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If you are white your son is mixed-race not black. Why does the notion of whiteness exclude any racial mixture when black does? Why should whiteness be exclusiv

If you are white your son is mixed-race not black. Why does the notion of whiteness exclude any racial mixture when black does? Why should whiteness be exclusive? If the writer is serious about racism a good start should be to admit that your son is also white then you could write an article entitled "What I learned about stop and frisk from watching my white son" and a generation later your white grandson by his black mother of course. That would get white people to take notice.

vfclists 13y ago
I just got my first taste of HN censorship from my earlier comment about the reason why a white father insisting on describing his mixed race son as black is quite wrong and the subconsciously racist intent underlying it, love of offspring notwithstanding. I am rephrasing it and restarting it. If the writer is white then the son is arguably as white as he is black, and probably more white than black if the mother is an African American, as opposed to an African immigrant. So why the insistence on the father labeling him as black just because society sees him as such? Society can learn to see him as white if white fathers insist on claiming whiteness for him. Why does the notion of whiteness exclude any racial mixture when black does? Why should whiteness be exclusive and the father go along with that? The real issue is the way society is programmed by calculated use of language. If the One Drop Rule was switched around most racial discrimination would end, because discrimination would then be based on shade of complexion not race. Whites would be light-skinned whites, mixed race people would simply be medium-skinned whites and most African Americans would be dark-skinned whites from their slave-owning fathers. Or the definition could be reversed and white people would be very light-skinned blacks. The idiocy of this defacto continuation of the ODR is that is that it makes whiteness exclusive and black becomes some kind of genetic taint, some kind of condition/affliction which causes lots people who are 'white' socially, genetically and culturally for all practical purposes to be labelled as 'black'. That rule was made to ensure that wealth and privilege remained in the hands of white people, to ensure the formation of a predominantly and visibly white aristocracy and check the breeding preferences of resident or immigrant European nobility whose appearance was visibly that of light-skinned blacks. Take this instance of a prince of Liechtenstein http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LMfYsqYUdxY/UCaj_85tH2I/AAAAAAAAEU... http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LMfYsqYUdxY/UCaj_85tH2I/AAAAAAAAEU.... If American had more men like his father in ranking positions, his complexion might even be identified with aristocracy and how often would police harass males like him and risk losing their jobs? By being labeled as black it only helps rationalize the harassment. What is there to stop white fathers insisting that their sons be seen as white and have all the privileges that come with it and punish policemen who stepped out of line? This father's refusal to view and label his son as white masks a hardly unconscious reluctance to demand the same privileges he has for his son and by extension any other men of a similar appearance. If they got to be seen as white and also married black females the same privilege would be extended to their even darker sons and this issue would simply go away. The continued use of black to describe mixed race people, even multiple generations of 'blacks' who are mixed is simply a refusal to accept the fact that a white and Nordic-oriented exclusivity in a multiracial America is a myth, downright anomalous and is actually Nazism of the worst kind. Isn't it glaringly obvious how Hispanic is used to pull in lots of people who would be Black, Native American or both under the One Drop Rule, ie 'light-skinned blacks'? Unfortunately the use of the term black by that white father is just a sop to white exclusivity supremacists. European is a culture not a race.
soperj 13y ago
Maybe he's from a previous marriage?
- larrys 13y ago
  Or adopted.
devindotcom 13y ago
Wow, no. Your views on race are far from universally accepted and to me are highly offensive.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
robertwalsh0 13y ago
I think to the author it boils down to: "when people see my son walking down the street, they would describe him as a black person." For example, with Barack Obama or Halle Berry, it's unlikely that anyone would pass them on the street and say, "Oh look at that white guy/lady."
nightcracker 13y ago
What if I told you that your skin color is not the same as race?
adwf 13y ago
I remember a comment I heard along similar lines about Obama when he was running for president. Some people were saying that he's not actually black, etc... The simple rebuttal is: In 1950s America, which water fountain would he be made to use? Which school would he be put in? Where on the bus would he sit? Mixed race individuals get treated every bit as badly. So making the distinction is not helpful when talking about racial abuse, it only serves to distract from the core issue at hand.
- jpindar 13y ago
  I believe the example Obama gave was: would a cab driver stop for him?
JoeAltmaier 13y ago
Yeah race is almost meaningless as a distinction. We're not pedigreed horses or dogs. Skin color is a trivial genetic trait as well.
lsiebert 13y ago
I would point out the possibility of adoption as well.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

