Why is man whose mother is white and father black: called black?

[bluedawg12]

Ex. Is Obama a black man?

Why isn't he a white man?

Do you have to have racial purity in order to be called white?

[diane in sf]

1. Read Mark Twain...

[Journeyman]

2. Then read Ralph Ellison. . .

n/t

[NMDemDist2]

3. the technical term is mulatto n/t

[hlthe2b]

4. today's "technical" term is mixed

n/t

[Ethelk2044]

5. African Americans

If you speak to any African American with mix parents they will inform you that they are African American or Black.

[cali]

10. Actually, that''s not precisely true

I know two young people of mixed heritage, and they identify neither as black or white. And they tell me they aren't the only ones.

[Carolina]

21. It's generational

The "one drop rule."

Half my ancestry is white but prior to ~1980s anyone with any "black" blood was considered black even when "light, bright, damned near white" in appearance.

[cali]

22. Yep. It is generational. That's why I noted

they were young. And it's also cultural.

[win_in_06]

13. That's a generalization.

I am black and my wife is white. Some of our kids are obviously black, others are not. Also we travel a lot, right now living in Europe. Some think my kids are Portuguese, Spanish or Italian.

[JI7]

6. because when people see him they see a black man

he is judged and treated in society as a black man.

[CJCRANE]

7. Depends who's answering.

In sub-saharan Africa he would probably be called "mixed" and Harold Ford Jnr (based on his appearance) would be called "white".

[AtomicKitten]

8. It's the one-drop theory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule

[Kutjara]

9. Which, if the "out of Africa" theory of human descent is true...

...means we're all black. I for one, like the idea. I've been a pasty caucasian for way too long. Now I'm a pasty African American.

[hlthe2b]

14. yup...

I sort of liken it to my little doggie girl, a blue merle Australian Shepherd/Lab mix with every color possible in her hair coat, including black, gray, white, red, yellow, brown--and every shade in between.

Such a strikingly beautiful little girlie and so perfect! (except for the fact there is no color I can wear that doesn't show that beautiful mix of shedding hair!)

[Up2Late]

11. It's a "Black thing," you wouldn't understand...

:evilgrin:

But seriously, I've heard the term started with the "Black Power" movement in the 1970's, but I think it was James Brown's song "Say It Loud: I'm Black And I'm Proud" that really brought the term into popular use.

It's hard to explain in just a few words, but you're right, because most American "Black" people have at least some "white blood" in them.

[win_in_06]

12. Because he looks black, and he is treated as a black by others.

Also he culturally aligns himself as a black, by choice.

[soothsayer]

15. Because he's phenotypically black, whereas say Derek Jeter is

more genotypically black (or mixed) but phenotypically white. Ish. Of course today they let you self-identify what race you most closely identify with, so...what does he say? What do people call Tiger Woods these days? He doesn't see himself as black even tho he's phenotypical, too.

[TomClash]

16. I prefer to call him human

. . . to distinguish him from the current occupant of the WH.

[PADemD]

17. Amen

[beingthere]

18. very good. n/t

[fasttense]

19. Here is the brutal truth

White men were having sex with their black slaves. Slave women were giving birth to babies that were of mixed blood. In order to sell their own children into slavery, they had to come up with some bizarre logic. So low and behold, the logic was if you had even a drop of black blood, you were a slave. So then white men could sell their children into slavery (have sex with their slave women and their white wives) and society did not look on them with horror.

Today, that logic still abounds in our society. Wasn't there a racist white Congressman who had sex with his black slave, I mean maid? Everyone considered his daughter a black woman. Yet she was half white.

[Thothmes]

27. Brutal Logic

Virginia slave laws assigned the race of the child to that of the mother.

[Hawkowl]

34. Bingo! The historical truth.

This is the real explanation. Also, back in slavery days, if you had African ancestry and were not a slave and you appeared even slightly black, you had to carry papers on your person, proving you were a free man. Otherwise, you could be picked and as a runaway slave and sold. Once again it just comes down to money. In this case making money of the sale of humans.

[Alcibiades]

37. True--and, in this way, slaveowners

could own their own children. Another plus for them was that such children could never inherit--any estate would go only to "legitimate" children by their white wives, even if they had many more children by their slaves.

