R.Dennis said:
Mulatto is not a Race buddy... lol, Mulatto is just a old term to classify people of mixed blood. Most people who are African-American in the US have all types of races and cultures in there blood. That is nature of what happened to our people in slavery unfortunately. You would be hard pressed to find many African-Americans in the US who have clear lines to African lineage. Myself I have various cultures in my bloodlines, with family from Lousiana Creole blood as well, but when it comes down to identifying with one race and culture in America we identify with the African-American culture, customs and ways of life. Like Alicia Keys, Halle Berry and countless others who are mixed with black and white but are accepted, identify and embrace and live the African-American Culture. Like I said before it does'nt matter as much as what your race is, whether who you indentify with and GUY we all know who people of mixed lineage tend to gravitate too. I'm done.
That is the way it is in the US. It doesn't mean it is the universal way. In the US mulattoes are considered part of the black population, now called African-American. In the US "black" is actually more of a socio-ethnic label than a true racial classification. This came about because of the Jim Crow and "racial purity" laws which were based on the "philosophy" that the "white race" had to be kept "pure". Since blacks were considered to be members of an "inferior" race, having "one drop" of Negro blood, regardless of physical apperance, disqualified any person from being a member of the "white race". Since blacks were "inferior", well they could take in anyone, they had no purity to protect. Now in reality, in the same way that in the US. African-Americans are a separate ethnicity and all share "the African American Culture", in other countries, mulattoes and other mixed race people are considered ethnic groups with their own identity, ethnicity and culture. Very often, as in the case of the DR, asociated with national identity. For example, most Mexicans are of mixed race. They are a new people born of the union of the Europeans conquerors and the native peoples of Mexico, the "indians". They are called mestizos, theirs is an identity which is separate from the 10 million indigenous people who inhabit different regions in Mexico. Being mestizo in Mexico is synonimous with being Mexican, not indian. Some mestizoes are more European looking than others, but they have their own Spanish culture and language and are a synthesis of both bloodlines. Similar individuals in the US would call themselves "indian". Similarly, many African Americans who are in fact of mixed race, call themselves "blacK" but many Dominicans who look like those mixed race AA, would never call themselves "black", they, like Mexicans, have their own identity. In South Africa, mulattoes, who are called coloreds, are considered a separate ethnic group, separate and different from black Africans, who are the only ones called black, and sharing religion, customs and language with the white Afrikaans.
So, because Mulattoes are not a "race" properly speaking and in the US the last thing you want is to leave someone without a race, the decision was made long ago that they would be "blacks" orwhatever term they used, regardless. Now the fact is that there many, many millions of people in the world who are of mixed race, particularly in the New World and they are recognized as such. However, because of White Supremacy, denial and aversion to officially acknowledge race mixing, in the US you have to become a member of the officially recognized races. However, in practice,this means that if it is any sort of black mixture that is in question, the decision is already made for you, you belong in the "black race", with "them", regardless of who you identify with, nationality, culture or even amount of white blood. If you believe this old racist system is right, you defend it and makes you happy, good, but it does not mean it is right or scientific or that it makes sense. The rest of the world thinks and feels different. I am also done!
Had been very busy lately and not participated here for many days now.
