What is your preferred term for your ethnicity or racial background?

[Jamdown123]

I'm just wondering how people feel about:

People of Colour
Ethnic Minority
Black
Nubian
Coloured (surely a complete no-no, but let us see!)

And for people who have parents or grandparents that are not black?:
Mixed race
Mixed
Bi-racial (I don't really like this so much because it assume two races, when someone might be more)

I am black myself, and I like black, but am conscious it could exclude people who also identify as another ethnicity as well as Black. I have also just used 'African' though I'm Caribbean I consider my blackness to be African in roots. Not all of my Caribbean friends like that of course, because they aren't African Caribbean. I actually don't like 'people of colour' because it suggests, once again, that white isn't a colour as it doesn't really reference white people, when it most definitely is!

[TheBlackDarner]

Thankyou Dancing. I do lurk a lot on there, I've Irish in my blood! Although "Black Irish" is a whole other discussion!

[Google31]

@CannotThinkOfName
I saw that thread and although I understood in your later comments what you were trying to say, your op associated the world black with rappers using the word b$$ch and that’s wrong on many levels because there is nothing wrong with the word black and it’s not a derogatory word like b$$ch, perhaps you could’ve worded it differently.
I see nothing wrong with black as a description if a stranger is trying to point out the only black person among a group of white people, that wouldn’t work in an African country but would work in the UK.

[Buggritbuggrit]

@Google31 Yup. There’s also the assumption of a monolithic Black culture that is pretty grating. So, you get told not only that you’re Black, but that Black means XYZ - much of which has little do with you.

There was a really great thread here on what advice people would give to a 23 year old Black woman a few weeks ago. It brought up lots of interesting perspectives an racial identity, assumptions and how we all navigate them. If you haven’t seen it, I really recommend having a read. I found it fascinating.

[Google31]

@Buggritbuggrit
You see that assumption never happens to anyone from my culture because they don’t even associate with “black culture” and wouldn’t know what it means, Nigerian culture would be different from Somali culture etc. The culture is usually the culture they grew up with at home and it’s inevitable to take in some of the culture of the country you live in, specially for those who are born here.

[StrawberryDumpling]

I'm mixed race black jamaican/white Irish
And have always struggled a lot with my own sense of identity.
If I describe myself as being black I'm usually always met with a funny look or negativity, similarly i struggle to explain to my dc what colour they are, on the surface they're as brown as me although slightly darker as their dad is black but I tell they are black because no matter what we think we are or want to be called we will always be othered and put in the 'black' box when being described by a white person.
It's degrading.

[Buggritbuggrit]

@Google31 I think I was unclear, my apologies. I was agreeing with you.

I’m saying that ‘Black culture’ doesn’t exist in most African countries, because Blackness doesn’t exist in said countries. We are a mixture of diverse tribes, ethnicities, religions, cultures, social backgrounds, individual personalities, it’s an unending list. In our countries, we aren’t ‘Black’, we’re people. And if I were to go to Somalia or you were to go to Nigeria, we still wouldn’t be ‘Black’, we’d be xx nationality.

In countries with a white majority, we ‘become’ (for want of a better term) ‘Black’. We know what we are, but there is no broader understanding of the myriad ancestral and socio-cultural differences. We are not only told we are Black, but have the (generally monolithic) expectations of, and stereotypes associated with, Blackness within said countries thrust upon us. These expectations and stereotypes often have nothing to do with our own lived experiences/culture/preferences.

Whether or not we choose to accept or acknowledge the constructs of ‘Black culture’ as it exists in white countries, there is no escaping from the fact that said constructs exist. We’re all just lumped together. And that’s what I referred to as grating.

Hopefully that’s a bit clearer.

[EdmontinaTiresofNameFlipping]

Ah, yes … ‘black culture‘. I have not a clue what it means (in the sense of how it could possibly be meaningful) and yet am assaulted (and it does feel like assault) with this ridiculous, reductionist phrase about a million times a day.

But perhaps I shouldn’t be astonished that people who impose this term on others consistently fail to grasp the deep, complex, rich inheritances of anyone in this country who is not white.

I’m always forced to tick the ‘Black British Other’ box - not because I’m ancestrally South American or Australian - but simply because I have heritages in two separate continents where ‘black’ is the majority. This possibility never seems to occur to the makers of box tick forms.

[Google31]

@Buggritbuggrit
I understand clearly, it’s because we are a minority in a European country so they put all Africans into one group as black, even as a Somali woman my Somali culture will be different to someone who is from another part of Somalia, different tribes have different customs, but here in a western country we are just seen as our skin colour.
I always wondered why white people in the US who come from variety of backgrounds are called Americans while anyone black is African American or just Black, they are not exactly a minority in the US.

[EdmontinaTiresofNameFlipping]

(I definitely wrote ‘reductivist’. Will try not to cast aspersions on my phone.)

[Strokethefurrywall]

I always use mixed when ticking the “race” box because my dad is a “colored” South African that escaped apartheid and is a descendent of slavery, and my mum is and Anglo-Indian who grew up in Malaysia.

