Sick of being told I'm black

[Notjustblackandwhite]

Just this really. On Friday a white friend asked me what I thought of racism in the UK as a black person. I'm mixed race, I'm not black. My mum is white and my father is black Brazilian, but it doesn't seem to matter and I frequently get called black ''for ease'', by white people.

I have nothing against the ''black'' part of my heritage, but I'm at most one or two shades darker than Meghan Markle, and I feel as though an identity is being forced upon me, similarly to how your name might get changed because x and y have decided that your name is too "ethnic" to pronounce. I'm getting more and more worked up over this, and recently someone decided to tell me that I was being racist for being dismissive of being black.

AIBU to think that is really grating and makes me want to punch people sometimes (metaphorically of course)?

"It’s a lot more common than you think."

I knew it was common. However, many African-Americans would be descended from slave masters and slaves, whereas that would not be the case (presumably) for Obama as he was the son of an African man from Kenya and descended from slave masters on his mother's side.

@GoldfishParade

I am totally white and definitely dont have a hint of anything non white. Standard celtic looking.

However my gran has always had me wondering. Her parents are white. She looks white. But actually in the proportions of her body and also some of the features of her face, and her skin tone (she is very tanned), it makes me think maybe she has non white ancestry. It's hard to explain, if you saw her you would just see a white woman. But actually when you look more closely you would see what I meant. I just dont understand how her kids and then her grandkids (me and my sister) wouldnt have a single trace of that visible. It's really interesting, I guess we will never find out, as all her family are dead now.

I am a mixture of Scottish, English, Jewish, and Romany. And these seen not the bits I know about. Haven't done DNA testing. I look thoroughly Celtic. Green eyes chestnut curly hair pale skin in winter. My sister looks more Jewish as does my dad, dark eyes hair sallow skin, my mum is olive toned with green eyes. The Romany is quite far back if on both sides.

Roma came from India in the 14th century. Many Ashkenazi Jews have middle eastern ancestry suggests the Bible is

n't wrong about all Jews coming from ancient Israel originally.

So technically I am not 100% white but I look it and identify it. I am culturally white. People would laugh if I said I was mixed.

I meant to say "and these are just the bits I know about"

StephenGram looks to me like a Liverpudlian. Yes, there is a 'Liverpool look'.

I totally agree. I am mixed race. I am Black African and White english mixed. I have family in Africa who are "Mixed" nd in Africa they have their own recognised identity as mixed people, in Africa the mixing goes back generations right back to when sailors visited the coastal countries. If Africa recognises the mixed heritage, why cant the rest of the world acknowlege that, mixed is not black, it's mixed, people should not be alowed to denying someone the birthright to acknowlege love, accept both parents and embrace a rich heritage from both cultures.

@whatisgoingtohappen

British people in particular are mostly incapable of seeing two heritages in the same person, because it doesn't fit a nice neat box to categorise them for correct treatment as per an ingrained mentality and inner checks of making sure the prejudiced mindset is not admitted out loud. The "other" will always be emphasised, I.e. the 'black' side, or another foreign nationality. It's maddening, it really is! You can be emotionally in tune to both sides of culture, and equally proud of both heritages, and it also doesn't mean that one "half" is lesser of an influence on that person's true identity compared to someone who believes (the fallacy) that they are 100% English.

Totally agree with this ^

I am half English half Italian and had this growing up (in a third country, am now in London where no one pays a blind bit of notice to notions of belonging so we all belong) - it wasn’t nice - to essentially feel as if wherever I went I was an outsider or didn’t quite belong or was labelled one of the other nationalities (despite being linguistically and culturally mostly English).

Erm, London is in Britain.