Be Honest - Do folks (white and black) see biracial people as black/white/neither (please explain)

[Anonymous]

Please say if you are black or white yourself.

I am black, my husband is white and we have a biracial son. I see him as black I guess because I see him the way I perceive society views him. I find this curious because I grew up in a predominantly black country where people like my son are viewed as white but having lived in the USA for 8 years I now see people like my son differently.

[Anonymous]

Why is this only a black or white thing?

I am half hispanic and half white. In my life I have experienced people thinking I am completely white or completely hispanic, but almost never seeing me as both.

[Anonymous]

I am white - Anglo/German ancestors - and I see biracials as neither, if I classify at all. I have a few multi-racial friends, and count some multi-racial couples as friends, and, to be honest, I don't classify them as black or white, if anything, it's bi - because the multis have have completely different experience, I think, from someone who grew up as either one or the other.

[Anonymous]

This is a good question - made me stop to think about it. I wonder if it is that we perceive the difference (from ourselves) first rather than the sameness. Being perfectly honest, if forced to put a person into one category or another, I would probably categorize as the minority (or different from myself) race. (Which, interestingly enough, is what the case was in your former country, where the majority was black and your child was seen as white.) That said, when I see biracial people, if I am considering their race at all, I tend to think of them as biracial, not one or the other. I also think biracial people are some of the most strikingly beautiful people around. I am white.

[Anonymous]

I am white and I have a bi-racial son. I see him as white because I am raising him alone and I think of racial differences in terms of culture, not skin color. However, I recognize that PHYSICALLY he looks both white and black.

[Anonymous]

Is it an American thing?
I can't understand people's problem with the color of one's skin. Where I come from you can barely tell what color one is and I'm amazed to see here how "touchy/feely" people are about mentioning skin color. This is just so sick!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is this only a black or white thing?

I am half hispanic and half white. In my life I have experienced people thinking I am completely white or completely hispanic, but almost never seeing me as both.

I did not mean to offend and I am sorry if I did. I was reading the Sidwell thread and that's what set me off. I guess the question can be applied to all multiracial people.

[Anonymous]

kids of biracial couples are black. only because they have darker skin. races are dumb labels that have no basis in any science (not like we have different human breeds), but unfortunately minorities won't let the labels die in their neverending need to be victimized.

example - Obama is about as black as me: raised by white family and didnt really know his black dad, but everyone calls him "black".

[Anonymous]

It depends. If I know the parents, and therefore know the child's background, then I think of him as mixed (if I'm thinking in terms of race/ethnicity). If I don't know the child's background and am just going by looks, then I go by what the child looks like - black, white, hispanic, mixed, whatever. But you know what? Probably about 1/4 of the kids in my DS' class are mixed race and I just don't think about labeling them by race.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:kids of biracial couples are black. only because they have darker skin. races are dumb labels that have no basis in any science (not like we have different human breeds), but unfortunately minorities won't let the labels die in their neverending need to be victimized.

example - Obama is about as black as me: raised by white family and didnt really know his black dad, but everyone calls him "black".

I consider Obama bi-racial.

[Anonymous]

My kids are mixed, that's how I see them. They have just as many features from me (white) as from my husband.

I don't automatically assume a kid is plain black or white unless both parents are obviously the same race.

[Anonymous]

genetically speaking a race cannot get any darker. whatever mix you cause the next generation will always be lighter than the darker parent.
so by this theory your child is whiter than the father's race.
in times like this I wish we were all color blind.
*sigh*

[Anonymous]

I generally see biracial kids as black. I'm 42. I think younger people (20s) are much more apt to say biracial. I don't mean anything bad by it. That's how things were, and how my biracial friends self-identified (then and now, actually). Having said that, I very rarely ever identify people by race or ethnicity unless it's somehow germane to the conversation. It just doesn't come up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:kids of biracial couples are black. only because they have darker skin. races are dumb labels that have no basis in any science (not like we have different human breeds), but unfortunately minorities won't let the labels die in their neverending need to be victimized.

example - Obama is about as black as me: raised by white family and didnt really know his black dad, but everyone calls him "black".

Wow, you're an ass.

Love, a white chick

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:kids of biracial couples are black. only because they have darker skin. races are dumb labels that have no basis in any science (not like we have different human breeds), but unfortunately minorities won't let the labels die in their neverending need to be victimized.

example - Obama is about as black as me: raised by white family and didnt really know his black dad, but everyone calls him "black".

OH! I didnt know we had white supremacists on this board!! Yay