Were white people right in rejecting biracial people as part of them back in american history..?

• Now i know this question may be construed as something offensive but first let me explain it. Now when biracial's were being born (during slavery and up until the 19th century) they weren't fully accepted by whites and most of them were shunned by whites due to white racism and the ideology that whites had that they needed to keep there race pure and unified Now with this shuntment that whites showed to biracials, blacks (willingly) embraced biracials and accepted them as one of there own and to this day biracials have sort of become incorporated into black culture and have become (in a way) just like black people. Now even though i feel it was good that blacks embraced and accepted biracials as part/one of us, has this embracement become a double-edged sword in the black community? I say this because we all know that there is a big issue concerning dark skin and light skin in the black community (especially with the girls) where light skin is promoted and favoured upon in not only our community but also the media. An example is -Many rap/rnb video will show and promote only biracial black girls while excluding black (dark/medium skinned girls (not all)) -Many roles that are cast for black females are actually played by biracial women (my wife and kids, sister sister, fresh prince, just to name a few) not only in programs but also films. -The media seems to only promote biracial women and try to pass them off as black women (halle berry, alicia keys, mariah carey etc) Now all this (and many other things) have caused friction and resentment especially among black women (both dark and light) in the black community with some black women hating/disliking biracial women and vice versa (not all). Also some people have voiced there opinions at being upset that were somewhat being forced to accept a person who is only half black as being the standard of black beauty which the media likes to show and promote to not only america but also the world (which may give insecurities to actual black women seeing as some feel that they don't fit the image that they've been present with). Did white people do the right thing (for themselves and there race) when rejecting biracials as they kept there race from being exposed to issues (concerning biracials) which may have created animosity between each other and made the white community less unified like it has down with the black community (in certain parts and areas). BQ- Do you think what i wrote has some validity and relevance or do you think i've just written a whole of crap lol. p.s. This post wasn't written to offend biracial people of any sort (really) and i don't necessarily believe that biracials should be rejected from both races, however this question has been playing on my mind for days now and i just felt like i needed to ask it..

• Answer:

  I wouldn't say they did the "right" thing, but they did look out for their best interests, which benefited them at the time and even today. If they didn't make the one drop rule, biracial people would be allowed to ascend to their level in society, or one dangerously close to it, which would have disrupted the social order of the time. Has it come back to bite black people in the @ss that biracial people were "taken in", so to speak? I would say no. Not only is black American history littered with technically biracial people who made strides for black equality, it makes us multi-faceted. If anything, it gives us an amount of versatility that white people don't have in this day and age, which is ironic considering that the black label was used and created by whites of the past to relegate us to an inferior position to them. Since "whiteness" is based in racial purity and "blackness" is not, the black community has a much higher ceiling in terms of growth and progress in this age of Globalization. However, it's important to note that all these divisions are bull$hit in reality, so one shouldn't derive pleasure from that information or think that it makes a black person any better than a white person Biracial people in America can fall into 4 groups- 1) They can be in the "I'm black" crowd, which is probably the simplest road, since it's so well traveled. Biracial people have been a part of the black community since this whole racial paradigm started so it's the path of least resistance in terms of self identification (unless you run for president or achieve success in life *cough*) 2) The second is the "I'm black and white" crowd. This crowd never says they're one without the other, which is why they are so confusing (to others and even themselves sometimes). America is so racialized at its core that nobody knows what the hell to do with these people. I think we should see them as black and let white people see them however they want to see them. If they don't like it they can join the people of number 3 or 4. 3) The "I'm biracial, not black or white" crowd, which is relatively new and kind of annoying, because they don't really want to change the racial status quo, just write themselves in so that they can be racially ambiguous for their own benefit at the expense of everyone elses (like the "Hispanic" label in america, which is now no longer officially counted as a race on the census) 4) The "I'm white" crowd. I've only seen one case of this, and she's a troll on YA who probably isn't biracial. In any case, while there are biracials who pass and have passed as white people, it's always a secret and usually comes with a fair amount of self loathing. I see them as being something white people have to deal with, not blacks (thank goodness)