Reply #23: In our "Black" Book, Ford is a Black man.....no matter

[FrenchieCat]

His family may have married folks that were similarily "mixed" for some time now, which accounts for his light skin.....but he is still Black. So Ford, just like his father and his father's father and his mother and his mother's mother are all Black People; they do not consider themselves some sort of Hybrid race...which, in essence, is what you are saying. Please know that most Black folks like being Black....and they range from the lightest shade of Beige to the darkest Ebony "almost" Blue. And Ford, just like myself, would not appreciate being labeled "something else less defined"....

My Husband, who was born in America, has his race actually noted on his Birth Certificate (they don't do that in France... which is where I was born).....and like Ford, although he is not "pure" Black (in fact, he is 25% Cherokee Indian, cause his mom was half), it does still read "negro".....and keep in mind that one's nationality has nothing to do with one's race; meaning they are both Americans as well as Black, hence they are both African-American.

Go to New Orleans some day and see if all of those mixed up folks consider themselves anything but Black. Some will say Creole to feel "special", but in the end Creole is just another label for Black, and most accept that.

In the Black community, the days were distinctions are made based on the hue of one's browness has long passed and thank God for that!

It is important to remember that most Black folks got their White blood through the institution of slavery, servitude and rape. The lighskinned ones were worked as "house slaves" while the darker ones were the "field slaves". This labeling instigated great division amongs Black people...where the lighter skinned ones were proclaimed somehow better because they came closer to being "White", and were often treated better as well. This divisive distinction based on one's hue was not helpful to the Black race here in America, and indeed is not something that many light or browner skinned Folks would choose to see coming up again in any conversation. It was the White man's way of dividing and conquering.....making some feel that they were better than others when in reality, we are all in the same boat.

Most Black folks would prefer NOT to somehow proclaim the fact that their great-grandmother was the product of a union between a White master and the slave, or attempt to separate themselves from their browner brothers and sisters just cause somebody is telling that it's an OKay thing to do...considering that skin color is not something chosen...because again, many of those born that way, back in the days, was oftentimes not conceived based on a love unions but rather because they were someone's property. This labeling by society didn't just end one day....it is still very much a part of our society. There are too many families that will have a brown hued child and then a very light one. What should those folks do? Use different labels for different chidlren? Do you really think that if Rosa Parks (who was lightskinned) got some sort of form now, she would check off something other than the "African-American" box? Why should she? No one asked her what other blood she had in her when the White Bus driver wanted her to get up out of her seat on that bus!

So you see, folks like Colin Powell, Halle Berry, Harry Belafonte, Alisha Keyes, Quincy Jones,(Exceptions like Mariah Carey who tried to "pass" now wishes she wouldn't have done that) and so on and so forth all consider themselves proudly Black...cause that is what they are....and they have no problems with it...so you really shouldn't either.

Take it from a sista'....I know!