vfclists 13y ago

I just got my first taste of HN censorship from my earlier comment about the reason why a white father insisting on describing his mixed race son as black is quite wrong and the subconsciously racist intent underlying it, love of offspring notwithstanding. I am rephrasing it and restarting it. If the writer is white then the son is arguably as white as he is black, and probably more white than black if the mother is an African American, as opposed to an African immigrant. So why the insistence on the father labeling him as black just because society sees him as such? Society can learn to see him as white if white fathers insist on claiming whiteness for him. Why does the notion of whiteness exclude any racial mixture when black does? Why should whiteness be exclusive and the father go along with that? The real issue is the way society is programmed by calculated use of language. If the One Drop Rule was switched around most racial discrimination would end, because discrimination would then be based on shade of complexion not race. Whites would be light-skinned whites, mixed race people would simply be medium-skinned whites and most African Americans would be dark-skinned whites from their slave-owning fathers. Or the definition could be reversed and white people would be very light-skinned blacks. The idiocy of this defacto continuation of the ODR is that is that it makes whiteness exclusive and black becomes some kind of genetic taint, some kind of condition/affliction which causes lots people who are 'white' socially, genetically and culturally for all practical purposes to be labelled as 'black'. That rule was made to ensure that wealth and privilege remained in the hands of white people, to ensure the formation of a predominantly and visibly white aristocracy and check the breeding preferences of resident or immigrant European nobility whose appearance was visibly that of light-skinned blacks. Take this instance of a prince of Liechtenstein http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LMfYsqYUdxY/UCaj_85tH2I/AAAAAAAAEU... http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LMfYsqYUdxY/UCaj_85tH2I/AAAAAAAAEU.... If American had more men like his father in ranking positions, his complexion might even be identified with aristocracy and how often would police harass males like him and risk losing their jobs? By being labeled as black it only helps rationalize the harassment. What is there to stop white fathers insisting that their sons be seen as white and have all the privileges that come with it and punish policemen who stepped out of line? This father's refusal to view and label his son as white masks a hardly unconscious reluctance to demand the same privileges he has for his son and by extension any other men of a similar appearance. If they got to be seen as white and also married black females the same privilege would be extended to their even darker sons and this issue would simply go away. The continued use of black to describe mixed race people, even multiple generations of 'blacks' who are mixed is simply a refusal to accept the fact that a white and Nordic-oriented exclusivity in a multiracial America is a myth, downright anomalous and is actually Nazism of the worst kind. Isn't it glaringly obvious how Hispanic is used to pull in lots of people who would be Black, Native American or both under the One Drop Rule, ie 'light-skinned blacks'? Unfortunately the use of the term black by that white father is just a sop to white exclusivity supremacists. European is a culture not a race.

soperj 13y ago

Maybe he's from a previous marriage?

larrys 13y ago
Or adopted.

devindotcom 13y ago

Wow, no. Your views on race are far from universally accepted and to me are highly offensive.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

robertwalsh0 13y ago

I think to the author it boils down to: "when people see my son walking down the street, they would describe him as a black person." For example, with Barack Obama or Halle Berry, it's unlikely that anyone would pass them on the street and say, "Oh look at that white guy/lady."

nightcracker 13y ago

What if I told you that your skin color is not the same as race?

adwf 13y ago

I remember a comment I heard along similar lines about Obama when he was running for president. Some people were saying that he's not actually black, etc... The simple rebuttal is: In 1950s America, which water fountain would he be made to use? Which school would he be put in? Where on the bus would he sit? Mixed race individuals get treated every bit as badly. So making the distinction is not helpful when talking about racial abuse, it only serves to distract from the core issue at hand.

jpindar 13y ago
I believe the example Obama gave was: would a cab driver stop for him?

JoeAltmaier 13y ago

Yeah race is almost meaningless as a distinction. We're not pedigreed horses or dogs. Skin color is a trivial genetic trait as well.

lsiebert 13y ago

I would point out the possibility of adoption as well.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]