Roughly 1 in 5 Black children in the US under 5 are mixed per CDC data; varies regionally

[IllmaticDelta]

These aren't even the black identified passe blancs. Folks like Allison Davis, a Chicago descendant of DC's Wormley-Syphax-Cook and Detroit Stubb Families.

When you have folks like this that proudly proclaim they're black (and Allison Davis is very pro-black) it's a hard sell for biracials to try to carve out a separate space based on the binary nature of their race when there are many multi-gen black folks who have higher percentages of whiteness than they do.

People don't view blackness in this way, and I'm not sure if it's correct to do so, but to me, it's a lot like the Hispanic designation. You can be a white, brown, or black Hispanic but what unites is the culture. I viewed blackness sort of the same way. We got all these hues, from light bright damn near white all the way down to dark brown, but what unites is the shared cultural experience based on being descendants of slaves.

Facts! GK Butterfield (2 black parents) basically said as much about Obama

Obama's true colors: Black, white ... or neither?

A perplexing new chapter is unfolding in Barack Obama's racial saga: Many people insist that "the first black president" is actually not black.

Debate over whether to call this son of a white Kansan and a black Kenyan biracial, African-American, mixed-race, half-and-half, multiracial -- or, in Obama's own words, a "mutt" -- has reached a crescendo since Obama's election shattered assumptions about race.

Obama has said, "I identify as African-American -- that's how I'm treated and that's how I'm viewed. I'm proud of it." In other words, the world gave Obama no choice but to be black, and he was happy to oblige.

Obama's true colors: Black, white ... or neither? - USATODAY.com

In the word of a monoracial (as in non-biracial) Afram who happens to look "white"

GK Butterfield

But U.S. Rep. G. K. Butterfield, a black man who by all appearances is white, feels differently.

Butterfield, 61, grew up in a prominent black family in Wilson, N.C. Both of his parents had white forebears, "and those genes came together to produce me." He grew up on the black side of town, led civil rights marches as a young man, and to this day goes out of his way to inform people that he is certainly not white.

Butterfield has made his choice; he says let Obama do the same.

"Obama has chosen the heritage he feels comfortable with," he said. "His physical appearance is black. I don't know how he could have chosen to be any other race. Let's just say he decided to be white -- people would have laughed at him."

"You are a product of your experience. I'm a U.S. congressman, and I feel some degree of discomfort when I'm in an all-white group. We don't have the same view of the world, our experiences have been different."

The entire issue balances precariously on the "one-drop" rule, which sprang from the slaveowner habit of dropping by the slave quarters and producing brown babies. One drop of black blood meant that person, and his or her descendants, could never be a full citizen.

Today, the spectrum of skin tones among African-Americans -- even those with two black parents -- is evidence of widespread white ancestry. Also, since blacks were often light enough to pass for white, unknown numbers of white Americans today have blacks hidden in their family trees.

Obama's true colors: Black, white ... or neither? - USATODAY.com

 

[DrBanneker]

My grandfather was a pathologist with the UofC and studied under Dr. Bowman who was a mentor and later colleague. Knew him as a pathologist, not as a geneticist, so this is enlightening.

I am pretty sure he was originally trained as a pathologist, but he got into medical genetics where I first encountered him (I have some background and work in genetics). He started doing serious research in it when he was in Iran (where Valerie was born); they were taking blood samples around the country to analyze the frequency of blood groups in different parts of the country. He actually got detained and interrogated by the Shah's secret police (SAVAK) because they didn't know what the work meant. Later in the US he did work on hemoglobinpathies (genetic blood disorders). He and Robert Murray of Howard Med School did a book on the genetic variation of genetic disorders of people of African descent as well.

He was actually a big pundit around the time sickle cell testing became vogue being an advocate on not stigmatizing carriers (people were basically trying to say carriers shouldn't have kids) as people were starting genetic counseling for it.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1682982/pdf/ajhg00087-0005.pdf

This is the kind of bullshyt that he had to fight:

At least 12 states passed mandatory sickle hemoglobin screening laws, usually under pressure from black community organizations. Many laws were restricted to the testing of blacks and specified preschool children, schoolchildren, and couples before marriage;and, oddly, one law included inmates of mental and correctional institutions. Major corporations began selectively screening blacks. Black flight attendants-who had just been admitted to these jobs-were screened for sickle hemoglobin, and those who tested
positive were discharged. A majority of the major life insurance companies raised rates as high as 25% on persons with sickle cell trait, even though the life expectancy of individuals with sickle cell trait is the same as that of those who do not have sickle hemoglobin.
Sickle cell organizations proliferated and vied with each other for funds; many of them replicated misinformation in the black community (Bowman 1977,
Reilly 1977).

 

[IsThatBrothaMouzone?]

I would’ve never thought
Definitely seen it in Texas tho
Some distant cousins in Fresno, TX

Texas has the highest total population of Black people but.......we're only like 11% of the state while the national Black% is 13% or 14%

Rest of the state is split between white and Latino with some decent Asian numbers in DFW and Houston. Demographically Dallas/Houston are different from other big southern cities as the white/Black/Latino numbers are each 25% or higher....but the state as a whole isn't that Black.

Swirling isn't a big thing as much as class/education. Hood brehs and trailer park/hood white chicks pair up. College/brunching brehs hook up with sistas that are the same way or college white chicks.