Quote from: Myron on November 28, 2017, 03:13:52 AM
Your mother can identify as a black women all day long.
She?s not one. She is biracial.
And it?s insulting to compare the experiences of a almost white passing woman to a woman that is actually black.
Lauryn Hill is a black woman... and to throw in a Megan Markle and say ? oh both black, both the same? is delusional.
I don?t negate biracial struggles with white people. I know their there. HOWEVER.
There is a privelege as well, and I just am conscious enough to know the struggle is different and I won?t be disrespectful enough to compare the walks of a woman who looks like Nicole Murphy and a woman who looks like Gabrielle Union
I don't think anyone's saying that Megan and Lauryn or Megan and Viola are the same.
You'd have to be completely blind to come to such a conclusion. And there are definitely privileges when you appear to be or are assumed to be mixed. Let's get that out of the way.
It's more about what the bottom line is on a larger scale for people of color in general.
Unless you're walking around somewhere looking completely undetectable like Rasheeda Jones, you're open to face some challenges, maybe some insecurities and conflict as well.
One drop rule is still kind of stuck in the psyche of America - on both sides. If you look like there's one drop, you're subject to be claimed by Blacks and thrown to the trash by Whites.
We always speak on how Black people are so open to "claim everyone". The truth is that we have different looks. There are some people walking around here with TWO Black parents who are assumed to be mixed. Or people walking around with ONE Black parent and are assumed to be 100% Black. Or, ONE Black parent and looking 100% White. (Rasheeda Jones)
We're literally a gumbo of genetics and phenotypes. We kinda have no choice but to accept that, and, in turn accept anyone who claims they are us because ultimately, whether we believe it or not, that person saying "I'm Black!" could legit have two whole Black, African-American parents who created them, regardless of how their skin , features or hair looks.
I get what you mean to an extent - I'm not all down with the "woo hoo! it's da Black Palace now!" party, but there's power in numbers. And when you're part of a group that has been oppressed for centuries, you need all the power you can get. Why not take and share that power with people who have the same history as you. Regardless of whether the history is 50% or 90% of their collective genome.
