Mixed race question

[QueenPaws]

Apologies if I phrase this wrong!
So there are people who are distinct percentages if that makes sense so 25%, 50% etc etc
What classes as mixed race or white? So 1/8, 1/16...
I've been watching some genetic reveal videos on YouTube, the ancestry type things and I'm curious. Google isn't helping much

I find this so interesting. DP is mixed and would be the one to carry our children if we have them (same sex couple.) depending on the donor we chose our kids could be anything from 25% to 75% black- would they all identify as mixed?

Our DN are 1/4 and though blonde and blue/green eyed, have that 'just been on holiday' tanned vibe all year.

@olderthanyouthink French, Africans and Caribs: Dominica!

@jolokoy bingo! You "from" there?

A grandparent, yes. Well, it's a tiny place! We're probably related.

@RubyFakeLips you sound really similar to me, I've not come across anyone with a similar mix.

I pass as white British, but I'm Scottish/Jewish (equal mix of Ashkenazi and Sephardi) very pale with almost black hair and green eyes- think Disney's Snow White. DH is mixed race white mum black Dad but looks black and is treated as such.

DS is blue eyed and blonde hair, noone believes he is 1/4 black and there's even raised eyebrows that DH is his Dad.

DS' cousins are also 1/4 black but are much darker- olive skin, brown hair, brown eyes. We can already see a difference in how they are treated and it's heartbreaking.

I tick mixed race on all forms.

my neices are mixed race.
They lived for a few years on the caribbean island where their mum's family originally came from.

the girls are all quite different looking, but, really shockingly, on the island, they were classified as 'passing white' or not 'passing white'

Mum and one dd didn't pass, and the other girls did. Very different attitudes depending on whether or not you 'passed'

@CormoranStrike

Sorry to jump in, but I am mixed race myself (half black/half white) and I identify as black, simply because to look at me, you see a black woman not a white woman.

I'm am proud of both my heritages, but i'm definitely most proud to be a black woman :)

[quote FierceS221]@CormoranStrike

Sorry to jump in, but I am mixed race myself (half black/half white) and I identify as black, simply because to look at me, you see a black woman not a white woman.

I'm am proud of both my heritages, but i'm definitely most proud to be a black woman :)[/quote]
Thank you Fierce. Choosing what your are most proud of seems a very good reason to identify with one side of your heritage.

Do you think your white side - mum or dad, or granny or grampa - feel their side is neglected at all?

It's my mum who is white in my case. She grew up 'out in the sticks' if you will, and comes from a family of farmers who I guess weren't really exposed to different races and where very black and white in their views.

My mum got alot of grief when dating my father, especially from her dad, but she has ALWAYS empowered me, boosted me and given my confidence for my darker skin and afro hair and exposed me to my black heritage.

She's made me the woman I am today.

So to answer your question, no I dont think she feels neglected.

Thanks for that question though, really made me appreciate how my mum has stood up for me.

I know a woman who is a quarter Indian. You would never know

My children are half Indian and you would never know either 🤣 Causes some confusion when people meet their dad for the first time and they wonder who the hell he is.

People can’t get their heads around brown parents of white looking children. It’s like they think it’s impossible.

Anyway, back to the OP. I think when your mixed ancestry isn’t a clear cut 50/50 it’s a question of what you identify as personally. “Mixed other” is an option. I hate ethnic monitoring forms anyway, my local children’s centre always wanted my details, my child’s details, and then ethnicity... assuming that parent and child is always the same

I’m mixed but look more or less entirely white. I usually call myself and think of myself as “mostly white” or “whiteish.” Growing up I thought of myself as white but my (white) paternal family were explicit in telling me I wasn’t white.

I also look nothing like either side of my family which is weird. My mum’s side have brown or olive skin and textured hair. My dad’s side all have blue eyes and that super English colouring where the skin is really pink and goes red in the sun (like Boris Johnson colouring). I have very pale skin and dead straight black hair and dark eyes. Somehow the genes combined in a way where although I share some facial features with my mum and dad, I don’t have the colouring of either.

Everyone is mixed race. White and black as a concept should be retired. It's a nonsense.

@IVFNewbie

Everyone is mixed race. White and black as a concept should be retired. It's a nonsense.

That would be nice, seems a bit of a way off though.

Actually, thinking about it, there will always be physical attributes according to ancestral origin, so in that sense 'race' will probably always exist even if it doesn't affect anything in a person's life.