When looking at our ancestry dna map, we are a total mix of Asian/Indian/African Bantu tribe and very little Western European. But I could pass for French/iTalian/Brazilian/ Greek and was brought up in white, middle class SW London suburbia.

I got all the privileges of being white due to my dads hard graft, but am very aware of the history of my mixed cultures.

People’s descriptive preference of themselves, whatever that may be, is acceptable. Although I can’t get over people in the US telling me my dad is African-American. Errr he isn’t, he’s just African African and just describes himself as a lucky son of a bitch.

[phoenixrosehere]

I always wondered why white people in the US who come from variety of backgrounds are called Americans while anyone black is African American or just Black, they are not exactly a minority in the US.

Probably because Black Americans weren’t considered equal or have equal rights until the 1960s and slavery in the South didn’t end until about 100 years before that and in between you had laws that purposely kept black and white people segregated in most of the US and suppression of exercising the right to vote. Saying that, many White Americans will proudly say what country their ancestors are from but seemingly ignore that some had it a bit easier than the Black people who actually been there for centuries.

[TheBlackDarner]

@Yubaba I read your cousin's article thankyou for sharing it. I knew someone brought up in a children's home in Blackpool. He was black. Sadly, he was very affected by it into adulthood. Possibly the same place. I'm so pleased that your cousin is in a happier situation these days.

[debbrianna]

Interestingly, Somalis, Eritrean and Ethiopians don't have an issue ticking the Asian or white box or describing themselves as that. It's a whole discourse the community has just started having. A lot of people are realising they are not just under the umbrella of african but black too.

[TouchMyToe]

But there is no clearly defined "black culture" here in the UK as blacks have heritages from many different countries. For e.g the Caribbeans are different to the Africans and even within the Caribbean the Jamaicans are different to the Bajans.

[Blackisblackisblack]

I rather just be seen as an individual that just happens to have brown skin

Definitely, this!

[Jamdown123]

@debbrianna

Interestingly, Somalis, Eritrean and Ethiopians don't have an issue ticking the Asian or white box or describing themselves as that. It's a whole discourse the community has just started having. A lot of people are realising they are not just under the umbrella of african but black too.

I don't doubt you, I just want to be clear on what you are saying:

Somalis, Eritrean and Ethiopians would tick the 1) Asian or 2) white box?

If so, I find that very confusing. I can't think how that might come to be.

[Buggritbuggrit]

@TouchMyToe

But there is no clearly defined "black culture" here in the UK as blacks have heritages from many different countries. For e.g the Caribbeans are different to the Africans and even within the Caribbean the Jamaicans are different to the Bajans.

Yes. That’s pretty much my entire point. We know that. However, the average British person neither knows nor gives a crap. You’re just ‘Black’, which equals XYZ.

[phoenixrosehere]

Somalis, Eritrean and Ethiopians would tick the 1) Asian or 2) white box?

If so, I find that very confusing. I can't think how that might come to be.

Why? Those are nationalities. Nationality and ethnicity are two different things.

[TheBlackDarner]

However, the average British person neither knows nor gives a crap. You’re just ‘Black’, which equals XYZ.

Depressing really.
I feel as though there are people with lifejackets here, in that they can be who they feel they are. (Rightly so)
Then there are those of us living as minorities, in the UK or Europe, who cling onto a word to keep us afloat. So's to speak.
I'm struggling at this point in the discussion, so looking forward to other views.

[TheBlackDarner]

@StrawberryDumpling. I hear you!

[WildBactrian]

Through my work I've processed hundreds of women from the horn of Africa, and not a single one ever identified as white or Asian. However, I have noticed a tendency particularly among pan-Africans of Caribbean descent to label Somalis as not really African. It's ludicrous, particularly since they zealously claim Egypt and Ethiopia as proud African civilisations. There's too much general ignorance about the continent of Africa from those who've never set foot in it.

[RedMarauder]

@WildBactrian I agree.

Someone actually posted on BMN that they are moving to Africa - I didn't answer as I'm fed up of telling white academics, who should know better, Africa isn't a country.

On a previous thread where someone posted something similarly as ignorant a couple of other posters took them to task.

[SlamLikeAGuitar]

My DCs are white and Southeast Asian.
I tick the box on forms and official paperwork for “mixed white/Asian”, and would refer to them as “mixed race” or “mixed heritage” in conversation.
I agree with others that “people of colour” just sounds a bit weird, almost like saying “anything other than white”

[anxiouscrazymum]

POC and BAME make me angry!! What bloody colour am I? BAME!! Might as well be miscellaneous or any other non white!!

[TheBlackDarner]

@anxiouscrazymum

POC and BAME make me angry!! What bloody colour am I? BAME!! Might as well be miscellaneous or any other non white!!

To be flippant for a moment.
POC and BAME sound like shades on a Graham and Brown paint palette - along with "Elephant's Breath" and their "Eco" wallpaper.
How exotic and vibrant!