How Diluted Must A Person's Black Heritage Be Before They Cannot Legitimately Call Themselves A Person Of Colour?

[dave50]

Grandparent,  great grandparents, how far down the line?

[barry1010]

I occasionally read articles in the press where a white couple have a dark skinned baby, much to their surprise. Family history research reveals a black ancestor somewhere down the line. A black couple had twins, one white, one black.

Would it depend on skin colour and other genetic traits or just parentage? 

 

[naomi24]

A friend of mine who has white skin has a West Indian father and an English mother.  She claims she's black - but she's not.  

 

I know twins - one white, one black, of similar parentage.

[DDIL]

Good afternoon,

You could ask the same of people who claim to be of Irish Heritage or Skandi heritage, just because you are not a person of colour does not mean that you don't have black heritage.

[brainiac]

I am not a person of colour; but my mum was Scottish and my dad was English - so am I 'mixed race'?

[jourdain2]

Me too, brainiac  - except my dad was solidly Yorkshire, so that's definitely a race apart!  Hey, I'm mixed race!  Mum had Irish grandparents too..... my daughters' grandma was a Llewellyn.... getting complicated now.  I think I need a calculator or something.

[brainiac]

jourdain - my dad was from Yorkshire, too (born in Leeds, grew up in Cleckheaton) and hated being stuck in Glasgow when he came back from the war (far east, RAF) to marry my mum.  Kids came along and he could not escape!

[SIRandyraven]

I guess anyone's DNA could mutate and create a black baby.

As we all originate from Africa and were black skinned, then all the coding is there but dormant.

 

 

[-SharonA-]

I am half & half due to having a white mum & black dad. I call myself black!!! Well if you call call light coffee colour black!! 😁😁

[Peter Pedant]

we are verging on 'cultural appropriation' some people can say they are coloured and some not - well done AB !  ( cries of foo what dat den etc)

this was recognised in the C19 with now-insulting words - m+latto. quadr++n, octor++m - so that wd be g- gr- parents in answer to the OP q. Bertha in Jane Eyre ( laughing Bertha) is half Jamaican isnt she?.

I have 8% Indian blood / genetics because before 1820, the British traders routinely married Indian wives. I m not indian nor do I identify with Rishi nor 'namaste'. Since  the familly emigrated in 1750, I am not surprised.

I have no Arab blood but am quite happy to greet people in Arabic ( and cant ride a camel)

and so it depends on how the person feels

Two nephews in Liverpule police and they identify themselves as British Afro Caribbean ( London accents, and both have degrees). When the Nigerian girl jilted one, the mother ( guess which one!) said " good he wasnt black enough!"

The girl down the road, with a Singaporean Mandarin mama is certain she is English and wont go to week-end chinese culture school.

My two great nephews ( no not the afro caribbeans, I have a LOT) anglo japanese who were born in Japan, were chucked out of Japan by the Grandmother ( "they have no future here: they must go ( not return) to England" ) omi-goshi grandma ! I am pretty sure they dont er feel Japanese !

so it depends

when Trump said this, I sat stunned and thought: he cd lose the election over this!

 

[Peter Pedant]

I guess anyone's DNA could mutate and create a black baby.

It is a fascinating area - the gene is still there but why was it hidden for x generations and then expressed in the current one?

One gene may duplicate - one next to the other, and then slightly mutate ( alpha and beta Hb)

One gene may duplicate - one next to the other, and then greatly mutate - and take up a completely different function ( collagen and C1q complement )

and  lastly

It is possible for a woman to have twins, with each twin having a different father. This phenomenon is known as heteropaternal superfecundation.

Bunnies do this a lot ( and also ovulate on command -  can you think of the command?) and was described in man twenty y ago

AND - It is possible for a woman to have twins, with each twin having a different father. AND have different gestational ages ( one twin is four or eight weeks more advanced)  ( why that means the second father.....)

but I think this sort of thing is too rich for AB !

[david small]

It’s not the colour of the skin, but the person that dwells within. I’m amazed that colour over culture dominates the shallowness of the cerebrally challenged.

[Peter Pedant]

Then you havent been on AB long enough

[douglas9401]

What we need is a great big melting pot, etc.

[Old_Geezer]

Shows how stupid such a phrase is.

If you look black (or dark brown) then describe yourself as black.

If you look light, pinky shade, then white is the usual description.

If in-between choose a different appropriate description.

Just don't claim to be something you ain't.

[Peter Pedant]

What we need is a great big melting pot, etc.

and stir for 100 years or more... 

[douglas9401]

Oi!

[david small]

I’ve been on AB for over twenty one years PP. It’s something of a curates egg.....good in parts. But which parts? There’s the rub....

[Peter Pedant]

blimey Dave - can I call you Daffyth? you know how to mix a cool mixed metaphor

curates egg - Punch around 1850

ay there's the rub - Hamlet

 

[dave50]

I have noticed that those who have mixed parents, one white, one black, always refer to themselves as black, never white, even though its 50-50. Its like bring black is a badge of honour. 

[-SharonA-]

Dave, most mixed race have a brown skin, hence we are black. It's hard you say you're white with a brown skin!!!!