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Igbogirl
Veteran Poster
Username: Igbogirl
Post Number: 681
Registered: 09-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 01:42 pm: | 
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I've read some of your posts today with interest. Some of you have talked about whether a White person who affiliates with Blacks can actually be considered Black.
I'm beginning to wonder what the term Black actually means to you.
To me, Black, means Negroid or of Black African descent. Just like White, to me, means Caucasoid. Black to me is just another, and better, way of saying Negroid.
Therefore, by my reckoning it is not possible for somebody who is White or Asian to ever be considered Black.
However, some of you talked about how Whites can never be considered black because they don't undergo the same racism. But in my reckoning, Whites can never be considered Black, for one simple reason: they don't have Black biolgical parents.
I just associate Black as a race and I don't think it is necessarily synonymous with being discriminated against or being poor or liking a certain type of music. The only thing it means is that you are "Negroid".
So, what does Black mean to you? |
Enchanted
Regular Poster
Username: Enchanted
Post Number: 263
Registered: 11-2005
Rating: 
Votes: 2 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 01:46 pm: |
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We're Americans so we see it through slavery and the one drop rule. I'm not ashamed of that and I dont feel like trying to adopt somebody elses standards. To me if you have one drop then you're black. I also think if there is blacks who are honorary whites then we can have whites who are honorary blacks.
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Igbogirl
Veteran Poster
Username: Igbogirl
Post Number: 682
Registered: 09-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 01:51 pm: |
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Enchanted, are you the same person who is hoping that her children do not marry dark skinned people and wishing that your grand-kids will be light?
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Ntfs_encryption
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Ntfs_encryption
Post Number: 1307
Registered: 10-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 02:34 pm: |
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”…..are you the same person who is hoping that her children do not marry dark skinned people and wishing that your grand-kids will be light? “
Not necessarily. Those blacks have skin color issues. And as you are probably aware, this phenomena of wanting lighter complexioned children vice dark complexioned children is universal among all racial and ethnic groups and in no way restricted to blacks. So blacks are not the only ones who desire caramel, vanilla, cream or white complexioned children. I’m not privy nor am I interested in the psychology that drives such desires. Personally, I would rather focus on the health and intellectual potential of a child. But that’s me. Skin color is extremely important to many people in the world and no amount of ranting or vilification will change this…….EVER!
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Igbogirl
Veteran Poster
Username: Igbogirl
Post Number: 690
Registered: 09-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 02:38 pm: |
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What I mean is, was it Enchannted who started that thread about how she hopes her future offspring are not as dark as her? I forget who started that thread now |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 7105
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 03:01 pm: |
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Ntfs,
I can see someone wanting their progeny to be beautiful. And I can DEFINITELY understand one wanting their offspring to favor them in appearance. But that's different from desiring your children to MATE in such a way that they reproduce children whose appearance DIFFER from yours.
And that's WITHOUT adding to the issue the consternation and confusion African Americans have generally had over skincolor.
Not to speak ill of Interracial mating. But I have this suspicion that A LOT Black men become distraught as they see children they've sired that do NOT look like them. |
Brownbeauty123
Veteran Poster
Username: Brownbeauty123
Post Number: 1345
Registered: 03-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 03:07 pm: |
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Enchanted,
in several threads below, you made a clear cut distinction between Black and Biracial. In addition to that you shared with us that you find the mixed race phenotype much more attractive and alluring than the Black one. So, it's puzzling that you are in favor of the one drop rule.
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Ntfs_encryption
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Ntfs_encryption
Post Number: 1314
Registered: 10-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 03:51 pm: |
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"I can see someone wanting their progeny to be beautiful. And I can DEFINITELY understand one wanting their offspring to favor them in appearance. But that's different from desiring your children to MATE in such a way that they reproduce children whose appearance DIFFER from yours."
Hmmmmmm...ok. I can see that. But I think the motivations may vary. Hard to say. I think they want the children to physically favor them but with lighter skin. That's my guess. But on the other hand, I'm sure there are those who do not care if they children do inherit their physical characteristics, as long as the skin is lighter. I'm sure you have seen this. I have. But I find it all disturbing. Just my personal opinion.