I'm recalling a conversation I had at work years ago which was essentially about race even though both of us were white. I had said it was too hot and I couldn't handle it, being celtic. My co-worker said he was celtic too and feeling the heat as well. I looked at him, very tall, very blond, grey eyed and Scots, and asked if he didn't think he had quite a bit of Viking too. Then we had a conversation about which bits of his ancestry came from areas near Viking settlements.

People will always look different, so race as an assumption of other characteristics should go but there will still be different heritages even if it has no more importance than we currently give to being left or right handed.

@IVFNewbie

Everyone is mixed race. White and black as a concept should be retired. It's a nonsense.

As soon as you get into the specifics yes, it becomes very obvious how much more of a social construct than a biological fact it is. However, money is a pure social construct but the possesion or lack thereof has a massive impact on peoples lives and race is the same really.

@CormoranStrike in answer to your question about how parents feel if their child identifies diferently. I'm white with a mixed race/black child. He's young now but I absolutely wouldn't feel hurt if he chose to identify as black rather than mixed. A lot of the "heritage" I hope to pass on to him in terms of values, food memories, jokes, etc arent colour dependant anyway.
Interestingly though in mainland Europe, where we live, people would be more likely to refer to him as black rather than white. In Africa where his dads from his paternal aunty referred to him as white/pale a few times (not at all in a negative sense). So how hes seen by others will probably depend on where he is. So long as he's able to find an identity that works for him and feels like he fits in I'll be happy. At the moment though we live in a very mixed area with a lot of ethnicities as well as a lot of other mixed race children so Im not too worried.

Its also worth mentioning that when it comes to medical history whether you are mixed race etc can sometimes have an impact. For example sickle cell anaemia is far more likely in someone with African heritage, certain blood disorders associated with ashkenazi jewish heritage etc.

Everyone is mixed race. White and black as a concept should be retired. It's a nonsense

Why shouldn’t people be proud of their heritage and want to identify as that.

The only people I personally know who claim everyone is mixed anyway are those trying to shut down the argument of racism or belittle it in some way

I am not saying you are IVFNewbie but it’s certainly used this way

@yetanothernamitynamechange definitely. I guess my query is when does it count to discuss it in medical history

Like my grandad would say he was white, but he didn't actually know his grandad wasn't white, otherwise he might have said different
It sounds really strange and hopefully this thread hasn't offended anyone but it just occurred to me doing the family tree that we would all describe ourselves as white and it's kind of wiping out this other heritage

I’m mixed race, my dad was half Bangladeshi. I grew up in a very multicultural area near London and in comparison to lots of my school friends, I was very white passing. When I hit secondary, it was less diverse but all my friends were white and I identified as white.

I moved to rural north wales when I was 18 and it was then that I ‘realised’ I was moved race. Because where I live now is SO white, I am no longer white passing and am easily identifiable as mixed race. My son, who looks incredibly Caucasian to me, has been pointed out as the mixed race child on several occasions.

I identify as mixed race now and speak up clearly about my sons heritage as unfortunately my PIL are quite racist, so I feel I have to make a demonstrable statement against whatever they and their friends say in our hearing, as I won’t have DS brought up thinking there’s something wrong with us.

I love being mixed race and I’m proud of our heritage.

I still don't know whether genetic inheritance is supposed to make a difference or not. If you're 1/4 black, are you to be treated the same as everyone else? If not, why not? Does your inheritance make you somehow special? We all have inherited a genetic mixture; all of us. My relatives were English/Irish criminals deported to Australia. Hardly the apex of the genetic pyramid.

I'm mixed race and identify as mixed race.

My mum an Anglo-Indian from Borneo and my dad is a "colored" South African who escaped apartheid in the mid-60s.

From ancestry and me, it turns out that we have everything from Thai, to Bantu tribe, to Congolese, to Irish, to Polynesian (and in and on). Bizarrely enough no English but some Dutch, which leads me to believe that my dads side were slaves owned by Dutch (we have traced my dads tree back).

I'm the palest in my family but tan easily and have dark hair and eyes and can, on any given day look Indian, Asian or Mediterranean. Also Brazilian for some reason. I also have very thick 3b curly hair.

I'm a first generation Brit and was brought up in a typical middle class upbringing but struggle with my identify and where I "fit". I want to celebrate my mixed heritage but feel a fraud identifying with anything other than white, suburban and middle class.

I've not suffered at the hands of racism but my parents did as did all my ancestors.

@jolokoy i have two grandparents from there, hey cousin!
Have you been? I went a few years ago and it was WEIRD! I have like 15 great aunts and uncles, people in the street just knew my grandad even though he lives in the UK and has for a very long time "are you a ? I'm a !" 🤯

My nan is from Roseau and my grandads from a small town in the mountains but they met in London 🤔

:D PMed you!