What dictates race?
Options
Comments
-
French and Dominican are nationalities.
-
soulbrother wrote: »If your daddy is French then you're French...not hard to figure out.
My daddy is black and I'm considered black...see how easy that was?
Ya Pop a black American or black Frenchmen or black Jamaican or black Canadian? -
@lucien is you dominican side white or black
-
@lucien is you dominican side white or black
Mixed. Moms is not white but her mother's mother is. -
So purely bi-racial. Your mom is bi-racial and your dad was white? -
so octoroon or quadroon -
As of late I have no clue where I am racially. Pops is French, moms is from DR. I look like some kind of Spanish, but i'm an off-white colour. How exactly does someone like myself get classified?
I don't consider myself black, for the obvious fact that I know the police don't treat me the way they would treat someone darker. But am I white? Whites often consider me to be 'other'.
Some theorists say race is a combination of what you identify as and what society labels you. Others lean in directions of either the former or the latter being the key determinant.
What's your take on this? What determines someone's race?
I like the way you presented your situation.
When trying to make a point on classifying race beyond perception, the rule I use is the 60% rule. If you trace your lineage and you're seeing more than 60% of your grandfathers and grandmothers are this particular race then that's what you are....no matter how light or dark you might be.
Reading what you wrote I would consider you mixed. You're not mulatto but just a mixed race. There are only by definition four races: black, yellow, red, white.
If you're dominican, chances are you have a lot of black ancestors and indian in you. That usually by appearance makes you black. As for the French in you, which is half of your blood if it's from your father/parent and not a grandparent or something who married another race----then that is what is qualifying your mixed status more.
I've travelled to the DR, talked with them and it is damn impossible for me to believe they had an equal amount of white blood in them. They are simply by the majority 2 races: Black Indian (black/red).
I'm not saying they're not mixed with other races, I'm just saying visually and history wise according to the number of africans shipped there where blacks outnumbered whites like 60 to 1 it's impossible for me to say they half white/mulatto.
They're mixed but the majority of that blood is black and indian. The few spaniards and french that were there did a lot of ? , a lot but it was with the africans and they ain't do enough ? or more ? than the africans with africans and africans with indians were doing. Number wise it woulda been impossible to ? more. ? it
rant: I get upset when someone says there mixed and they mean being mixed with Irish, Italian and someone from Turkey. Typically, if you're not mixing other races then you're not mixed by race, that person is only mixed in culture.
-
kingblaze84 wrote: »Society dictates race. Some societies don't have a race problem but an ethnic, cultural or religious problem. In societies where there is much diversity you will see categorization by race.
Looking at your description I'd say you are racially mixed, I say this because of your Dominican lineage. They are a society that doesn't see itself as Black even though most, if not all of them would be considered Black by others.
Most Dominicans don't look Black though.....most look tan like J-Lo or A-Rod
Sammy Sosa!! David Ortiz, Al Horford, even Carlton from Fresh Prince is Dominican
Yo, King; I gotta speak on that man. Have you been to the DR?? Those jokers are BLACK (with that being said you do have some that are just mixed and I can't say they are black; but that ain't the majority I'd give it 30%). What you see on tv is not representative of the majority of people in that country. On many islands the whitest looking (like A-rod or your examples) are the ones who make it out and have money and are what the country wants to represent. That isn't the true representation. I admit they are not as dark as Jamaicans, but Al Horford is your majority look and the rest are darker or lighter man; but it ain't the majority.
Al Horford is your basic look
I been there too many times and even once you get off the airplane the first thing you say is "damn, these jokers are black. I thought they were gonna be light."
Even the white folk tourists I talked to over there comment on how black everyone is. The only one's who don't know they're black are the Dominicans because they are lighter than their Haitian brothers and they HATE the haitians and don't want to be anything like them.
By the way: I mention Al Horford and Sammy Sosa because they are Dominican
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSbGoD7Z2dk -
-
Y'all can give me my WTF's.