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Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 7115
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 03:57 pm: |
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Ntfs,
I definitely wanted my daughters to look like me in some ways. And I am thankful they do.
But I never really thought much more about that than...that. |
Renata
Veteran Poster
Username: Renata
Post Number: 1649
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 05:28 pm: |
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The issue becomes how proud are we really to be black, when we're hoping to have children who won't be considered as such? Those light skinned kids who believe they're better than "black" people and who want even lighter children....do you seriously believe they and their (most likely) white mate will raise children to be proud of being black? Especially when more and more they look white and don't even live in communities with black people? |
Dahomeyahosi
Regular Poster
Username: Dahomeyahosi
Post Number: 108
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 06:38 pm: |
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To me being black means being of 100% black African blood. This makes sense to me because I believe that people reflect all of their ancestors, not just the ones they acknowledge or would like to emulate. You are the totality of what has come before you, nothing more and nothing less.
Likewise some ethnicities in West Africa exclude those who are not 100% of their ethnicity (as far as can be traced). It's understand that you don't carry the name. I have a friend of partial Ashanti blood who said that Ashantis are like that.
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Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 7129
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 06:43 pm: |
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Dahomeyahosi,
So what does it mean when you saying being 100% Black African blood means you're black? Does that mean you feel more kinship with ANY person of 100% African blood than you would to most African Americans? |
Doberman23
Veteran Poster
Username: Doberman23
Post Number: 640
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 06:59 pm: |
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negroid = black android |
Igbogirl
Veteran Poster
Username: Igbogirl
Post Number: 727
Registered: 09-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 07:05 pm: |
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Doberman, slightly offtopic, but how big is your love tool? Just curious |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 2445
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 07:11 pm: |
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Nunya! Tramp! |
Igbogirl
Veteran Poster
Username: Igbogirl
Post Number: 728
Registered: 09-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 07:15 pm: |
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Enchanted
Regular Poster
Username: Enchanted
Post Number: 264
Registered: 11-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 08:59 pm: |
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There are many African Americans who look like they are 100% Black African blood including India Arie, Don Cheadle, the Pointer Sisters, more than half the NBA, Emmett Smith, Alfre Woodard. I would say that most blacks in America are more African blood than anything else by a landslide but on t.v. they dont show it that way. I am proud to be black to have fudge brown skin and I do think that I am beautiful and my sons are beautiful. We are all dark black and African looking. My words have been taken out of context and rearranged by the other posters to make me look colorstruck but I am not that way at all. If my sons marry a dark skinned black woman like me I will be very happy. What I said is that from the women I have seen in my personal opinion the mixed ones are the most attractive. This does not mean that I dont find black women beautiful or black children attractive I do. But from the aesthetic standpoint I think that most mixed women and children are cuter and when I daydream of my sons getting married I do always cast the bride as a girl like the ones posted in the photo above. I do get a thrill when I touch mixed children's hair because it is very fine. I get a similar thrill when I touch my sons coarse hair which to me is very unique and one of the things I agreed with Kola Boof about is that we blacks have very unique hair that is special. That still doesn't stop me from appreciating other types of black people's looks and hair. I dont understand your stupid question BrownBeauty. I said that to me mixed people are more attractive I did not say that they are not black. We are all black who have one drop of black blood. Abm just because I believe Barack Obama is smarter than 50 Cents does not mean that I like Barack more. It just means that I think he's smarter. The same goes for me thinking Beyonce is prettier than Mary J. I do think Beyonce is prettier but I like Mary J. more because she is more black and down. Just because I think mixed people are better looking it does not mean that I dont like darker people better. Now it took me 20 minutes to ype all this so you people better read it!
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Igbogirl
Veteran Poster
Username: Igbogirl
Post Number: 737
Registered: 09-2006
Rating:
Votes: 2 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 09:09 pm: |
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Enchanted wrote: "This does not mean that I dont find black women beautiful or black children attractive I do. But from the aesthetic standpoint I think that most mixed women and children are cuter and when I daydream of my sons getting married I do always cast the bride as a girl like the ones posted in the photo above. I do get a thrill when I touch mixed children's hair because it is very fine"
I have to admit that as long as there are black women like Enchanted raising black sons, us black women have NO RIGHT to complain when so many black men seem to think light is right. We need to fix our minds and raise our sons better. |
Enchanted
Regular Poster
Username: Enchanted
Post Number: 268
Registered: 11-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 09:27 pm: |
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The Pointer Sisters are much darker than that lightened up photograph dumb ass Igbogirl. Their real hair is nappy as yours and mine and I have been to Africa several times and the women in Africa looked identical to the Pointer Sisters if you remove the fake hair. Whoopi Goldberg is another one.
