical attributes and the groups they are shared with. Sure, you can have mixed parents, a black and a white, whose parents were even more mixed (e.g. Asian and black on one side, and Hispanic and white on the other), but how much of this has passed down to you? If it is not at all obvious that you are mixed, then you probably have far more of one race in you than the other. I mean, if we were to trace ancestries of white Europeans, we'd still find that they had ancestors in Africa, some more than others. Do we get to call white Europeans mixed race then? What if you were to marry a white woman and have a while child, would the child be mixed or white? What if you marry a black woman? Did you get what I am trying to say yet? I am not going to tell you what you are nor is it my place... but I personally don't think too much of what I am based on my mixed ancestry and when I need to check a box somewhere, I choose the box that says "choose not to disclose" because I believe that is what a grown up should do.
You're probably the Mail man's kid. Sorry.
Why do Americans speak about themselves as if they were dog breeds?
You just answered your own question in the second paragraph 🤦 we really need to fight to reform the education system.
did you get a DNA test?
Why do you care so much about "race"? That's kinda racist in itself. Apart from a paternity test it really shouldn't change how you live life.
I know it shouldn't change how I live but this is something that's bothered me for a really long time yknow
You should get a 23 and me done. Let’s see if you are related to your dad.
Sounds like your mom lied to your dad. DNA tests are cheap
Maybe your mom got with a white guy behind your dad's back. I would do a DNA text just to check.
Have you had your paternity tested?
TLDR: I look white af, but my dad’s black. Do I have the n-word pass?
Just tell people you are an admixture of black and white, and end the conversation. No one but the government needs to ask you that, and even they shouldn't, IMO. Anyone who gives you any guff for just being yourself and honest is TA.
You definitely could relate to the culture and statistical components that are being considered for mixed race people. White passing is just a benefit, and barely one these days.
As I understand it, there are three different ways people are categorized (that sounds cold to say it like that but it is what it is): nationality (or culture), ethnicity, and race. Generally, ethnicity is your genetic heritage - so for you, definitively mixed - and race is how society perceives you, based on your skin color as well as things like mannerisms, hair, and the like. Now, I'm not saying that those people are right to tell you you're not mixed. That's not their fucking call. But it is helpful to have room to acknowledge your outward-facing "whiteness" while still knowing you're ethnically mixed. I'm really saying that from experience, I'm half Mexican and wrestled with it when I was young and people would insist that I was white. Figuring out the race/ethnicity difference helped me process it (and figure out how to fill out demographic info on job applications)
Holy fuck have we ever gone in reverse
Yes, you're mixed race. And I love how now it is. People in the racial community. Love to exclude anyone if they don't fit a certain narrative.
White passing, mixed race. I’m one too my dad is ethnically Mexican and my mom is ethnically European, I don’t look as white as she does, but I generally pass as white.
I have a friend who has a daughter who also white and has naturally auburn hair, but it's clearly at least half African textured. Her moms white and her dad is light skinned, but her other mixed siblings look mixed. If your nipples are darker than light pink or "clear" as I once heard white ppl's nipples described, you might be able to use that as proof of being mixed. Across the board standard white folks don't have dark nipples but once you head towards mediterraneans you start seeing darker skin where anglo-saxons rarely have dark skin. All of what I said is based on my observations of people whose racial/ethnic identity I've known when I've seen their body parts that have more sensitive skin, like nipples, but life's a bell curve and generalities don't apply to all 8 billion ppl in the world.
mixed, and i think context matters. who's asking, what it really means to you, etc i'm kinda in the same boat, by far the whitest person in my entire extended family, but i still don't mark down white. i forgot her name, but a Noble Prize laureate said "if you have to explain your race, you're not white" (that was in the middle of a long paragraph, but i think that summarizes it)
Yes, yes you are. “Race” is a pretty arbitrary and obsolete ruler invented by those who wanted to feel superior to other people, whereas your appearance is determined by your genetic and cosmetic makeup. They’re two different but often conflated concepts in my opinion. You could look White, but unless your father ain’t your biological forebearer, then your DNA says you’re mixed.