I ain't gonna ? dude's thread, but these are dominicans. You got some light one's some very light one's about 30% of the population but it's just wrong to say they ain't black. Noone who visits there will confuse them with not being black. Maybe a lighter than your average black but I ain't really wondering if Beyonce or Jay-Z or TI are black and I don't think they do either. That's about as light as the majority will get.
Now the president, those in power over there and those with money are your very whitest looking Dominicans.
You of course have white and very very lightones like J-Lo and Marc Antony who I think are Puerto Rican; but that IS NOT the majority. That is however how they see themselves looking; white. It's real similar to Brazil, most Brazilians are just Black and mixed but visually they look black; but if you'll have to pull teeth to get some of them to say they're black unless they are just very dark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it77dPFYuMI
-
kingblaze84 wrote: »Society dictates race. Some societies don't have a race problem but an ethnic, cultural or religious problem. In societies where there is much diversity you will see categorization by race.
Looking at your description I'd say you are racially mixed, I say this because of your Dominican lineage. They are a society that doesn't see itself as Black even though most, if not all of them would be considered Black by others.
Most Dominicans don't look Black though.....most look tan like J-Lo or A-Rod
Sammy Sosa!! David Ortiz, Al Horford, even Carlton from Fresh Prince is Dominican
Yo, King; I gotta speak on that man. Have you been to the DR?? Those jokers are BLACK (with that being said you do have some that are just mixed and I can't say they are black; but that ain't the majority I'd give it 30%). What you see on tv is not representative of the majority of people in that country. On many islands the whitest looking (like A-rod or your examples) are the ones who make it out and have money and are what the country wants to represent. That isn't the true representation. I admit they are not as dark as Jamaicans, but Al Horford is your majority look and the rest are darker or lighter man; but it ain't the majority.
Al Horford is your basic look
I been there too many times and even once you get off the airplane the first thing you say is "damn, these jokers are black. I thought they were gonna be light."
Even the white folk tourists I talked to over there comment on how black everyone is. The only one's who don't know they're black are the Dominicans because they are lighter than their Haitian brothers and they HATE the haitians and don't want to be anything like them.
By the way: I mention Al Horford and Sammy Sosa because they are Dominicanhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSbGoD7Z2dk
I feel you man, I've never been to DR but my mom has. She was born and raised in Haiti for 18 years back in the 60s and 70s and she went to DR several times. She told me most of the Dominicans look light compared to most Black Americans but I'll take your word for it. The Dominicans I run into in the Bronx or in NYC in general look like A-Rod for the most part but since I haven't been to DR myself, I'll take your word for it. Funny how only 11% of Dominicans consider themselves Black though lol
Also, what parts of DR did you go to?? Some parts of DR have more Blacks then others, my mom went to the coastal areas and she said most didn't look THAT Black. -
DR's Taino genetic ancestry is very overstated
-
DR's Taino genetic ancestry is very overstated
You have to explain that to me Aggy. You know something on it? I know they say there were only a few indians there, but I always wondered on the number b/c the features of the people look black indian to me, specifically high cheek bones (which every race has but Indians often have it as a signature) wand the women's ? being kinda oval.
I just thought they didn't want to claim the indigenous people/taino the same way they don't embrace or claim the African side (they don't say they don't have african in them, but they will claim white and mixed waaaaaaaaaaay more often than mentioning the obvious african features that dominates their appearance).
I learned,unlike blacks in America, that the Latino's in Puerto Rico, Dominican, Aruba, Panama all speak very bad and harshly about the indigenous people and think they are superior and want to cast that part of themselves out equally. I'm not saying i know it all, so I'm saying if you know something let me know -
King, I definitely can't be more of a source than your mother. That's a straight up source that knocks me out. I ain't bullshitting.
I went to ? Cana (8 days)/Higuey, Santo Domingo (28 days), La Romana (20 days) over the course of 6 years from age 25 to 31. I ain't that old yet My job gives me 33 vacation days a year.
