Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 16:15:46 EST
From: "Anuinette M."
Subject: skin color
For years since I've been learning about the Multiracial group, I have been hear the same old stereotype that all multiracial people are light skinned. that is not true!
I am 1/2 black, 1/2 Native American,and 1/4 Irish so I count as multiracial. And my skin is as brown as chocolate. But I did not inherit any physical African features, like that my hair only curls into spanish waves,and I don't chemically straighten my hair.
plus I have a small nose and thin lips. So most people (especially other blacks) have figured that I was Indonesian, East Indian, or any other non-african dark-skinned racial group. So sometimes its not always skincolor that shows racial mixture. And All those people who said blacks are the only ones that will get along with black multiracials because of their physical appearance need to hear my story.
In my life the only group of people that tormented me because of my looks and behavior were Blacks. Because of my family's middle-class lifestyle and my Standard ("proper") dialect, people assumed I was a "Whitley Gilbert"(i.e a mixed black bougie from a well-off family) when they didn't even know where I lived. So far my longest lasting and most trusting best friend is a White Jewish girl who never brought Race in the middle of our frendship.
Those people (black or white) who think I am choosing to stray away from black people I just have to say this: SOME OF US TRIED VERY HARD TO BLEND AND IDENTIFY WITH YOU, BUT MOST OF YOU WERE JUST TO NARROW-MINDED TO GIVE US A CHANCE!!!!!!
Anuinette M.
Holland
Date: Wednesday, June 20, 2001 3:06 PM
From: Jason
Subject: Letter to the Editor
Thank you for opening up a forum where people can – and do – speak thier minds in a peaceful and intelligent manner. I am an African American male, 25 years old. I’m not pressed about my ancestry, there are people of all kinds before me and the exact percentages are niether known, nor particularly important to me.
I hear a great deal of bitterness on this site that I find disappointing. A large number of people on this site who are ‘interracial’ claim they have recieved the brunt of abuse and rejection in life by blacks.
“Those people (black or white) who think I am choosing to stray away from black people I just have to say this: SOME OF US TRIED VERY HARD TO BLEND AND IDENTIFY WITH YOU, BUT MOST OF YOU WERE JUST TO NARROW-MINDED TO GIVE US A CHANCE!!!!!!”
Anuinette M.
Holland”
This alone I find to be a result of racism and acceptable bigotry. Because by and large black Americans are legally and socially considered second class citizens in America we make convenient targets for those who feel they have felt the sting of racism. The black kid in junior high who beat on you for being ‘high-yellow’ is extrapolated onto all blacks you meet. But did you extrapolate the same anger onto the white store owner who followed you around for 20 minutes. Or the Arabic teacher who dismissed you for being a mongrel etc. etc.m
Nasty has no color. People of all kinds are evil, inconsiderate and hurtul, sometimes it’s overt like kids beating you up, sometimes it’s subtle like not being told about fellowship opportunities because it’s assumed you don’t have the grades for it. The point is, if you really care about your soul, you won’t take the easy way out and hold one type of bigotry up to a different standard.
Personally, I was rejected by alot of black kids when I was growing up. And I’ll admit, it hurt alot more than any of the bigotry I experienced from whites because I EXPECTED white people to reject me, but society was telling me that if MY people didn’t like me there was something wrong with me. My parents were fairly affluent and educated, and most of the black students at my school were not. Almost all of my friends in highschool were white. BUT – did i then take the easy way out and say blacks were the only ones who rejected me ? No ! I learned as I got older that there were black people who liked Guns N’ Roses just like me. I read and educated myself and realized that class and cultural differences were not synonymous with race.
I know the feeling of rejection that comes from not being ‘accepted’ by the group you THINK you’re supposed to be accepted by. But I also know that to allow yourself to pick and choose a bad guy because one form of anger is overt and ignore the other is self-hatred all the same. I have been loved and hated by all shapes and colors but I’m worknig to embrace all types and not reject a whole group of people because I had some bad experiences growing up. That’s just racism saying that these people can be dismissed.
A parting thought. Have you EVER heard of a white person saying that they were refusing to date, socialize with or hang with whites of similar socio economic backgrounds because they were ostracized ? Of course not, because whites in America learn from television and books that they are a wide and diverse people and you can always find someone who shares your values. Blacks and Asians are just as diverse, if you haven’t made a social connection, look at yourself FIRST (could it be your own inner prejudice?) then accept that just because you don’t have any (fill in the blank race friends) doesn’t mean they universally reject you.Quit TRYING so hard, just open your heart, and be yourself.
Have a happy, I feel better just writing this.
Jason-
Date: Friday, July 06, 2001 12:17 PM
From: Gordon
Subject: Letter to the Editor
In response to Jason’s comments, though I do believe that there is more than a little bit of animosity directed at blacks by some multiracial/biracial people, we have to be realistic here. Though many black/non-black mixed race people experience ill treatment at the hands of non-blacks, they also experience abuse within the black community, which is also supposed to be the only community that will accept them. This is especially pronounced if they choose to identify with their all of their ancestries.
It isn’t whites or anyone else who proclaim themselves to be tolerant and accepting of everyone with African ancestry it is us. Yet, there are many of these folks who have had to suffer everything from name calling, being considered “uppity” because of their features and complexion, and having their parents ridiculed for choosing to marry across color lines, all at the same time being expected to feel that the black community is the only place where they should feel at home. If they dare to call themselves biracial/multiracial, they are immediately labelled confused or wanting to be white. Some of them go along with the game and engage in self-deprecation, even to the point of expressing hatred toward their white or non-black parent (I have personally witnessed this sad display of self-hatred). But if they choose to define themselves as something other than black, there’ll be hell to pay. This isn’t healthy and can be quite damaging to the psyche of a mixed race person.
As you well know similar intolerance can greet blacks who speak differently, associate with non-blacks (especially whites), hold opinions deemed not black, etc. The mixed race person is no different.
You wrote: “This alone I find to be a result of racism and acceptable bigotry. Because by and large black Americans are legally and socially considered second class citizens in America we make convenient targets for those who feel they have felt the sting of racism” The fist part of your statement may be true, but that has been used as an excuse by many blacks to justify either their mis-treatment of biracial/mixed race people or their reluctance to take a good look at how mixed race people are treated by some people in the black community.