Passing as Black:How Biracial Americans Choose Identity

[Muadib]

Nah men.. mek wi stick wid di generalization and anecdote approach..

There is a certain feel good one gets from playing the victim...

[Reggaedoc]

What's anecdotal about the people living on the gully banks, with poor nutrition, substandard education, and with the constant threat that comes with garrisons mostly or exclusively being black. Are we to assume that these people a just lazy, unfortunate, or perhaps just happy with their condition. This while the white Jamaican is creative, hard working, skillful, etc.

[1of1]

A buck up some brown man today, dem seh dem nah talk loud, but dem not feeling the brown man time policies

[Reggaedoc]

Islandman, I hope you are not being fooled by the rasta influence etc in Jamaica. From my experience. I have found African Americans far more comfortable and proud of their blackness than Jamaicans. Even African Americans that are whiter than the so called white Jamaicans. They have established their own institutions including scores of colleges and universities going back to the 1800's, they have not been afraid to discuss the topic of race and racism to the point where some are even demanding reparations. They have used the courts effective for redress etc. Jamaicans have not even gotten to the point of discussing the topic of race. They cand even get to that point. The black American is years ahead to the path of freedom than the Black Jamaican.

[Rudi]

Very true. No worry a so the Jamaican mentality ting set.

[Don1]

[=Maudib;269231]Curious that the greatest transfer of resources from the poor (black) to the rich occurred under 'Black Man Time'

Maybe so...or maybe convenient tribal rhetoric for the JLP. But whatever it is ...it's part of the JLPNP political con game perpetrated on Jamaica

The only hope for the Black man in Jamaica is 'Brown Man Time' policies....

That's the specious chant of the morally bankrupt and corrupt... u & your people

The only hope for Jamaica is policy which directly advances the majority poor through education and community development...not the trickle down con game

Barbados is highly educated..

Yes..their political & business elites are far more progressive than the corrupt backward set Jamaica is afflicted with....only Haiti's is worse in the region.

How do you propose to spend Chiney infrastructure money on education ??

Utter stupidity

Chinese don't come to GOJ saying we have $400M to lend you to fix roads.... they say give me your priority project and we will fund it.

The priorities of the politico-business elite are twisted

Is nuh yuh a boast bout di PNP expensive infrastructure development ?!

Inane...noting a fact of a development is not boasting...it's noting a fact. The question of prioritizing is separate.

The PNP's policies are just as twisted as the JLP tribe's.

Mi will talk tuh di man dem and mek sure di heducation money roll in innah di first term.. wuss case second term cause it look like di 'free education' ting nevah impress yuh..

No...not at all impressed by that election gimmick.

Education needs to be revolutionized and properly resourced...the politico-business elite has a different focus....keeping people ignorant and their corrupt system intact

People like you who support that corruption are part of the problem...not the solution

[Assasin]

listen to African American and they will tell you the opposite.

The percentage of African Americans who know their history is small. The fact that one can walk into National Archives freely or go to Ancestory.com and find their grandfather miltary record or birth certificate makes a big difference and make it much easier to trace.

Maybe the reason some people talk about their granny is because like me they play an important role in their life and mine is not white. I talk about my granny every oppurtunity so I do not take that any other way and as a matter of fact it tells me about you.

I assume you are proud of both your African and Indian grandmother will share about the good things they did to mold you. Whether you like it yes are no you do have indian ancestory as well and what is wrong to talk about it and identify somewhat with their culture? It doesn't take away from you been African or does it?

I would like to know how many people on this forum had a brown or white grandmother, you might be surprise.

[Assasin]

how so? Mi think everything black and brown.

[Islandman]

Being "comfortable in your blackness", as you call it, is but one aspect of freeing yourself from mental slavery.

There is the belief that you can be all you can be regardless of the obstacles and prejudices being faced, real or percieved.

There is the confidence that you can be yourself around people of other races , there is the acceptance that you don't have to act a certain sterotypical way to be considered "black" and many other issues such as that.

[Islandman]

Most African Americans know virtually NOTHING about thier history. For most of them it starts and ends with Martin Luther King. Them don't know who Harriet Tubman was, Fredrick Douglas was. Most of them can't even really tell you what Nelson Mandela did in the fight against apartheid. Almost ANY Jamaican knows Mandelas story well, wether them went big school or not.

Dressing up in Kente cloth every Feburary is all well and good but it hardly classifies as embracing or knowing Africa and African history.

[Peter R]

if this "white" girl (ah mean she look white but she could be black by American definition) trying to pass .. she still needs some help to get it down pat.. an mi talking de girl pon de right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiGgYgXXhHM&feature=fvw

[Reggaedoc]

What percentage of Jamaicans do you think know their history?. If I were to take you down to any corner on Bedford Street, Princess Street, Oxford Street or any street of your choice in inner Kingston and say to you pick 20 young people and ask them "What was Marcus Garvey's philosophy?", how many of the glassy eyed clowns would be able to give us a coherent answer. Ok, so you might conclude that that was due to a selection bias. After all it is the inner city and they are all black dunces anyway. So I say let's go up to Priory or Campion and ask a set of 4th formers the same question. After all they are the sons and daughters of the gentry. Do you think the percent of coherent answers would be any different?.

[Reggaedoc]

No I don't know what them call THEM in England, but I certainly knowt the derogatory terms they use to describe US black people in England. Don't think they will refrain from calling us the same thing in Jamaica if the opportunity presents itself.

[Assasin]

well we nuh call them "yankee bwoy"? You think that is a compliementary term to most?

[Assasin]

I had class with a lot of them so that I do know. The fact is sometimes we just look at our problem and think we have the worst and everybody is better. sometimes far from the truth. Americans in general are very poor at history and Geo.

Also many of the black college students in America have caribbean heritage. Yes we have our problem but so do others.

Just the other day I was hearing a top radio host saying the caribbean blacks are more liberated than American black. Just like I heard a sport commentator said he never met a dumb soccer player maybe because he met MLS players who are mostly college graduates. I said damn he knows nothing about soccer.