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THREAD: The mixed race black convo comes up every few years and having spent a lot of time thinking about it my thoughts are as follows
Underpinning this we HAVE to remember that race is a construct. That isn't to devalue anyone's racialised experiences but it is so important to this conversation specifically.
Blackness has never been monolithic. Your parents might both be what we understand as ‘black’ but you could still have ‘mixed’ ancestry. In policing people’s blackness it is v easy to fall into the trap of supremacy, even if you think you’re operating against the ‘one drop’ rule
Being mixed-race doesn’t always = having a white parent or being light skinned
There IS systemic privilege that comes with being VISIBLY mixed race black and/or light-skinned and/or non-coily haired even if YOU don’t feel that you’ve experienced it. Colourism is very real beyond the realm of desirability.
However, mixed race black people do experience racism and prejudice, on account of their blackness / being racialised as black, and those experiences can be just as bleak and overt as non-mixed black people’s experiences.
Not all mixed people believe themselves to be ‘trapped’ between two races or to have experienced “prejudice” from the black community on account of being light skinned.
‘Light skin tears’ etc. is not a helpful way of looking at mixedness.
It is possible for a mixed race person to have felt isolated from the black community, but if this has happened to you, please think about the systemic privileges you have also encountered. Please do not equate this experience to colourism.
There are specific issues that some mixed black / white people can face, such as being rejected by members of their own family.
There are more mixed race black people being born than ever before in the UK so we’ve really got to shape up when it comes to how we talk about these issues.
And finally, there is 100000% a conversation that needs to be continued on how colourism bleeds into pop culture; Peng Black Girls & Bridgerton (wtf, I'm on ep 5) as prime examples
Oh, and also, let's not reduce the concept of colourism just down to skin tone – hair texture, features etc. all play their part.
Okay, clearly have more to say: having a white parent can absolutely be a privilege as well – in my case I would certainly class it as so
Looking at this with nuance specifically within the UK (and the history of MR babies here), having a white parent has arguably also led to awful things for black MR children. Examples found across Europe; Belgium, Germany and Ireland specifically: https://gal-dem.com/belgium-metis-apologised-abuse-of-mixed-race-children-ireland-rosemary-adaser/
Also good reading. There haven't been many studies on this, but I have close friends who have been on the receiving end of racism from their parents/families growing up in Scotland https://gal-dem.com/my-mum-calls-me-the-n-word-the-reality-of-growing-up-mixed-race-with-a-racist-parent/
This nails it really IMO https://twitter.com/ShihouinSensei/status/1342889989244416003?s=20
That's not to say as a MR black woman you shouldn't be incredibly conscious of your placement within the media and be actively working to improve it, but as ever, NUANCE, history, research
And, this, of course this. https://twitter.com/artfulhussey/status/1342980084332982273?s=20