You're mother seems right to me. Al Horford is lighter than most blacks in America the same as Beyonce and Jay-Z and TI. It's arguable because you see a lot of different shades of brown. Best way I can describe it is like this:
I would say 60% are that skin tone of Horford, JayZ, TI
20% are very J-Lo looking/Pitbull/Marc Antony
20% are Martin Luther King Jr black.
So yeah, you can take from that 80% are light-skin but that 80% ain't no J-Lo or El Debarge type of light skin;
I was trying to make sure we differentiated the type of light-skin we're talking about.
It ain't light skin like El-Debarge (i know he's not latino) J-Lo, or A-rod -- no. The 80% t I'm arguing is the type of light-skin is more light skin like Laurence Fishburne relaxing his hair, Anthony Anderson, Al-Horford, Roy Jones Terrence Howard than the other type of light skin that makes you wonder if that person is even black at all.
Put it this way, I thought they were gonna look like Christina Aguilera, J-Lo, Selma Hayek (some do but they're far and in between)and when I went they looked more like my sister -
DR's Taino genetic ancestry is very overstated
You have to explain that to me Aggy. You know something on it? I know they say there were only a few indians there, but I always wondered on the number b/c the features of the people look black indian to me, specifically high cheek bones (which every race has but Indians often have it as a signature) wand the women's ? being kinda oval.
I just thought they didn't want to claim the indigenous people/taino the same way they don't embrace or claim the African side (they don't say they don't have african in them, but they will claim white and mixed waaaaaaaaaaay more often than mentioning the obvious african features that dominates their appearance).
I learned,unlike blacks in America, that the Latino's in Puerto Rico, Dominican, Aruba, Panama all speak very bad and harshly about the indigenous people and think they are superior and want to cast that part of themselves out equally. I'm not saying i know it all, so I'm saying if you know something let me know
DRs tend to overstate their native ancestry but genetic studies show they are mostly mulatto -
King, I definitely can't be more of a source than your mother. That's a straight up source that knocks me out. I ain't bullshitting.
I went to ? Cana (8 days)/Higuey, Santo Domingo (28 days), La Romana (20 days) over the course of 6 years. My job gives me 33 vacation days a year.
Just for conversation I would like to know if your mother has been back recently, b/c when she lived there her perception of race might have been (I'm not saying it was I'm just wondering) the way they see race over there.
For example: I was talking to a girl and she told me she had a full blooded- sister who was for me, but she was white. She was black she said but her sister white. When I saw her sister Aleida, her sister was black also.
They have a different perception on what white and black is over there and I wonder if--since ur mother's been in the US and if she's returned to the DR since to see the difference or not? Because growing up and being taught light skin blacks are white could still leave in her mind they were very very light but coming to the US and then going back she might say "damn, those jokers I thought were light ain't so damn light to me no more."
For instance, when I got over there I had to learn what they were considering to be white and what they considered to be moreno and what was black. Their definitions anin't the same.
You got a good point on the perception of race over there, it's weird as ? ! The Spaniards did a great job brainwashing people in DR. Thankfully Haitians ain't like that.
Last time my mom went to DR and Haiti was in the 70s, so you probably have more of an updated view on how people classify themselves over there. I do know my mom at the time believed Dominicans were too light to be considered Black but she was amused at some of the dark Dominicans she knew who said they were "mixed, not Black". I can only repeat what she told me, that most of the Dominicans she saw near Haiti where she grew up looked relatively light and not really Black. That's not to say she didn't see many obviously Black Dominicans, but again, you have a more updated view on the racial situation there. She grew up in a small town and didn't run into MANY Dominicans.
I can also say my mom has a very low opinion of Dominicans lol. The Dominicans she did know growing up were nice to her but she said quite a bit treated her darker friends and family members in a shady manner. My mom is maybe two shades lighter then Michelle Obama and she never forgot that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMvZieZrDsI