The Student Room Group

The people who are called "black".

I think this is the right thread to post this on...
Anyway, does it not annoy and worry anyone else - how mixed race people are always called black, and never, ever, ever white.
Barack Obama. "The first black president". No. Shut up. He's as much white as he is black.
England's "black" footballers. Theo Walcott, Glen Johnson, Ashley Cole, etc. No. They're not black.
Now, Mark Duggan, for the past few years, black. But he's not black is he? He's half-white.
Personally, as a mixed-race person, this really really hurts me. It's white people who class them as this at first, and then everyone else just seems to go along with it. But it feels to me as if white people (consciously and unconsciously) are rejecting anyone who is not "pure" white. The slightest bit of anything else in you and no you can't be white. You're asian, or black, or whatever.
Is it just me who this worries and upsets, am I overreacting, or do people notice this as well and think it's wrong?

EDIT:
I do not want to be white. I would not rather be called white than black. The post is not about me specifically, I think it's obvious by the examples I give that it is about mixed race people in general.
(edited 10 years ago)

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Reply 1
I think you're overreacting a little bit but I can kind of understand the feeling of rejection from white people.

I didn't even know Obama was mixed race, he looks "black" to me. I guess it is just how they look from a first glance?
It's like when people refer to bi people as gay...*cough cough Tom Daley cough*

Yes, I can understand it being irritating, though in general it can be hard to tell the difference. The media like making things binary, because they loooove categorising us into neat little boxes.
Reply 3
I have noticed that as well, always found it a bit weird, as if there are white people and then there is everybody else. although I disagree that it is just white people classing them like that. Black Americans were happy to accept Obama as the first black president
Original post by paradoxicalme
It's like when people refer to bi people as gay...*cough cough Tom Daley cough*

Yes, I can understand it being irritating, though in general it can be hard to tell the difference. The media like making things binary, because they loooove categorising us into neat little boxes.


Tom is gay - it was obvious years ago. Bi men behave in a very different way that gay men, so it is important to know.
Original post by qwertyking
Tom is gay - it was obvious years ago. Bi men behave in a very different way that gay men, so it is important to know.


1.) He said he still likes girls. Ergo, he is bisexual until proven gay.
2.) That's a stupid generalisation. Bi men don't 'behave differently' to gay men - there's a stereotype but there are plenty of bisexual and gay men who do not conform to that stereotype.
Reply 6
Original post by TheBBQ
I think you're overreacting a little bit but I can kind of understand the feeling of rejection from white people.

I didn't even know Obama was mixed race, he looks "black" to me. I guess it is just how they look from a first glance?

7505667_f260.jpgPoster-sized_portrait_of_Barack_Obama.jpgyoung-white-male-portrait-1426353.jpg
But really? I think that you think Obama looks black because it's been drilled into you that he is black. His skin colour is closer to a tanned person than a black person.

And yeah, tbh I actually feel a lot "whiter" than I do "black" so when white people class me as black it's just a bit grrr.
Reply 7
I personally find it really difficult a) to tell what race someone might be from b) to describe this.
A colleague once called me out on calling someone black, because she was mixed race. To be perfectly honest, I had barely noticed what "colour" she was - it was a group interview and as the colleague didn't know names I referred to her as the "tall black girl" because that was what I remembered about her. If she'd been in front of me, I would have called her "coloured" because she was obviously not "black black" but I didn't remember that at the time as, as I said, I didn't take much notice of it.
I then had a long debate about whether it was OK to refer to her as black, or as coloured. The colleague (white but with very dark-skinned mixed-race partner) was very offended by my opinion that so long as I do not intend to cause offence and try not to cause offence the words I use to describe someone shouldn't matter or be taken as offensive. Which is, quite frankly, ridiculous.
People will refer to you as black, mixed-race, or coloured, because you are not white. White people are obviously white. Black people are obviously black. Mixed-race people, along with Hispanics, Asians and numerous other races, are not so easy to describe. The last thing I, and presumably many others, want to do is to call you something that might offend you. "Black" is therefore often used as shorthand for "anything other than white" and whilst I would always try to reserve black for very dark-skinned people and use coloured/Asian/mixed-race for others, there are issued. Some people take offence at the term coloured, whilst others dislike the alternative "brown". Asian is incredibly generic - people from the Indian subcontinent look very different to those from China, Japan, Korea etc. As for mixed-race, I would only use the term if I knew somebody were mixed-race, and you quite often can't tell that by looking at them. All you can tell is that they are not white.
If the world can agree on acceptable terms to describe certain people, and they are easily identifiable "categories", then I will use them. Otherwise I will continue to use whatever I consider to be the most accurate and least offensive terms I can. And I would hope that anyone ntaking offence would at least have the decency to ask me why I use a certain term before kicking off about it.
Reply 8
Original post by bananaminion
7505667_f260.jpgPoster-sized_portrait_of_Barack_Obama.jpgyoung-white-male-portrait-1426353.jpg
But really? I think that you think Obama looks black because it's been drilled into you that he is black. His skin colour is closer to a tanned person than a black person.

And yeah, tbh I actually feel a lot "whiter" than I do "black" so when white people class me as black it's just a bit grrr.


Sorry, how can you feel black?
Reply 9
Original post by bananaminion
am I overreacting


Tremendously.
Original post by Katie_p
I personally find it really difficult a) to tell what race someone might be from b) to describe this.
A colleague once called me out on calling someone black, because she was mixed race. To be perfectly honest, I had barely noticed what "colour" she was - it was a group interview and as the colleague didn't know names I referred to her as the "tall black girl" because that was what I remembered about her. If she'd been in front of me, I would have called her "coloured" because she was obviously not "black black" but I didn't remember that at the time as, as I said, I didn't take much notice of it.
I then had a long debate about whether it was OK to refer to her as black, or as coloured. The colleague (white but with very dark-skinned mixed-race partner) was very offended by my opinion that so long as I do not intend to cause offence and try not to cause offence the words I use to describe someone shouldn't matter or be taken as offensive. Which is, quite frankly, ridiculous.
People will refer to you as black, mixed-race, or coloured, because you are not white. White people are obviously white. Black people are obviously black. Mixed-race people, along with Hispanics, Asians and numerous other races, are not so easy to describe. The last thing I, and presumably many others, want to do is to call you something that might offend you. "Black" is therefore often used as shorthand for "anything other than white" and whilst I would always try to reserve black for very dark-skinned people and use coloured/Asian/mixed-race for others, there are issued. Some people take offence at the term coloured, whilst others dislike the alternative "brown". Asian is incredibly generic - people from the Indian subcontinent look very different to those from China, Japan, Korea etc. As for mixed-race, I would only use the term if I knew somebody were mixed-race, and you quite often can't tell that by looking at them. All you can tell is that they are not white.
If the world can agree on acceptable terms to describe certain people, and they are easily identifiable "categories", then I will use them. Otherwise I will continue to use whatever I consider to be the most accurate and least offensive terms I can. And I would hope that anyone ntaking offence would at least have the decency to ask me why I use a certain term before kicking off about it.

Fair enough if it's difficult to tell but I don't understand why one of your positions would be to call someone "black" when, like you said, it's quite obvious that they are not black. Why never "white"?
And the bit in bold is what I do take offence to completely. Why the exclusivity?
And yeah, when people think I'm from Asia I don't take offence - it's a genuine mistake, my features don't actually look Asian, but my skin colour and hair could be mistaken for that. I simply correct them and move on.
Also, as a side-point, I'd advise against calling anyone "coloured", no mixed race/ black person I know would be happy being called that.
Reply 11
Original post by bananaminion
7505667_f260.jpgPoster-sized_portrait_of_Barack_Obama.jpgyoung-white-male-portrait-1426353.jpg
But really? I think that you think Obama looks black because it's been drilled into you that he is black. His skin colour is closer to a tanned person than a black person.

And yeah, tbh I actually feel a lot "whiter" than I do "black" so when white people class me as black it's just a bit grrr.


I am mixed-race and I don't really care if someone calls me black or white. It's not as if I need them to verbally acknowledge the fact that I am half white.
Also, as the poster above has said how can you feel more white or black? You might identify more with being Nigerian, Jamaican or Scottish but black isnt really a culture lol. I mean, how could a whole continent be reduced to a single culture..
Original post by Saliency
Sorry, how can you feel black?

I mean, feel that because of my culture, accent, upbringing, etc, I feel more at home in a white environment than black. Not even that. I just don't feel culturally black, as in African or West Indian at all, I would say, which most of my black friends do feel.
I would say that white people can feel more black, and black people can feel more white as well.
Original post by paradoxicalme
1.) He said he still likes girls. Ergo, he is bisexual until proven gay.
2.) That's a stupid generalisation. Bi men don't 'behave differently' to gay men - there's a stereotype but there are plenty of bisexual and gay men who do not conform to that stereotype.


lmao, blatantly said he still likes girls as marketing.
Original post by lucaf
I have noticed that as well, always found it a bit weird, as if there are white people and then there is everybody else. although I disagree that it is just white people classing them like that. Black Americans were happy to accept Obama as the first black president

Yeah no I totally agree, but then I think he was very set up by the media etc as being the black candidate, and it's just in general the done thing to think of mixies as being black... well the whole point of my post I guess
Reply 15
Original post by bananaminion
Fair enough if it's difficult to tell but I don't understand why one of your positions would be to call someone "black" when, like you said, it's quite obvious that they are not black. Why never "white"?
And the bit in bold is what I do take offence to completely. Why the exclusivity?
And yeah, when people think I'm from Asia I don't take offence - it's a genuine mistake, my features don't actually look Asian, but my skin colour and hair could be mistaken for that. I simply correct them and move on.
Also, as a side-point, I'd advise against calling anyone "coloured", no mixed race/ black person I know would be happy being called that.


I would normally only identify someone by their skin colour when trying to point them out in a crowd, or remind someone of who they are. Most of the time I am surrounded by largely white people, so I would refer to a non-white person as being non-white because this is a better identifier. If the crowd I were identifying them from were largely black, I would probably refer to them as light-skinned. I wouldn't refer to them as white because I would expect this to be more offensive to them than being called white (although why I expect that I admit I have no idea).

I've never had anyone in person take offence to me calling them coloured. White people often go "oooohhhhh can you say that?" if I say it, but never has a non-white person told me they are offended/upset or anything like that. I get that a lot of people don't seem to like it, but I would rather offend someone by using a very non-specific word like coloured, then ask them how they would like to be referred to, than make a huge issue out of it by floundering to find the least offensive possible word. You say you would not be offended if someone called you Asian, but I know a lot of people who would be really annoyed.

To be honest a lot of the time recently I have done the ridiculous and far more annoying and less poltiically correct...hesitation...which sort of makes it obvious to people you are talking to that you are bringing up race and don't want to be seen as a racist and don't want to offend by saying the wrong thing. But I hate doing it.

I get that you don't like being called black. But do you want to be called white? Or do you just think it's unfair that people see the "black" in you before the "white"? Because you're not white, and I personally don't see how being called white could be any less offensive than being called black.
Original post by Blutooth
I am mixed-race and I don't really care if someone calls me black or white. It's not as if I need them to verbally acknowledge the fact that I am half white.
Also, as the poster above has said how can you feel more white or black? You might identify more with being Nigerian, Jamaican or Scottish but black isnt really a culture lol. I mean, how could a whole continent be reduced to a single culture..

I wouldn't care either - if ever anybody called me white. It's just the one-sidedness I object to.
Not one single culture of 2 different continents, I mean any black culture. I'm probably just digging myself deep in now...
This all stems from the "one drop rule". A single drop of black blood makes you black. I'm mixed (Somali and Russian) and have never been called "black". Probably because my skin tone is similar to my Russian father's, though. Regardless, I couldn't care any less about what people call me in terms of race. I'm not white and I'm not black, either. I'm mixed. Being called black has never bothered me at all though, it's just you... You have to remember that Obama utilised his black blood to win the presidency lol. He did win 2 awards as the best marketing campaign at Cannes Lions!
Reply 18
Sometimes I think is it really necessary to add their skin colour when describing/identifying someone, because it's like their race, ethnicity or whatever makes a difference. With Obama I think it was significant considering the history of black Americans.
Reply 19
Original post by bananaminion
I think this is the right thread to post this on...
Anyway, does it not annoy and worry anyone else - how mixed race people are always called black, and never, ever, ever white.
Barack Obama. "The first black president". No. Shut up. He's as much white as he is black.
England's "black" footballers. Theo Walcott, Glen Johnson, Ashley Cole, etc. No. They're not black.
Now, Mark Duggan, for the past few years, black. But he's not black is he? He's half-white.
Personally, as a mixed-race person, this really really hurts me. It's white people who class them as this at first, and then everyone else just seems to go along with it. But it feels to me as if white people (consciously and unconsciously) are rejecting anyone who is not "pure" white. The slightest bit of anything else in you and no you can't be white. You're asian, or black, or whatever.
Is it just me who this worries and upsets, am I overreacting, or do people notice this as well and think it's wrong?


YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :undefined:ahhhhh

:blushing: Just really happy that someone else feels the same way that I do! :tongue:

I'm mixed-race as well, and it really pisses me off when people call me black, or make jokes about my race, whether they're based on me being "black" or "white"! It just feels like they choose to ignore half of me just because I'm *coloured* (that word really annoys me too! Are white girls who get fake tans *coloured* as well then? :holmes:).

I know that the majority of people don't care, or that I'll be accused of over-reacting, but seriously people, if someone is mixed black-white, then it often is really obvious from their skin tone, so just call them mixed-race!

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