Presidential debate is on now.

**Wayne** · 10-16-2008 09:39 PM

BG you would have a legit point if it weren't for the government standard that has been in place for a long, long time. Hell, you're doing it now still. Is half the only thing that counts? Look at virtually any black person in America- notice how most of us are a lighter shade of brown than the average black African? It's because most of us are part white. I know my great-great grandfather was white, at least. In this country, bi-racial still means black. Not black and white.

One-drop rule - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**BoxingGorilla** · 10-17-2008 01:24 AM

Originally Posted by Killface

BG you would have a legit point if it weren't for the government standard that has been in place for a long, long time. Hell, you're doing it now still. Is half the only thing that counts? Look at virtually any black person in America- notice how most of us are a lighter shade of brown than the average black African? It's because most of us are part white. I know my great-great grandfather was white, at least. In this country, bi-racial still means black. Not black and white.

One-drop rule - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Great point. I don't agree with what you are saying but I cannot deny it either...

My mind just sees it differently. I look at Holly Berry and I clearly see a person of mixed race. I do not see her as black or white but both.

I guess it's not so much how others view you (in general, not you KillFace) but how you view yourself. If you you were raised in a predomitely white family you may see yourself as white and if you were raised in a predomintely black family you will see yourself as black? Is it culture?

**Wayne** · 10-17-2008 11:37 AM

Originally Posted by BoxingGorilla

Originally Posted by Killface

BG you would have a legit point if it weren't for the government standard that has been in place for a long, long time. Hell, you're doing it now still. Is half the only thing that counts? Look at virtually any black person in America- notice how most of us are a lighter shade of brown than the average black African? It's because most of us are part white. I know my great-great grandfather was white, at least. In this country, bi-racial still means black. Not black and white.

One-drop rule - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Great point. I don't agree with what you are saying but I cannot deny it either...

My mind just sees it differently. I look at Holly Berry and I clearly see a person of mixed race. I do not see her as black or white but both.

I guess it's not so much how others view you (in general, not you KillFace) but how you view yourself. If you you were raised in a predomitely white family you may see yourself as white and if you were raised in a predomintely black family you will see yourself as black? Is it culture?

Yes, it is culture. But it's society too. I personally think a mixed person should be able to equally acknowledge both races and should be considered as both, but the fact is there's a national perception that if you are 3/4ths, half, 1/4th, 1/8th, etc., that you are black. I saw this thing on Oprah once where people you would have thought were white based on skin tone and how they identified themselves were "technically" black. There was a woman who broke down crying because her state re-issued her birth certificate where her race was changed to black because of an ancestor generations back who was black.

You also have the black people who can "pass". If most people felt the way you do, that it doesn't matter, then those black people wouldn't be hiding who they really are.My legal guardian's son, niece and nephews all could have passed. If anything you would have thought they were native American (they have close Cherokee roots). These weren't people who technically could be called mixed or bi-racial. But the fact of it is, most black people in America are at least bi-racial. But we just go under the umbrella of black. Obama, Berry, Carey, Kodjoe (can't really count him, he's a g-d foreigner), Kravitz, Bonet, Slash--they're not so different, it's just a matter of percent.