[Connie_Corleone]

20. Because Obama calls himself black. nt

[pampango]

23. Only in America. In any other country...

he would be called mixed race (by whatever term each country has for that). Only here does someone of mixed race have to "self-identify" or "pass". Obama probably had little choice in the matter since he looks black.

[Colobo]

24. He would be mulatto in Latin America

Which, in a way, still makes him black, but at least recognizes his white side...

[Bridget Burke]

26. Latin America, especially Mexico, had many different "castas"

Depending on the race or casta of the parents. Many rather charming paintings exist--showing the different family groups. www.college.emory.edu/culpeper/BAKEWELL/thinksheets/castas.html

Eventually, things got so complicated that only a few of the names survived.

In most Latin American societies, lighter is better. But the "one drop" rule does not apply.

[bdamomma]

25. because the "black gene" is more prominent.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

28. There's a great line out of some Public Enemy song I forget.

Either Chuck D or Flavor Flav talks about white father/black mother = black child; white mother/black father = black child. I always viewed it as a brilliant slap at bigots--like "our race is genetically dominant over yours."

And I'm white, by the way.

[bdamomma]

30. I am white woman married to a black man and I consider

our children as multi racial.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

40. I am fortunate to live in an area where biracial couples are no big deal.

And, believe it or not, it's in Indianapolis, Indiana! But just one little area of Indy. Bigotry abounds elsewhere.

[trof]

29. I also remember the terms "quadroon" and "octaroon".

Originally (IIRC) 'mulatto' was the offspring of an 'African' and a (white) European.
Thus half black (or negro) and half white.
Again IIRC, a "quadroon" was 1/4 black, an "octaroon" 1/8 black.
Of course all this was back when such stuff "mattered".
:shrug:

[POAS]

31. Because that is the way

the white male dominated society identifies him.

Had he grown up in a culture and society that was truly color blind (and not gender biased I might add) he would simply be another American running for office.

[pnwmom]

32. Because if someone saw him walking down the street,

they'd assume he was a black man. They wouldn't assume one of his parents was white.

In other words, wherever he goes, he's treated as a black man.

[Marnieworld]

36. Here's a test that makes sense to me

If he could whistle at a a white woman in public in 1930s Mississippi?

I'm willing to bet that would not have been welcome then and he would have met a brutal end.

When racists are being racists they aren't waiting for a family tree or a DNA test. If you can be a victim of this indiscrimnate test then you certainly identify with the group that is oppressed.
Back then (I imagine in many places now still) you better have an awareness of this because your life was on the line.

But of course we have words like bi-racial, multi-racial, mixed to be more accurate and reflective of the whole person today. I am part English and French but mostly Irish-American. I don't need to pick one part of my heritage so I can understand why people would think that no one should. Yet, we don't live in this perfect world yet so I it's possible the identifying of one or the othercould be a convenience or necessity of choosing one in his or anyone's case.

[pnwmom]

39. Good points, marnieworld. He can and does identify

with black Americans, because he is treated as one of them every day -- despite having a white mother.

[FrenchieCat]

33. Because.......

read this OP that I, one with similar heritage as Obama, wrote up just a few weeks ago:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x184940

[booley]

35. Simple..Racism and Power

It's racism designed to propagate a class system, to cement the power of certain people.

To have an upper class, you need a under class. And racism provides an easy method to create an underclass.

Our society could have done the opposite..said that a drop of "white " blood made someone White.

But that would have meant that one had a way into the Upper class. and an upper clas can't be sharing power. From it's POV, to share is to lose.

I have observed that Humans are brilliant and very practical when it comes to the evil they do.

Of course, the "other side" isn't much better. Now we have goobers sayign that Obama isn't really Black.

[Auntie Bush]

38. It has nothing to do with Obama! That's the way our government

and governments around the world classify who's black and who's not.

Unless you want to use Mayor Ray Naggin's definition as "Chocolate".

[Odin2005]

41. The stupid "one drop rule"

I always refer to Obama as mixed-race, never black, calling mixed-race people "black" perpetuates the "one drop" rule.

[PVnRT]

42. Ah, another "Barack isn't really black" argument

These are getting tiresome. Let's reverse your proposition - do you have to have racial purity in order to be called white? The tenor of your post seems to suggest that it is somehow better to be considered white than black, and he should aspire to be called as such.