Race question

What is one drop rule? Please educate me ☺️

@Brittany it’s the concept used to racially classify people. If you have any black heritage you cannot be classified as white. It’s called one drip cause even if the heritage was many many generations ago you’re still not pure enough to be white. An example might be Sofia Richie’s kids despite their mom being mixed and dad being white they would not be able to classify themselves as white. Their kids also would not if even if they had kids with white people as well

What the hell are those lol? I do see your explanation of the one drop rule. Which I did know that if you have some black in you they still say black but I think if you look white you could answer that you’re white. Nobody has ever checked to see what my ethnicity is like when I answer no to Latino they just take my word for it. What is white passing and brown paper bag test?

@Daija ahhh ok, thank you.

@Cassie white passing: minorities who have light enough skin and Eurocentric features to pass as white. In the early 1900s white passing black people would abandon their families to reinvent themselves as white people. It’s rumored j. Edgar Hoover the man who started the fbi is one of those people. Brown paper bag test: is an idea within communities that attractiveness is based on if you’re lighter than a brown paper bag. Colorism was based on it and there were spaces people darker would be denied similar to “whites only” ideals I explained the one drop rule above The one drop rule is more historical but a lot of people think it’s what causes the divide and ostracization of mixed kids

Correct me if I'm wrong anyone else in the UK but here we tend to just say black, white or mixed (of 2 different cultures) but in every day language I and any friends I have, people I hear talking, you will say my friend, not my white friend or my black friend or my mixed race friend unless you are specfically discussing race. I feel the only way to move on is to discuss our similarities and not our difference. We all bleed red. The reason there was and is still a difference in many people's eyes from very dark skinned skin to light skinned skin is that there still exists white privilege. It is disgusting and should be called out and stamped out. There is only one race: the human race.

@Sophie while I understand your sentiments race is so engrained in every part of our society in America it can’t just be forgotten. Especially because in America Black is a culture just as much as it is a race. Saying I’m black American would be no different then saying Nigerian etc in my opinion

I didn’t know the one drop rule either; what’s the brown paper bag test?

we're in Canada and never heard about any of this 🥴

@Stephany I’ve learned recently how little non black people learn about stuff like this. I just explained to someone Central Park in NYC was a wealthy Black neighborhood that they tore down to build the park, and that they used to farm black people during slavery to eat and make furniture

Before today I'd never heard of the drip test and the paper bag test.

@Daija the only reason why i commented is because my husband is black and from all the cultured and racism stories i've heard over the years i've never heard about these types of "rules"

@Daija I had no idea, thank you for educating me!

This has been really interesting to learn! We don’t use those terms here in the UK but my fiancé and I have discussed about where our son (who is mixed race) will kind of stand regarding race and my partner said he’ll always be viewed as more black than white as black culture is typically more accepting than white and he will probably feel more comfortable identifying as black as he has type 4 hair and needs specific creams for his skin etc. We do use white presenting/passing like someone could comment wow I had no idea they had any black heritage which while there (immorally) must be privileges that come with that they must feel less confident to celebrate their black heritage. I teach at a school of predominantly black children and they use terms like light skinned and dark skinned constantly, they’re forever making jokes about the darker skinned boys (less so the girls) and will say things like “oh the girls only like him because he’s light skinned” etc so it totally exists here

I think outside of the US we see race, ethnicity, culture etc incredibly differently. Maybe it’s because for a lot of our countries we have buildings older than the US and immigration has been apart of our countries for so long we view it differently. I’d never refer to someone as “black British” or “Indian British” unless they asked me to themselves. I would just say British. We also don’t particularly single people out (I’m sure racist people do) and like Sophie said I would never say “my black friend” unless it was relevant to the convo. Like with ethnicity for example my grandmother on my dad’s side is Armenian. We enjoyed alot of the food and culture growing up but I’d never, ever ever say “I’m British Armenian” like Americans do because I was born and raised in English, so I’m English.