Dear Blogger
When we discussed the experiences of being mixed-race (coming
from two ethnicities, looking like neither but being genetically both), I
promised you that we would discuss people from mixed cultures someday. That day
has come, but it has become apparent to me that in order to fully explain it, I
will need to split this blog into 2 parts.
It’s very obvious when someone is a mixture, or at least not
‘fully’ black.
Although the majority of the black race residing outside of
West Africa has some sort of mix in them, they refer to themselves as black. This is the reason you may find that many
‘black’ siblings have very different skin tones, one could be caramel (inherited
from a white great grandparent) while another may be dark chocolate (inherited
from a black great grandparent) even when the parents are both very dark or
light.
Mixing occurred a long time ago and in many ways, mostly at
the beginning through rape but also there was marriage. However one race is
always perceived as superior to another, this is usually the one that is more advanced in
their military and economical power and in this day and age, this is the race
that looks lighter.
Previously when the Arabs had their golden era, they were the epitome of
beauty and power, white skin and light eyes were seen only in slaves (bought and
traded by Arabs mainly from what today is known as London, Paris, the
Netherlands, Spain and Italy) and prior to that of course black skin was a sign
of beauty during the Nubian kingdoms. (Cleopatra today would be asked to relax her hair, contour her nose and bleach her skin, but back then she was known as a beauty queen)
When you look closely at beauty, you will realize that
beauty is simply a reflection of which ‘race’ is more dominant economically and
militarily at that time. Simply put, it’s an equation of power. In today’s
climate Europeans and their descendants in America, Australia, South Africa etc
fill the categories of being the most powerful and therefore beauty norms as
well as mannerisms and general etiquette today are set by them.
This breeds a new norm of unconscious bias in society which often affects Whites in a positive way, and the darker you get, the more negatively you are perceived. When a mixed child
looks more like his/her black side in a society dominated by whites – they are
treated (discriminated against) as a black person. They feel a sense of
community when mixing with black relatives and they experience an understanding
compassion through their shared experiences of discrimination – something even
the least racist white parent cannot share with them.
Interestingly, when that same mixed person resides in an area
where most of the people are black, he/she is treated better because of the
above assumptions associated with being white. Beauty is set by white norms, so
having ‘kinky/curly’ hair which is blond/brownish, brown skin but light(er) eyes, is seen
as a sign of ‘whiteness’ therefore beauty.
So not only is the bias played out by whites; it’s also reinforced
by blacks – to the blacks you are better, to the whites you are worse. When
President Barak Obama was asked why he refers to himself as black, even though
he is half white – he said, ‘I don't think I was the one who made that choice’
Taking an example of a mixed person who looked more white -
the mother of Malcom X who went on to privately tutor white children (and was
significantly more educated than other blacks no doubt due to her skin tone) after the murder of her husband - she would immediately be rejected from work as soon as people ‘found out’ that
she was black.
Mariah Carey also often spoke of the difficulties she
encountered as a child when people found out she was black too… and so you can see the
trend.
You feel more comfortable labeling yourself with the side
that will not discriminate against you negatively – how can you call yourself white when
being white is not about your blood but your colour? If a white person from
Russia decided to move to America today, that person’s children would be considered
more white American than those half white with roots over 400 years old in the
country. It makes little sense to me to say ‘half’ because the child is not
dividing – a mother/father gives the same amount of DNA to a black child as
they do a white, but the one who ‘looks’ racially more like him/her is called
‘whole?’
As a person of mixed roots myself, I am very accepting of
both my middle eastern and African roots – but I can tell you for definite, it
was not always the case.
Mixed children are fully aware that they are both races, however they are discriminated against in the same way
that fully black individuals are, they receive no special treatment and it’s
not that they reject their white side, it’s more the case that society is
colour based, the problem is not the child, the problem is society. Although it should be noted that light skinned mixed children do experience difficulties with the black community too, however it is on a much smaller scale and mostly for different motives.
As for ‘mixed culture’ well, that's an even more complicated
issue, I like to call it the ‘Obama Syndrome’
TBC