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Igbogirl
Veteran Poster
Username: Igbogirl
Post Number: 738
Registered: 09-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 09:52 pm: |
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Oh Enchanted, you are becoming really disturbing.
1. All the African women don't look one same way. They certainly don't all look like the Pointer Sisters
2. You've never seen my hair so why assume it would be nappy? I'm Igbo after all. |
Enchanted
Regular Poster
Username: Enchanted
Post Number: 269
Registered: 11-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 - 10:27 pm: |
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I didn't say all African women look the same. I said when I went in Africa I saw women who look exactly like the Pointer Sisters only without the fake hair these sisters were bald, but damn if they didn't look like African American women. I have taken my sons to Africa twice. We went to Dakar and Timbuktu. My sons love Africa and we saw nothing but beautiful dark skinned people everywhere. Going to Africa made us proud to be black and have been six times myself.
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Dahomeyahosi
Regular Poster
Username: Dahomeyahosi
Post Number: 109
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, December 23, 2006 - 09:46 am: |
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ABM,
Being of 100% black African blood means that you have no racial admixture whereas you may certainly have ancestors of different ethnicities (Yoruba, Adja, Mossi etc.). I do not go by what a person looks like but who their ancestors are. I understand that most Americans go by a different definition.
I feel kinship with anyone who shares my cultural values but this kinship is not immediate because you can't tell someone's culture by looking at them. I must admit that I generally am more polite and observant towards black people. Being Beninoise in the U.S., I feel a certain camraderie with other West Africans that I did not feel at home because of my relative isolation. If I see someone who appears to be West African by dress or physical features I am more likely to reach out to them. However in Benin it's the cultural traditions that bond me to other people. Yes I do feel closer to these people than black Americans. I think that's perfectly natural don't you? |
Enchanted
Regular Poster
Username: Enchanted
Post Number: 272
Registered: 11-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, December 23, 2006 - 08:15 pm: |
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Oh brother!
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Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 7133
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, December 24, 2006 - 10:46 am: |
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Dahomeyahosi,
I guess. Though you know you've explained why there will likely always be friction between African Americans and Africans. Moreover, I believe White foks have been much more skilled at putting aside or reconciling their ethnic, national and tribal differences to gain sufficient solidarity to conquer Black foks. |
Dahomeyahosi
Regular Poster
Username: Dahomeyahosi
Post Number: 110
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, December 24, 2006 - 03:24 pm: |
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ABM Europeans people invented white and black for their own purposes. I have defined what the word means to me because I think it is an amorphous term. There was never any "black" solidarity. Africans have conquered Europeans at times and they have conquered us. Why do you have a desire to band together with people whom you have nothing in common but a shared pigmentation? I don't understand how this could possibly trump spirituality, language, or shared experiences.
I don't believe that white people have been more skilled at putting aside ethnic differences than we have but they have completely different circumstances. To me I see three groups of whites whom I separate purely on cultural grounds. These are Western Europeans and the immigrants that have their ancestry, Eastern Europeans, and Persians. Western Europeans, Americans, and white Latin Americans are culturally the same people. There is much to unite them in spite of their wars and petty differences. On the other hand Persians and Western Europeans are not together because, in spite of their whiteness, they do not share a common culture. You can not surmount a cultural chasm that wide. Africans and black Americans have a similar gulf. Skin color does not have the power to bridge the gulf.
As a West African, for the majority of my life, friends, enemies, icons, Gods, and Goddesses have been black. Blackness is normal for me and was somewhat synonymous with human. I need something more than blackness to build on. For me it is natural to reach out to all traditional West Africans because even though we have different ethnicities we share common ancestors and spiritual beliefs. I think white and black Americans have a whole lot more in common than Africans and black Americans. Ancestry is one of those things but there are many others including your language and spirituality. |
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